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· Private foundation

The Cara 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.

$98k
Granted FY2024still arriving
19
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$22k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2024.

Education$247kHuman Services$100kAnimals$47kRecreation & Sports$41kEnvironment$39kArts & Culture$30kHousing & Shelter$28kHealth$26kOther$0
02FY2024 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k15 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $62k
$2,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BOSTON COLLEGE - CITY CONNECTS$22,000
FISH OF SANCAP$15,000
INTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION$15,000
PARENTS PLACE$10,000
NATIONAL ABILITY CENTER$7,500
WISCONSIN ADAPTIVE SPORTS ASSOCIATION$5,000
MANKIND PROJECT USA INC$4,500
OZAUKEE WASHINGTON LAND TRUST$4,000
THE WOMEN'S CENTER$3,000
MAXFUND ANIMAL ADOPTION CENTER$2,000
MEQUON NATURE PRESERVE INC$2,000
STRAIN FOR THE BRAIN INC$1,040
NUZZLES & CO PET RESCUE & ADOPTION$1,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER MILWAUKEE$1,000
WEST SUBURBAN COMMUNITY PANTRY$1,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY19–24, $61k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 80% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $500 → 14%MANKIND PROJECT: $4k → 6%MANKIND PROJECT USA INC: $5k → 14%FISH OF SANCAP: $15k → 11%THE WOMEN'S CENTER: $3k → 5%MANKIND PROJECT: $1k → 6%FISH OF SANCAP: $10k → 11%THE WOMEN'S CENTER: $2k → 5%FISH OF SANCAP: $5k → 11%FISH OF SANCAP: $5k → 11%THE WOMEN'S CENTER: $1k → 5%FISH OF SANCAP: $5k → 11%THE WOMEN'S CENTER: $1k → 5%SHARP LITERACY: $3k → 17%THE WOMEN'S CENTER: $500 → 5%DOUGLAS F MCKEY CHRISTMAS CLUB INC: $500 → 5%MILWAUKEE DIAPER MISSION: $1k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

MN
IL
WI
MA
OR
CA
UT
CO
AR
DC
HI
GA
TX
FL

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$401k · 22 repeat orgs$197k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
51

Total granted

$401k
$176k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+30%

Still filing today

68%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesAnimalsEducationEnvironmentHealthYouth DevelopmentOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • FISH OF SANIBEL-CAPTIVA INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $40k · revenue +22%
  • MC
    MILWAUKEE COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL INC
    5× · 2019–2023 · $28k · revenue +224%
  • NA
    NATIONAL ABILITY CENTER
    3× · 2019–2024 · $20k · revenue +50%

Funded once

  • TRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE
    one grant, 2022 · $22k · revenue +12%
  • CH
    Community Housing and Resources Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue +49%
  • PC
    PARK CITY DAY SCHOOL
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue +25%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha County Inc

The humane animal welfare society of waukesha county leads the community in animal welfare and assures sanctuary for animals in need.

Animals
2
Wisconsin Policy Forum Inc

We conduct impartial public policy research and analysis to drive informed debate and effective decision-making in the state of wisconsin.

Public Benefit
3
Wisconsin Waterfowl Association Inc

The purpose of the association shall be to restore and conserve wisconsin's waterfowl and wetland resources; to educate state waterfowlers during their progression from natural resource consumer to steward; and to promote governmental…

Environment
4
Milwaukee Parks Foundation Inc

Engage our community in supporting milwaukee county parks to collectively steward a thriving park system.

Environment
5
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Inc

The wisconsin wildlife federation has a dual mission to engage in conservation education and to advocate for sound conservation policy.

Environment
6
Landmark Conservancy Inc

Landmark conservancy is a nationally accredited, nonprofit conservation organization serving 20 counties across northwest wisconsin. their mission is to conserve wisconsin's natural legacy for everyone...forever.

Environment
7
Midwest Dairy Association

Midwest dairy works with others to give consumers an excellent dairy experience increasing sales, fostering innovation, and inspiring consumer confidence of dairy products and practices.

—
8
Disability Rights Wisconsin Inc

Legal protection and advocacy to protect the rights of people with disabilities in wisconsin.

—
9
Milwaukee Women Inc

Milwaukee women inc is an organization of executives determined to change the quality and composition of corporate boards to maximize the performance of public and private companies with a focus on women and women of color.

Education
10
Milwaukee Water Commons Inc

Milwaukee water commons is helping catalyze milwaukee as a true model water city-a place where we all have a stake in the health of our waters and all share in their stewardship and benefits. we are advancing our community envisioned water…

Environment
11
Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association Inc

To protect, conserve, and enhance wisconsin's natural resources by advocating for and supporting county conservation efforts, for current and future generations.

Environment
12
Cap Services Inc

Cap services, inc.'s mission is to transform people and communities to advance social and economic justice.

Human Services

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is West Suburban Community Pantry Inc and the most unlike its peers is Alpine Humane Society. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyIndependent K-12 SchoolsYouth Sports ProgramsEnvironmental Conservation …Community FoundationsDomestic Violence ServicesAffordable Housing Developm…Youth Development CentersCommunity FoundationsAnimal Rescue and ShelterDevelopmental Disabilities …Food Banks and Pantries
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 33 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number17%0%<5yr12%4%5–10yr20%20%10–20yr16%34%20–35yr16%27%35–55yr19%16%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value17%0%<5yr12%1%5–10yr20%21%10–20yr16%31%20–35yr16%29%35–55yr19%17%55yr+

The field is 17% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 8% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/63
the rest of the field
8%
3,022/36,463

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

59 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 59 of the 83 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/59
Grantees still filing
44/59
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CRISTO REY JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL — $101,000 · OtherCRISTO REY JESUIT HIGH SCHOOLBOSTON COLLEGE - CITY CONNECTS — $44,000 · OtherBOSTON COLLEGE - CITY CONNECTSST ANN CENTER — $17,500 · OtherANOTHER WAY SCHOOL — $17,500 · OtherNATIVITY JESUIT ACADEMY INC — $13,206 · OtherWISCONSIN ADAPTIVE SPORTS ASSOCIATI — $17,500 · OtherNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER — $20,450 · OtherNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER+45 more — $116,290 · Other+45 moreFISH OF SANIBEL-CAPTIVA INC — $40,000 · Human ServicesFISH OF SAN…THE WOMEN'S CENTER INC — $7,500 · Human ServicesTHE WOMEN'S…Mankind Project — $4,500 · Human ServicesMankind Pro…The Mankind Project USA — $4,500 · Human ServicesThe Mankind…SHARP LITERACY INC — $2,500 · Human Services+3 more — $2,000 · Human ServicesTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE — $22,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF…PARK CITY DAY SCHOOL — $20,000 · EducationPARK CITY D…REGIS UNIVERSITY — $10,000 · EducationREGIS UNIVE…SPECIAL OPERATIONS WARRIOR FOUNDATION — $5,000 · EducationSPECIAL OPE…+3 more — $1,750 · EducationINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC — $35,000 · AnimalsTHE MAXFUND INC — $2,148 · AnimalsWISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY — $2,000 · Animals+4 more — $4,000 · AnimalsRESTORING LANDS INC — $17,000 · EnvironmentMequon Nature Preserve Inc — $10,000 · EnvironmentURBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC — $7,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF KISHWAUKETOE — $2,500 · Environment+2 more — $1,500 · EnvironmentMILWAUKEE COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL INC — $27,500 · Arts & CultureCommunity Housing and Resources Inc — $20,000 · Housing & ShelterFAMILY PROMISE OF WAUKESHA COUNTY INC — $4,500 · Housing & Shelter
Other$347,446Human Services$61,000Education$58,750Animals$43,148Environment$38,000Arts & Culture$27,500Housing & Shelter$24,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetFISH OF SANIBEL-CAPTIVA INC — $40,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC — $35,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMILWAUKEE COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL INC — $27,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE — $22,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER — $20,450 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCommunity Housing and Resources Inc — $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPARK CITY DAY SCHOOL — $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWISCONSIN ADAPTIVE SPORTS ASSOCIATI — $17,500 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetRESTORING LANDS INC — $17,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetREGIS UNIVERSITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMequon Nature Preserve Inc — $10,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetPARENTS PLACE INC — $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTHE WOMEN'S CENTER INC — $7,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetURBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC — $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDIGITAL BRIDGE INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetALMA CENTER INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSPECIAL OPERATIONS WARRIOR FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLA CLINICA TEPEYAC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMankind Project — $4,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetThe Mankind Project USA — $4,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF WAUKESHA COUNTY INC — $4,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILWAUKEE INC — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHUNGER TASK FORCE INC — $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetChrist in the City — $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWARRIORS & WALLEYE'S OUTDOORS — $3,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF OZAUKEE COUNTY — $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S OUTING ASSOCIATION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON FOOD BANK — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF KISHWAUKETOE — $2,500 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSHARP LITERACY INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMEQUON-THIENSVILLE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $2,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetBENEDICT CENTER INC — $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MAXFUND INC — $2,148 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDRIVE FORE A CURE FOUNDATION INC — $2,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetWISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD PANTRY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY ADVOCATES INC — $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTRAIN FOR THE BRAIN INC — $1,040 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMILWAUKEE DIAPER MISSION INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDENVER ZOOLOGICAL FOUNDATION — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLines for Life — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WILD ANIMAL SANCTUARY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY SHARING OF OZAUKEE COUNTY INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAUKVILLE COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFOOD BANK OF THE ROCKIES — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Greater Milwaukee Fou…United Way of Greater…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Green Bay Packers Fou…Baird Foundation IncRalph Evinrude Founda…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Anon Charitable TrustYouth Foundation IncArchdiocese of Milwau…Evan & Marion Helfaer…Generac Foundation Inc
Greater Milwaukee Foundation IncWI43.2× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · Ralph Evinrude Foundation Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Anon Charitable Trust · Youth Foundation Inc · Archdiocese of Milwaukee Catholic Community Foundation Inc · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Generac Foundation Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Cara Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 21%
  • Lines for Life — 70% of income from government
  • Oregon Food Bank — 21% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College — 3% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 83 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

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

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines