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Karger Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Karger Fund

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.

$18k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Recreation & Sports$56kInternational$39kHealth$17kArts & Culture$16kReligion$11kHuman Services$10kEducation$8kPublic Benefit$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$1,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$87k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CAMP GRAYLING OFFICERS CLUB$10,000
WASHINGTON INSTITUTE$6,000
WINNETKA CONGRETIONAL CHURCH$1,000
THE CRANBROOK SCHOOLS FUND$500
MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC$300
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 (FY17–21, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%NORTH SHORE SENIOR CENTER: $500 → 14%NORTH SHORE SENIOR CENTER: $250 → 14%SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES: $3k → 14%SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES: $2k → 14%SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 14%SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 14%THE SELF HELP HOME: $500 → 14%SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 14%THE SELF HELP HOME: $500 → 14%THE SELF HELP HOME: $500 → 14%THE CRADLE FOUNDATION: $100 → 14%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
NJ
MO
KS
DC
GA
FL
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$155k · 22 repeat orgs$17k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
21

Total granted

$155k
$17k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+39%

Still filing today

64%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationReligionInternationalPublic BenefitOther
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

  • WI
    WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
    6× · 2019–2025 · $39k · revenue +4%
  • SY
    SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES NFP
    5× · 2017–2021 · $8k · revenue +89%
  • TJ
    THE JOFFREY BALLET
    3× · 2020–2022 · $6k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • FW
    Francis W Parker Schoolgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +36%
  • M
    MCA
    one grant, 2018 · $3k
  • NL
    NORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREPARATORY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL INC
    one grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue -1%
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
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
2
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
3
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
4
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
5
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
6
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
7
The Chicago Bar Foundation

The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.

Education
8
Cedille Chicago Nfp

Cedille Chicago, NFP is devoted to the activity of producing and marketing recordings of classical music by Chicago-area musicians and composers.

Arts & Culture
9
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
10
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
11
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
12
Chicago Waldorf School

Providing and promoting waldorf education from early childhood through the twelfth grade and promoting waldorf education through community outreach.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sga Youth & Family Services Nfp; the most unlike its peers is Step Ahead Inc. 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

27 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. 27 of the 45 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/27
Grantees still filing
22/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CAMP GRAYLING OFFICERS CLUB: $55,000 · OtherCAMP GRAYLING OFFICERS CLUBWINNETKA CONGRETIONAL CHURCH: $11,000 · OtherWINNETKA CONGRETIONAL CHURCHPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $8,000 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOOD+25 more: $17,686 · Other+25 moreWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $38,500 · InternationalWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR …THE JOFFREY BALLET: $6,000 · Arts & CultureTHE JOFFRE…MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $4,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF …WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO …MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $1,800 · Arts & CultureMERIT SCHO…LAWYERS FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS: $1,500 · Arts & CultureLAWYERS FO…Hyde Park Jazz Festival: $700 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $500 · Arts & CultureSGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES NFP: $7,500 · Human ServicesTHE SELFHELP HOME INC: $1,500 · Human ServicesNORTH SHORE SENIOR CENTER: $750 · Human Services+1 more: $100 · Human ServicesFrancis W Parker School: $5,000 · EducationNORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREPARATORY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL INC: $1,500 · EducationHIGH JUMP: $500 · EducationThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation): $6,200 · ReligionPADS OF ELGIN INC: $2,500 · Housing & Shelter
Other$91,686International$38,500Arts & Culture$16,500Human Services$9,850Education$7,000Religion$6,200Housing & Shelter$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $38,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetSGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES NFP: $7,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation): $6,200 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE JOFFREY BALLET: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFrancis W Parker School: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPADS OF ELGIN INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $1,800 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO'S GREEN CITY MARKET PROGRAM: $1,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLAWYERS FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS: $1,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE SELFHELP HOME INC: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREPARATORY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH SHORE SENIOR CENTER: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTEP AHEAD INC: $750 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHyde Park Jazz Festival: $700 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHIGH JUMP: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Dance Health Fund: $500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY: $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRoosevelt University: $450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINNETKA YOUTH ORGANIZATION: $300 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLewy Body Dementia Association Inc: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJewish Federation of St Louis: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Cradle Society: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO DISTRICT GOLF ASSOCIATION: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Cradle Foundation: $100 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Chicago Community…Jewish Federation of …Jpmorgan Chase Founda…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL18.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Karger Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Karger Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 20%
  • Marine Biological Laboratory: 20% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
8report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Karger Fund?

Find your warmest path to Karger Fund 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 45 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Karger’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