· Private foundation
The Kara Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k11 grants · $22k
- $10k–50k9 grants · $164k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $240k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SMILES | $125,000 |
| 3 FIRES COUNCIL | $65,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $50,000 |
| LIFELINE PILOTS | $30,000 |
| LAKELAND SCHOOL OF WALWORTH COUNTY | $26,500 |
| WETOSHA SENIOR COMMUNITY CENTER | $22,000 |
| WAYNE TOWNSHIP FOOD PANTRY | $20,000 |
| MOBILE CARE CHICAGO | $20,000 |
| YORK TOWNSHIP | $15,000 |
| UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION | $10,000 |
| NAPERVILLE RESPONS FOR OUR VETERANS | $10,000 |
| DONKA INC | $10,000 |
| TRI CITIES HEALTH DEPARTMENT | $7,000 |
| BURLINGTOM SENIOR ACTIVITY CENTER | $3,000 |
| GIVENKIND | $3,000 |
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 (FY20–25, $319k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 61% 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
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
28 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 16 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, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $201k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LILIFELINE INC6× · 2020–2025 · $136k · revenue +185%
- DIDONKA INCORPORATED6× · 2020–2025 · $115k · revenue +17%
- NRNAPERVILLE RESPONDS FOR OUR VETERANS6× · 2020–2025 · $100k · revenue +52%
Funded once
- BSBURLINGTON SENIOR ACTIVITY CENTERone grant, 2024 · $23k
- NCNEVADA CHILDHOOD CANCER FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $15k · revenue +54%
- SMST MARYS HEALTH WAGON INCone grant, 2020 · $13k · revenue +4%
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.
We provide food, household and personal items as available to combat food scarcity and poverty in our community.
Distribute food to needy families and individuals.
Providing food to needy families in the illinois valley area.
The lockport fish food pantry is a non-profit organization, operated solely by volunteers. the pantry helps supplement food and essentials for individuals and families in need in lockport and homer townships in will county, illinois.
Provide food to those in need in the River Falls Community
The Foodbank's mission is to provide food, and develop awareness of and creative solutions for food insecurity. Annually, the Foodbank distributes approximately 9.5 million pounds of food to 130 food pantries, soup kitchens, children's…
To serve the nutritional needs of children, the elderly, low income residents and the disabled in the Kane County area of Illinois.
Promote the health and independence of lake county, il, older adults
The lake area free clinic is the medical and dental home to low-income residents of waukesha county. the mission is to provide high-quality comprehensive health care to those in need.
Free food pantry. The Organization distributes free food to over 100 needy families per week, totaling almost 5000 visits per year. Over 70 individual volunteers receive, organize, and distribute over 200,000 pounds of food annually.
Reduce hunger and improve the health of people in need by providing food and other resources at no cost
Food Pantry - to provide nutritious food to people in need. Also, to provide used clothing and backpacks for school children and to provide energy assistance outreach site.
How this is measured
35 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 35 of the 86 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 LIFELINE INC ↗
- Who funds DONKA INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds NAPERVILLE RESPONDS FOR OUR VETERANS ↗
- Who funds WAYNE TOWNSHIP PANTRY AND SENIOR SERVICES NFP ↗
- Who funds UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER ↗
- Who funds GIVE N KIND ↗
- Who funds NEVADA BLIND CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CHILD'S VOICE SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds LAZARUS HOUSE ↗
- Who funds SOUTHERN LAKES AREA LOVE INC ↗
- Who funds YOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING ↗
- Who funds FOX VALLEY HANDS OF HOPE INC ↗
- Who funds Kathy's House Inc ↗
- Who funds SHARING CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds NEVADA CHILDHOOD CANCER FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LAKE GENEVA FOOD PANTRY ↗
- Who funds ST MARYS HEALTH WAGON INC ↗
- Who funds TRI CITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP ↗
- Who funds TEEN PARENT CONNECTION INC ↗
- Who funds CHRISTIAN LEAGUE FOR THE HANDICAPPED DBA INSPIRATION MINISTRIES ↗
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: AbbVie Foundation · The Bersted Foundation · Keefe Foundation Inc · Kunes Family Foundation · The Dupage Community Foundation · The Raymond C and Linda M Stachowiak Foundation · United Way of Walworth County · Fox Valley United Way · Shodeen Family Foundation · The a Montgomery Ward Foundation · Grand Foundation · Visiting Nurse Association of Chicago (Aka) Vna Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Kara Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Kara Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- See Turtles: 11% of income from government
- Mote Marine Laboratory Inc: 4% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Kara Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Kara Foundation 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 Kara’s filings →