Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation

/

OVERVIEW: The Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of real estate billionaire Neil Bluhm. Most of Bluhm's philanthropy is focused on education, arts and culture and Jewish causes in Chicago.

IP TAKE: The Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation has been ramping up its giving in recent years, from giving just over $2 million in 2010, to around $7 million more recently. The foundation has no website, and all listed staff members are family.

PROFILE: Established in 2007, the Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation is based in Chicago. Neil Bluhm grew up in a Chicago apartment. His father left the family when he was 13, and Bluhm's mother raised him and his sister on her bookkeeper's salary. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received a law degree from Northwestern University. After graduating, Bluhm worked at a Chicago law firm where he eventually made partner. He left the legal world and ventured into real estate and now owns marquee shopping territory along Chicago's Michigan Avenue, some of Chicago’s top hotels, as well as properties in Houston and Los Angeles. The foundation’s areas of giving are education, arts and culture and Jewish causes.

Bluhm has been big on education in the Chicago area. Northwestern University has received extensive support from the foundation, including the university’s law school, music school and a Holocaust education program. In 2018 the foundation gave $25 million for Northwestern’s Cardiovascular Institute. Other education outfits in Chicago receiving funding from Bluhm include Year Up-Chicago and the Erickson Institute. Bluhm has also given to Marwen Arts Campus, Intonation Music Workshop, and Urban Getaways, which describes itself as giving "high-quality, accessible arts experiences to young people." Chicago area arts outfits receiving funding include Chicago Children's Museum, and the Harris Museum of Music and Dance. In addition, Bluhm, who was born into a Jewish family, has supported Jewish causes such as the United Jewish Fund. The foundation was also among the first to pledge support for Illinois Governer Pritzker’s COVID-19 Response Fund.

Recent grants have ranged anywhere from $2,000 and $2.6 million, but Bluhm’s average grants size is about $25,000. The foundation has gradually increased grantmaking from around $1 to $2 million a year, to as much as around $7 million each year in recent yearss. Grantseekers can learn more about this funder’s giving by examining its recent tax records. Although grantmaking does not appear to be restricted to Chicago, much of the funding stays in this region.

This foundation does not have a website, nor does it appear to accept unsolicited grant proposals. The foundation’s phone number is 312-915-2893, and its address is 900 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1600, Chicago, IL  60611. Bluhm runs the foundation with his three children.

PEOPLE:

  • Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).