Top Museum Donors in Chicago: Who Supports the Arts

Chicago has one of the strongest cultural philanthropy ecosystems in the country. The Art Institute of Chicago draws some of the city’s most dedicated individual donors, while the Field Museum and Lincoln Park Zoo attract heavy foundation support. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and The Joffrey Ballet round out a giving landscape that spans natural history, visual art, and performing arts. The PatronView database tracks donations to these institutions and more across the city.

Rankings reflect the number of individual gift acknowledgments in the PatronView database. Contribution count captures breadth of giving history, not a single cumulative dollar total. For more information about our data collection and methodology, see Data Sources here.

👥 Top 25 Donors in Chicago

Mary and Bruce Feay lead all individual donors in Chicago with 70 contributions, concentrated at the Field Museum. Their giving record shows long, consistent engagement with the museum across many years.

Nancy A. McDaniel has 63 contributions, almost entirely at Lincoln Park Zoo. She is one of the zoo’s most consistent individual supporters in the database.

Elisabeth C. Meeker follows with 62 contributions, also primarily at Lincoln Park Zoo. Her giving record mirrors the pattern of deep, repeated engagement that defines the zoo’s top individual donors.

Judy and John Keller have 57 contributions, with Lincoln Park Zoo as their primary institution. The pair appear together throughout the zoo’s donor records.

Marshall Field rounds out the top five with 57 contributions, concentrated at the Art Institute of Chicago. A member of the family behind the Marshall Field’s department store empire, he has a long association with Chicago cultural philanthropy, and the Art Institute is his primary institution in the database.

#	Donor	Contributions	Primary Institution
1	Mary and Bruce Feay	70	Field Museum
2	Nancy A. McDaniel	63	Lincoln Park Zoo
3	Elisabeth C. Meeker	62	Lincoln Park Zoo
4	Judy and John Keller	57	Lincoln Park Zoo
5	Marshall Field	57	Art Institute of Chicago
6	David P. Bolger	55	Lincoln Park Zoo
7	Marilynn B. Alsdorf	51	Art Institute of Chicago
8	Liz Stiffel	50	The Joffrey Ballet
9	Anne Kaplan	49	The Joffrey Ballet
10	Judith Neisser	48	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
11	Rose L. Shure	48	Art Institute of Chicago
12	Anne L. Kaplan	48	The Joffrey Ballet
13	Cary D. McMillan	48	Art Institute of Chicago
14	Richard and Mary L. Gray	47	Art Institute of Chicago
15	David D. Hiller	47	Field Museum
16	Dorie Sternberg	45	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
17	Neil G. Bluhm	44	Art Institute of Chicago
18	Sara Szold	44	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
19	Allyson Pooley	44	Lincoln Park Zoo
20	Judy Keller	44	Lincoln Park Zoo
21	Maureen Dwyer Smith	43	The Joffrey Ballet
22	Josephine E. Heindel	42	Lincoln Park Zoo
23	Denise Stefan Ginascol	42	Lincoln Park Zoo
24	Kenneth C. Griffin	41	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
25	Liz and Eric Lefkofsky	41	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

🏛️ Top 25 Foundation Donors in Chicago

Polk Bros. Foundation tops the foundation list with 83 contributions, primarily to Lincoln Park Zoo. Founded by the Polk family behind the Polk Bros. appliance retail chain, it has been a broad civic funder in Chicago for decades, and the zoo is its most frequently acknowledged institution in the database.

John R. Halligan Charitable Fund follows with 76 contributions, concentrated almost entirely at Lincoln Park Zoo. Its giving record shows deep, repeated engagement with the zoo across the database’s full time range.

The Brinson Foundation has 55 contributions, with Lincoln Park Zoo as its primary institution. Its consistent presence in the zoo’s acknowledgment records places it among the most active foundation supporters of the institution.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation shows 52 contributions, with the Field Museum as its primary institution in the database. Based in Chicago, the MacArthur Foundation is widely known for its “genius grants” and is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

The Chicago Community Trust rounds out the top five with 47 contributions, also primarily at the Field Museum. Chicago’s largest community foundation, it has been a central funding vehicle for the city’s cultural and civic organizations since 1915.

#	Foundation	Contributions	Primary Institution
1	Polk Bros. Foundation	83	Lincoln Park Zoo
2	John R. Halligan Charitable Fund	76	Lincoln Park Zoo
3	The Brinson Foundation	55	Lincoln Park Zoo
4	John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation	52	Field Museum
5	The Chicago Community Trust	47	Field Museum
6	Harris Family Foundation	44	Field Museum
7	The Grainger Foundation	42	Field Museum
8	The Siragusa Foundation	41	Art Institute of Chicago
9	Illinois Tool Works Foundation	40	Lincoln Park Zoo
10	Dr. Scholl Foundation	40	Lincoln Park Zoo
11	Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation	39	Lincoln Park Zoo
12	Terra Foundation for American Art	39	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
13	Sage Foundation	38	Art Institute of Chicago
14	Helen Brach Foundation	38	Lincoln Park Zoo
15	The Joyce Foundation	38	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
16	The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation	36	Lincoln Park Zoo
17	Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation	36	Art Institute of Chicago
18	The Davee Foundation	35	Lincoln Park Zoo
19	Alphawood Foundation	35	Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
20	JPMorgan Chase Foundation	35	Lincoln Park Zoo
21	Mazza Foundation	31	Lincoln Park Zoo
22	Julius N. Frankel Foundation	29	Lincoln Park Zoo
23	The Buchanan Family Foundation	29	Lincoln Park Zoo
24	Robert R. McCormick Foundation	28	Field Museum
25	Sargent Family Foundation	28	Lincoln Park Zoo

🏛️ Chicago Institutions

Here are all of the Chicago organizations we have in our database:

• Art Institute of Chicago
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago
• Chicago Architecture Center
• Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra
• Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras
• Field Museum
• Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
• Glessner House Museum
• Goodman Theatre
• Hyde Park Art Center
• Lincoln Park Zoo
• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
• National Museum of Mexican Art
• Old Town School of Folk Music
• Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
• The Joffrey Ballet
• Ukrainian National Museum

📊 Conclusion

Lincoln Park Zoo dominates Chicago’s giving data, appearing as the primary institution for 14 of the 25 foundations on this list. That reflects its consistent multi-tier membership structure, which generates a high volume of individual acknowledgment records over time. On the individual side, the Art Institute of Chicago is the top institution, with Marshall Field, Marilynn B. Alsdorf, and several others concentrated there.

All rankings use publicly available donor acknowledgments collected in the PatronView database. Explore full profiles at patronview.com/patrons or browse Chicago institutions at patronview.com/institutions.

See our other roundups: Boston, Houston, New York City, and Philadelphia. For the national picture, see our ranking of the Top 100 Museum Donors in America.