Skip to content

· Public charity

Louisville Bar Foundation Inc

To raise and distribute funds in the form of grants to not for profit organizations in the Louisville area that provide legal services to the poor and disadvantaged, conduct programs to educate citizens about the law, and support improvements and access to the justice system.

$202k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Crime & Legal$597kEducation$10kInternational$8k
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 11 grants below total $159,536, the rows itemized in this filing. The $201,535 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $41,999 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $152k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Kentucky Refugee Ministries Inc$30,000
Finer Pearls Foundation$21,536
Legal Aid Society$20,000
Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc$15,000
Legal Aid Society$15,000
Louisville Bar Association$10,000
La Casita Center$10,000
University of Louisville Ackerson Law Clinic$10,000
CASA of the River Region$10,000
Kentucky Equal Justice Center$10,000
International Rescue Committee - Louisville$8,000
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 (FY21–24, $73k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc: $15k → 15%Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc: $15k → 15%Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc: $13k → 15%La Casita Center: $10k → 15%Family & Children's Place: $12k → 15%Family and Children's Place: $8k → 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.
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 7% of Louisville Bar Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in KY; by stated purpose, 95%.

Louisville Bar Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 4.9% 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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$524k · 11 repeat orgs$91k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against -42% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
6

Total granted

$524k
$62k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
-42%

Still filing today

82%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesCrime & LegalEducationReligionCivil RightsEmploymentOther
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

  • LA
    LEGAL AID SOCIETY INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $141k · revenue +48%
  • KR
    KENTUCKY REFUGEE MINISTRIES INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $107k · revenue +144%
  • CO
    CASA OF THE RIVER REGION
    5× · 2017–2024 · $45k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • LM
    LOUISVILLE MEDICAL LEGAL COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP INC
    one grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue -42%
  • LB
    LOUISVILLE BAR CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $14k · revenue +985%
  • KT
    KENTUCKY TO THE WORLD INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +29%
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
Ky Access to Justice Commission Inc

To increase access to the courts and high-quality legal representation for people with low and moderate incomes living in kentucky through innovative partnerships with the judiciary, the civil legal aid programs, private bar, law schools,…

Crime & Legal
2
Legal Aid Justice Center

The legal aid justice center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.

Crime & Legal
3
Cumberland Trace Legal Services Inc

The mission of Kentucky Legal Aid is to assist and enable low-income families, elderly, disabled, and other vulnerable individuals in south central Kentucky resolve legal problems that are barriers to self-sufficiency and to provide these…

Crime & Legal
4
Northern Kentucky Legal Aid Society

Legal Aid of the Bluegrass pursues justice and transforms lives through free, high-quality civil legal services for low-income and vulnerable people.

Crime & Legal
5
Neighbors Immigration Clinic Inc

Neighbors Immigration Clinic is a ministry of hospitality that welcomes immigrants by providing affordable, high-quality immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, engaging in advocacy for immigrant rights, and offering education…

—
6
Louisville Bar Foundation Inc

To raise and distribute funds in the form of grants to not for profit organizations in the Louisville area that provide legal services to the poor and disadvantaged, conduct programs to educate citizens about the law, and support…

Crime & Legal
7
Immigrant & Refugee Law Center

The Immigrant and Refugee Law Center provides accessible legal services to immigrant and refugee families in the Greater Cincinnati community.

Crime & Legal
8
Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati

To resolve serious legal problems of low income people, to promote economic and family stability, and reduce poverty through effective legal assistance.

—
9
Kentucky Bar Association

To maintain a proper discipline of the members of the bar in accordance with the rules set forth by the kentucky supreme court and with the principles of the legal profession as a public calling, to initiate and supervise, with the…

—
10
Micah Legal Services Inc

Micah Legal is Kentucky's first sliding legal services nonprofit, making access to justice affordable for everyone.

Crime & Legal
11
The Kentucky Bar Foundation Inc

To promote the administration of justice and to educate the public about the role of the judicial system and the legal profession in the society.

—
12
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area

As one of the most enduring civil rights institutions on the West Coast, we work to dismantle systems of oppression and racism, and build an equitable and just society.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Office of Kentucky Legal Services Programs Inc; the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. 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

15 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. 15 of the 19 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/15
Grantees still filing
10/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LEGAL AID SOCIETY INC: $140,800 · OtherLEGAL AID SOCIETY INCLOUISVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION: $48,144 · OtherLOUISVILLE BAR ASSOCIATIONFINER PEARLS FOUNDATION: $21,536 · OtherFINER PEARLS FOUNDATIONUNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE: $20,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLEMOTHERS ESQUIRE INC: $19,015 · OtherMOTHERS ESQUIRE INCLOUISVILLE MEDICAL LEGAL COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP INC: $15,000 · OtherLOUISVILLE MEDICAL LEGAL COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSH…+2 more: $12,500 · OtherKENTUCKY REFUGEE MINISTRIES INC: $106,500 · ReligionKENTUCKY REFUGEE MI…CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF LOUISVILLE INC: $42,500 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHARITIE…LA CASITA CENTER INC: $30,000 · Human ServicesLA CASITA CENTER …FAMILY & CHILDREN'S PLACE INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY & CHILDREN…TRIPLE TWELVE MINISTRIES INC: $32,500 · Crime & LegalTRIPLE TW…OFFICE OF KENTUCKY LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAMS INC: $20,000 · Crime & LegalOFFICE OF…CASA OF THE RIVER REGION: $45,000 · Civil RightsKENTUCKY TO THE WORLD INC: $10,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF THE KENTUCKY LEGAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM INC: $10,000 · EducationLOUISVILLE BAR CENTER INC: $14,000 · EmploymentInternational Rescue Committee INC: $8,000 · International
Other$276,995Religion$106,500Human Services$92,500Crime & Legal$52,500Civil Rights$45,000Education$20,000Employment$14,000International$8,000

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 budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY INC: $140,800 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetKENTUCKY REFUGEE MINISTRIES INC: $106,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLOUISVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION: $48,144 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetCASA OF THE RIVER REGION: $45,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF LOUISVILLE INC: $42,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTRIPLE TWELVE MINISTRIES INC: $32,500 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetLA CASITA CENTER INC: $30,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetOFFICE OF KENTUCKY LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAMS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetFAMILY & CHILDREN'S PLACE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLOUISVILLE MEDICAL LEGAL COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP INC: $15,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetLOUISVILLE BAR CENTER INC: $14,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetKENTUCKY TO THE WORLD INC: $10,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE KENTUCKY LEGAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Institute for Compassion in Justice Inc: $7,000 over 1y, 6.5% 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 Kentucky Bar Foundation IncKY28.5× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Kentucky Bar Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Depository Inc · The Gheens Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Corporate Depository Inc · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Kosair Charities Committee Inc · Republic Bank Foundation Inc · Metro United Way Inc · Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Nel S Morrison Charitable Trust #1 Xxx-Xx-Xxxx

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 Louisville Bar Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Louisville Bar Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%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
    3report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Louisville Bar Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Louisville Bar Foundation Inc 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 19 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 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 Louisville Bar’s filings →

    More from the funding graph