· Private foundation
Burns-Donovan Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k10 grants · $44k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $77k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ST STEPHEN THE WITNESS CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER | $22,000 |
| ST THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH AND CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER | $17,000 |
| IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH | $15,500 |
| MATER DEI CATHOLIC PARISH | $12,000 |
| ST PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH | $10,000 |
| ST TERESA OF CALCUTTA FAITH FORMATION | $9,312 |
| ST CECILIA CATHOLIC CHURCH | $8,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $6,000 |
| SPIRES OF FAITH CLUSTER | $5,000 |
| ARCHANGELS CATHOLIC CHURCH | $5,000 |
| NOTRE DAME CATHOLIC PARISH | $3,100 |
| HOLY CROSS BLESSED SACRAMENT | $3,000 |
| GOOD SHEPARD CATHOLIC CLUSTER | $2,000 |
| BECKMAN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL | $1,850 |
| SACRED HEART CATHOLIC SCHOOL | $555 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +119% since the first grant, against -4% for those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $17k went to new ones.
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- STST THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH AMES IA5× · 2021–2025 · $115k
- ICIMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH9× · 2017–2025 · $97k
- STST THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC CHURCH3× · 2017–2019 · $51k
Funded once
- LCLASALLE CATHOLIC MIDDLE SCHOOLone grant, 2021 · $9k
- LCLASALLE CATHOLICone grant, 2023 · $6k
- SCST CATHERINE OF SIENA CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTERone grant, 2017 · $5k
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
3 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 3 of the 47 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: The Catholic Foundation for the Archdiocese of Dubuque · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Burns-Donovan Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Burns-Donovan Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Burns-Donovan’s filings →