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Karen's Way at a glance

· Private foundation

Karen's Way

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$12k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$7k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
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.

Recreation & Sports$251kInternational$40kPublic Safety & Disaster$35kHousing & Shelter$21kHealth$11kEnvironment$10kYouth Development$6kEducation$6kOther$0
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$710k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$7,397
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Inc$2,500
Individual grant recipient$2,000
younglife$500
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 (FY21–21, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $5k → 14%THE GATHERING PLACE: $5k → 17%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 8% of Karen's Way’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Karen's Waylessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 7.8% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its 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
New York Blood Center Inc

As one of the most preeminent and comprehensive blood centers in theworld, nybc operates under a four-part mission. for more information,see sch. o and part iii, 4a-c.

Health
2
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

For more than 125 years, the mission of the johns hopkins hospital has been to lead the world in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and to train tomorrow's great physicians, nurses and scientists. above all, we aim to provide the…

Health
3
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Group Return

Caring for life, researching for health and educating those who serve.

Health
4
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Caring for life, researching for health and educating those who serve.

Health
5
City of Hope National Medical Center

City of Hope National Medical Center's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
6
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
7
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Leadership in the prevention, treatment, and cure of cancer through excellence, vision and cost effectiveness in patient care, outreach programs, research, and education.

Health
8
The Christ Hospital

Improve the health of our community and create patient value by providing exceptional outcomes and the finest experiences, all in an affordable way.

Health
9
Mercy Health

Mercy Health will provide assistance, support and direction to all of the health care institutions and activities operated and maintained by its Subsidiaries. The mission of Mercy Health in performing these activities shall be to provide a…

—
10
City of Hope

City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
11
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
12
University Medical Center Inc

To provide care to our community and to serve as a major teaching hospital for education and training in medicine, dentistry, nursing, and allied health professions.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Medecins Sans Frontieres Usa Inc; the most unlike its peers is Safe Harbor Norton. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

14 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. 14 of the 20 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Cleveland Metroparks: $251,307 · OtherCleveland MetroparksIndividual grant recipient: $20,063 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+7 more: $13,452 · OtherMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $30,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTI…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $30,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHE…THE CARTER CENTER INC: $10,000 · InternationalTHE CARTER CENTER IN…LET'S SHARE THE SUN FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EnvironmentAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $5,000 · Human ServicesTHE GATHERING PLACE: $5,000 · Human ServicesJohn Carroll University: $5,000 · EducationBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,500 · HealthSAFE HARBOR NORTON: $1,000 · HealthTHE BAY VILLAGE FOUNDATION: $2,500 · PhilanthropyYOUNG LIFE: $500 · Youth Development
Other$284,822International$70,000Environment$10,000Human Services$10,000Education$5,000Health$3,500Philanthropy$2,500Youth Development$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 budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLET'S SHARE THE SUN FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 9.8% of budgetTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJohn Carroll University: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GATHERING PLACE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetL ARCHE CLEVELAND INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BAY VILLAGE FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMALACHI HOUSE INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAFE HARBOR NORTON: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBAY MUSIC BOOSTERS: $550 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Amazonsmile Foundation
Amazonsmile FoundationWA2.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Karen's Way funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Karen's Way. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Karen's Way?

    Find your warmest path to Karen's Way through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    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 20 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

    Play a game based on Karen's Way’s filings →

    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