Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Karen and Paul Schaefer 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.

$39k
Granted FY2025still arriving
63
Grants FY2025still arriving
22
States reached
$12k
Largest
01What you fund
0188% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Religion$129kArts & Culture$69kHuman Services$26kHealth$17kInternational$13kEducation$13kEnvironment$12kHousing & Shelter$12kOther$0
02FY2025 · 63 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k62 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
$200
Median grant
22
States reached
$107k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BUNCOMBE ST UM CHURCH$12,040
GREENVILLE SYMPHONY$2,500
Individual grant recipient$2,500
EPWORTH CHILDRENS$2,000
GREENVILLE ART MUSEUM$1,500
HEIFER INTERNATIONAL$1,080
SAMARITAN'S PURSE$1,020
TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION$1,000
ST JUDE$1,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$1,000
NATIONAL PARKS CONS ASSOCIATION$1,000
UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION$800
UP COUNTRY HISTORY MUSEUM$800
Individual grant recipient$600
Individual grant recipient$500
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 (FY17–25, $16k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%BOYS TOWN: $500 → 12%EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 16%MOM'S HOUSE: $550 → 18%BOYS TOWN: $500 → 12%EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME: $1k → 16%MOM'S HOUSE: $500 → 18%BOYS TOWN: $500 → 12%EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME: $1k → 16%MOM'S HOUSE: $500 → 18%BOYS TOWN: $500 → 12%EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME: $1k → 16%MOM'S HOUSE: $500 → 18%BOYS TOWN: $500 → 12%EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME: $1k → 16%BOY'S TOWN: $400 → 12%EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME: $1k → 16%MOM'S HOUSE: $500 → 18%BOY'S TOWN: $200 → 12%BOY'S TOWN: $200 → 12%MOM'S HOUSE: $100 → 18%MOM'S HOUSE: $400 → 18%MOM'S HOUSE: $400 → 18%MOM'S HOUSE: $400 → 18%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION: $800 → 10%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION: $380 → 10%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION: $250 → 10%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION: $100 → 10%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

AK
WA
MN
MI
NY
MA
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
MS
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$347k · 112 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +43% since the first grant, against +12% for the ones you funded once.

112 repeat relationships — 53 still active in FY2025, 59 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

112
53

Total granted

$347k
$12k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+12%

Still filing today

43%
30%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k 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 & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesAnimalsInternationalOther

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

  • GS
    GREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $26k · revenue +26%
  • EC
    EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME
    9× · 2017–2025 · $11k · revenue +177%
  • SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $8k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • ZM
    ZACK MOEBIUS MCCORD RD CHURCH
    one grant, 2017 · $2k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
  • TM
    THE MOUNT VERNON LADIES' ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2023 · $1k

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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
3
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
4
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

5
Lowell Observatory

The mission of lowell observatory is to pursue the study of astronomy, especially the study of our solar system and its evolution; to conduct pure research in astronomical phenomena; and to maintain quality public education and outreach…

Science & Tech
6
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Inc

We harness the power of plants for humankind and share the joy and beauty of tropical gardening with everyone. fairchild tropical botanic garden is a museum of tropical plants within a world famous, 83-acre designed landscape. it was…

Environment
7
The Wildlife Society

The wildlife society's mission is to inspire, empower, and enable wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitats through science-based management and conservation.

Animals
8
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
9
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
10
American Humane Association

Founded in 1877, american humane association, dba american humane society (american humane) is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals. our leadership programs are first to serve in promoting and nurturing the…

Animals
11
Science Museum of Minnesota

The museum's mission statement is "turn on the science: inspire learning. inform policy. improve lives."

Arts & Culture
12
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation and the most unlike its peers is The National Museum of Women in the Arts. 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 backsteadyEnvironmental Conservation …Community FoundationsCancer Support ServicesElementary Literacy TutoringSchool District FoundationsFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Local History MuseumsAnimal Rescue and ShelterChristian Missionary Organi…
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 54 years old; the field is 21. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%0%<5yr12%0%5–10yr15%13%10–20yr24%12%20–35yr9%27%35–55yr19%49%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr12%0%5–10yr15%9%10–20yr24%5%20–35yr9%22%35–55yr19%64%55yr+

The field is 21% 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 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/80
the rest of the field
12%
3,449/28,709

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

69 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 69 of the 176 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
69/69
Grantees still filing
54/69
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

BUNCOMBE STREET UM CHURCH — $85,200 · OtherBUNCOMBE STREET UM CHURCHBUNCOMBE ST UM CHURCH — $27,040 · OtherBUNCOMBE ST UM CHURCHIndividual grant recipient — $18,650 · OtherIndividual grant recipientHABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $9,075 · OtherGREENVILLE MUSEUM OF ART — $9,000 · Other+137 more — $109,263 · Other+137 moreGREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $26,200 · Arts & CultureGREENVILLE SYMP…SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — $8,200 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INS…UPCOUNTRY HISTORY MUSEUM — $8,100 · Arts & CultureUPCOUNTRY HISTO…PEACE CENTER FOUNDATION — $2,500 · Arts & CultureColonial Williamsburg Foundation — $2,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more — $3,900 · Arts & Culture+5 moreEPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME — $11,000 · Human ServicesMOM'S HOUSE INC OF TOLEDO — $3,850 · Human ServicesFather Flanagan's Boys' Home — $3,300 · Human ServicesMIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC — $2,500 · Human ServicesUPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC — $1,755 · Human ServicesSAFE HARBOR INC — $800 · Human ServicesAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC — $5,325 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $2,930 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc — $1,600 · HealthThe Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc — $600 · Health+3 more — $250 · HealthALICE LLOYD COLLEGE — $3,200 · EducationSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION — $2,000 · EducationEarlham College Inc — $1,400 · EducationMETHODIST THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN OHIO — $1,400 · EducationREADING IS FUNDAMENTAL INC — $950 · EducationALBION COLLEGE — $900 · EducationNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY — $490 · Education+2 more — $350 · EducationGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF UPSTATEMIDLANDS SOUTH CAROLINA INC — $6,000 · EmploymentSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $5,070 · Religion
Other$258,228Arts & Culture$50,900Human Services$23,205Health$10,705Education$10,690Employment$6,000Religion$5,070

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetGREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $26,200 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetEPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME — $11,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — $8,200 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUPCOUNTRY HISTORY MUSEUM — $8,100 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF UPSTATEMIDLANDS SOUTH CAROLINA INC — $6,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC — $5,325 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $5,070 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICA'S VETDOGS THE VETERANS K-9 CORPS INC — $4,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMOM'S HOUSE INC OF TOLEDO — $3,850 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetFather Flanagan's Boys' Home — $3,300 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetALICE LLOYD COLLEGE — $3,200 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $3,100 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $2,930 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL SAMARITAN — $2,600 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC — $2,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPEACE CENTER FOUNDATION — $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetColonial Williamsburg Foundation — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION — $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC — $1,755 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $1,600 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $1,400 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetEarlham College Inc — $1,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMETHODIST THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN OHIO — $1,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBREVARD MUSIC CENTER INCORPORATED — $1,275 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetGreenville Chautauqua Society — $1,200 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION INC — $1,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS INC — $1,150 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS — $1,100 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRED BIRD MISSION INC — $1,100 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife — $1,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetVAGABOND SCHOOL OF THE DRAMA INC — $1,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetREADING IS FUNDAMENTAL INC — $950 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetALBION COLLEGE — $900 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSAFE HARBOR INC — $800 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION — $700 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN KIDNEY FUND INC — $650 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSTRATFORD FOUNDATION INC — $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc — $600 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SOUTH CAROLINA SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $600 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Eisenhower Foundation — $559 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY — $490 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $425 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC FOUNDATION — $400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJASMINE ROAD INC — $361 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSouth Carolina Aquarium — $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Battlefield Trust — $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTIDELINES INSTITUTE — $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC — $250 over 3y, 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.

  • Who funds GREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds EPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME
  • Who funds SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
  • Who funds UPCOUNTRY HISTORY MUSEUM
  • Who funds GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF UPSTATEMIDLANDS SOUTH CAROLINA INC
  • Who funds AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC
  • Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE
  • Who funds AMERICA'S VETDOGS THE VETERANS K-9 CORPS INC
  • Who funds MOM'S HOUSE INC OF TOLEDO
  • Who funds Father Flanagan's Boys' Home
  • Who funds ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL SAMARITAN
  • Who funds MIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC
  • Who funds PEACE CENTER FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
  • Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION
  • Who funds UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC
  • Who funds American Heart Association Inc
  • Who funds NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

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.

Ge Aerospace FoundationCT20.5× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ge Aerospace Foundation · Scsymmes Foundation · Daniel-Mickel Foundation · The Jolley Foundation · Elbert W Rogers Foundation · The Maddrey Foundation · John I Smith Charities Inc · United Way of Greenville County Inc · Dabo's All in Team Foundation · South Carolina Christian Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · United Community Bank Foundation

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 Karen and Paul Schaefer 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
202122232425
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc30% of income from government
  • The Shriners' Hospital for Children6% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
16report 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, FY2025

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 176 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph