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Kara J Trott Family Foundation Aka Life Leap Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Kara J Trott Family Foundation Aka Life Leap Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
12
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Education$3.0MHealth$1.3MHousing & Shelter$150kReligion$130kHuman Services$77kYouth Development$20k
02FY2024 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $142k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $490k
  • $250k+2 grants · $750k
$60,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$500,000
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OHIO KENTUCKY AND INDIAN$250,000
HEARTLAND HIGH SCHOOL$200,000
CHRISCROSS FOUNDATION$100,000
O S U CHABAD HOUSE INC$80,000
CHRISCROSS FOUNDATION$60,000
VISTA VILLAGE INC$50,000
GRATITUDE FOUNDATION INC$40,000
FAMILIES FLOURISH INC$37,000
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$35,000
HUCKLEBERRY HOUSE INC$20,000
I KNOW I CAN$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY23–24, $97k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%FAMILIES FLOURISH INC: $37k → 15%FAMILIES FLOURISH INC: $37k → 15%FAMILIES FLOURISH INC: $3k → 15%HUCKLEBERRY HOUSE INC: $20k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.4M · 7 repeat orgs$340k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
2

Total granted

$4.4M
$150k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
+16%

Still filing today

86%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $190k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22’23’24
HealthEducationHuman ServicesReligionHousing & ShelterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • OS
    OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +8%
  • MF
    MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +36%
  • CO
    Chabad of Columbus Inc
    2× · 2023–2024 · $130k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • RJ
    RICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +9%
  • CS
    COMMUNITY SHELTER BOARD
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +16%
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.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
House of Hope for Recovery Inc

Rehabilitation of adult alcoholics and drug addicts.

—
2
Ohio Center for Hope

To promote mental health research in medical developments

Health
3
Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People Inc

Empowering and strengthening ohio's people (esop) helps adults in all stages of life achieve and maintain financial wellness and housing stability.

Housing & Shelter
4
The Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County

Facilitate and invest in developments designed to: create and preserve affordable homeownership and rental housing; strengthen and stabilize neighborhoods; support working households, seniors and special needs populations.

Housing & Shelter
5
OhioGuidestone

To provide pathways for growth, achievement, and lifelong success.

Health
6
The Homeless Families Foundation

The homeless families foundation educates and nurtures children while empowering families to achieve stable housing and self-sufficiency.

Human Services
7
Columbus Housing Initiative Inc

Stabilize neighborhoods through establishing financing, education, rehabilitation of existing housing and development of new housing

Housing & Shelter
8
Jewish Family Service of the Cincinnati Area

A social service agency, JFS strengthens lives and our diverse community by providing exceptional and transformational human services. Services include: Counseling, Case Management, Financial and Food Support, Home Care, Senior Services,…

Human Services
9
Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services

To ensure people with mental illness, addiction, and related challenges lead healthy and productive lives.

Health
10
Strategies to End Homelessness Inc

Strategies to End Homelessness leads a coordinated community effort to end homelessness in Greater Cincinnati.

Human Services
11
Central Community House

Central community house (cch) is a comprehensive, neighborhood-based community center that has been serving the near east and south side neighborhoods of columbus, ohio since 1936. rather than specifically address one problem or social…

—
12
Columbus Center for Human Services Inc

Inspiring life journeys

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Oh Ky & in; the most unlike its peers is Heartland High School. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

11 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. 11 of the 12 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
9/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $2,076,000 · EducationOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONHEARTLAND HIGH SCHOOL: $900,000 · EducationHEARTLAND HIGH SCHOOLMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN: $1,000,000 · HealthMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH K…CHRISCROSS FOUNDATION: $160,000 · HealthCHRISCROSS FOUNDATIONRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $100,000 · HealthRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATIONChabad of Columbus Inc: $130,000 · ReligionGRATITUDE FOUNDATION INC: $70,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY SHELTER BOARD: $50,000 · OtherI KNOW I CAN: $10,000 · OtherVISTA VILLAGE INC: $100,000 · Housing & ShelterFAMILIES FLOURISH INC: $76,500 · Human ServicesHUCKLEBERRY HOUSE INC: $20,000 · Human Services
Education$2,976,000Health$1,260,000Religion$130,000Other$130,000Housing & Shelter$100,000Human Services$96,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $2,076,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN: $1,000,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetHEARTLAND HIGH SCHOOL: $900,000 over 4y, 43% of budgetCHRISCROSS FOUNDATION: $160,000 over 1y, 74% of budgetChabad of Columbus Inc: $130,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVISTA VILLAGE INC: $100,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetFAMILIES FLOURISH INC: $76,500 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY SHELTER BOARD: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHUCKLEBERRY HOUSE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetI KNOW I CAN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
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.

Columbus FoundationSafelite FoundationIngram-White Castle F…Siemer Family Foundat…Harry C Moores Founda…L Brands FoundationOhio Capital Impact C…United Way of Central…American Electric Pow…Nisource Charitable F…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Bank of America C…
Columbus FoundationOH18.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Columbus Foundation · Safelite Foundation · Ingram-White Castle Foundation · Siemer Family Foundation · Harry C Moores Foundation · L Brands Foundation · Ohio Capital Impact Corporation · United Way of Central Ohio Inc · American Electric Power Foundation · Nisource Charitable Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Kara J Trott Family Foundation Aka Life Leap Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Kara J Trott Family Foundation Aka Life Leap Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 12 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home