Illinois · Private foundation
Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family 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.
- $508k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 42
- Grants FY2025
- 32
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 50%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $2,500
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $125,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 12 to 32
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 7
- Total assets, FY2025
- $7.8M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 50% of the organizations Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 9% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 39 | $475k | 26% |
| FY2024 | 32 | $389k | 50% |
| FY2023 | 18 | $336k | 33% |
| FY2022 | 28 | $350k | 50% |
| FY2021 | 12 | $564k | 17% |
| FY2020 | 22 | $353k | 27% |
| FY2019 | 29 | $291k | 38% |
| FY2018 | 19 | $261k | 37% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago | $1,055,828 | 9 | 0% |
| Am Shalom | $158,085 | 9 | n/a |
| Bernie's Book Bank | $83,200 | 7 | 0% |
| Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation | $45,550 | 8 | 1% |
| Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago | $45,450 | 9 | 0% |
| Blood Cancer United Inc | $43,350 | 6 | 0% |
| The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | $40,294 | 4 | 0% |
| Rush University Medical Center | $35,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Friends of the Israel Defense Forces | $28,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Rochelle Zell Jewish High School | $15,000 | 2 | 0% |
Show all 60 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 34 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.5M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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 Chicago Community Trust · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · AbbVie Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Bednyak Family Foundation · Kovler Family Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · The Keith D & Arlene M Bronstein Foundation · Sacks Family Foundation · Jarvis Foundation
How this is measured
Compare Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation with peer funders
About Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation
- How much does Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation give?
- Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation reported 42 grants totaling $507,900 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 12 and 32 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Philanthropy (55%), Religion (22%), Health (8%).
- Who are Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago ($1.1M), Am Shalom ($158k), Bernie's Book Bank ($83k).
- Does Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Chicago Community Trust, Arie and Ida Crown Memorial, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
- Where is Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation based?
- Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Daniel R and Karen Kales Lee Family’s filings →