· 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.
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 $10k62 grants · $27k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BUNCOMBE ST UM CHURCH | $12,040 |
| Individual grant recipient | $2,500 |
| GREENVILLE SYMPHONY | $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 |
| HABITAT FOR HUMANITY | $1,000 |
| ST JUDE | $1,000 |
| NATIONAL PARKS CONS ASSOCIATION | $1,000 |
| UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION | $800 |
| UP COUNTRY HISTORY MUSEUM | $800 |
| Individual grant recipient | $600 |
| FOUNDATION FORWARD INC | $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 (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 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.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +12% for those 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
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- GSGREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION9× · 2017–2025 · $26k · revenue +26%
- ECEPWORTH CHILDREN'S HOME9× · 2017–2025 · $11k · revenue +177%
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION8× · 2017–2024 · $8k · revenue +31%
Funded once
- ZMZACK MOEBIUS MCCORD RD CHURCHone grant, 2017 · $2k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2017 · $1k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2023 · $1k
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.
Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)
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.…
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."
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.
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…
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…
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.
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;…
Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
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…
The museum's mission statement is "turn on the science: inspire learning. inform policy. improve lives."
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,…
How this is measured
69 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. 69 of the 176 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 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 PEACE CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Colonial Williamsburg Foundation ↗
- Who funds UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC ↗
- Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
- Who funds METHODIST THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN OHIO ↗
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: 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
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Karen and Paul Schaefer Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Karen and Paul Schaefer Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
- The Shriners' Hospital for Children: 6% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Karen and Paul Schaefer’s filings →