· Private foundation
The Circle Fund
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k6 grants · $17k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $30k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MARY QUEEN OF PEACE | $20,000 |
| NERINX HALL | $10,000 |
| THE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF ST LOUIS | $5,000 |
| ST FRANCIS CABRINI | $5,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $2,500 |
| CATHOLIC CHARITIES | $2,500 |
| MARY CULVER HOME | $1,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY18–18, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, 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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
7 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MMMARIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL2× · 2018–2024 · $116k · revenue +51%
- MQMARY QUEEN OF PEACE CATHOLIC CHURCH3× · 2023–2025 · $42k
- NHNERINX HALL HIGH SCHOOL3× · 2023–2025 · $35k
Funded once
- SLST LOUIS AREA FOOD BANK INCone grant, 2017 · $7k · revenue +17%
SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +143%- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2024 · $4k
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.
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.
St. marys university, as a catholic marianist university, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence.
The mission of the southeast missouri food bank is to promote food recovery; acquire and distribute food and household products; and provide community leadership and education on issues of hunger and poverty in an effort to alleviate…
The food bank for central & northeast missouri is a regional disaster and hunger relief network that acquires and distributes millions of meals each year to help neighbors get the food they need to thrive. (continued on schedule o)the…
Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the health presence of god.
Avila university, a catholic university sponsored by saint joseph educational ministries, a ministerial public juridic person of the catholic church (sjem), is a values-based community of learning providing liberal arts, professional,…
The corporation of saint mary's college, notre dame (saint mary's) is a catholic, residential, women's, liberal arts college offering undergraduate degrees and co-educational graduate programs. (continued in schedule o)
Mount mary university, an urban catholic university for women sponsored by the school sisters of notre dame, provides an environment for the development of the whole person. the university encourages leadership, integrity, and a deep sense…
Marian university is a catholic applied liberal arts community that welcomes diverse spiritual traditions sponsored by the congregation of sisters of st agnes. marian university engages students in the education of the whole person. we…
To promote the possibilities of charitable giving, helping charitable citizens understand how they can effectively provide for the community they love and the causes they care deeply about.
To bring the healing, help, and hope of jesus christ to those in need with a compassionate, caring presence. our values are dignity, hospitality, service, excellence, compassion, and joy.
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 22 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds MARIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds ST LOUIS AREA FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds THE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF ST LOUIS ↗
- Who funds SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FISH OF SANIBEL-CAPTIVA INC ↗
- Who funds THE MARY CULVER HOME ↗
- Who funds Caritas Connections Inc ↗
- Who funds JUNIOR GOLF FOUNDATION OF GREATER ST LOUIS ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Moneta Group Charitable Foundation · St Louis Community Foundation · St Louis Community Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Circle Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Circle Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
- Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation: 4% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Circle Fund?
Find your warmest path to The Circle 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.
Play a game based on Circle’s filings →