Illinois · Private foundation
The Karla Scherer 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.
- $318k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 18
- Grants FY2025
- 19
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 21%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $78,797
- Organizations funded a year
- 14 to 23
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 5
- Total assets, FY2025
- $2.1M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 21% of the organizations The Karla Scherer Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 23% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $66k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 18 | $318k | 22% |
| FY2024 | 19 | $282k | 21% |
| FY2023 | 23 | $250k | 4% |
| FY2022 | 21 | $272k | 33% |
| FY2021 | 15 | $151k | 33% |
| FY2020 | 14 | $166k | 0% |
| FY2019 | 15 | $208k | 27% |
| FY2018 | 17 | $187k | 24% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Newberry Library | $410,945 | 8 | 1% |
| Healthnetwork Foundation Fka Health Net Foundation Inc | $293,797 | 9 | 1% |
| Project Freedive Inc | $101,110 | 2 | n/a |
| University of Chicago | $87,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Ocean Connect Inc | $75,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Chicago Humanities Festival | $73,500 | 2 | 1% |
| Field Museum of Natural History | $69,713 | 9 | 0% |
| Chicago Symphony Orchestra | $65,000 | 9 | 0% |
| Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc | $58,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Lyric Opera of Chicago | $40,000 | 5 | 0% |
Show all 28 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 18 recipients with no EIN on record ($489k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Karla Scherer Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Lloyd a Fry Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Karla Scherer Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Karla Scherer 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.
About The Karla Scherer Foundation
- How much does The Karla Scherer Foundation give?
- The Karla Scherer Foundation reported 18 grants totaling $318,297 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 14 and 23 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Karla Scherer Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (39%), Arts & Culture (24%), Health (19%).
- Who are The Karla Scherer Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: The Newberry Library ($411k), Healthnetwork Foundation Fka Health Net Foundation Inc ($294k), Project Freedive Inc ($101k).
- Does The Karla Scherer Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 21% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Karla Scherer Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Karla Scherer Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Lloyd a Fry Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, National Philanthropic Trust.
- Where is The Karla Scherer Foundation based?
- The Karla Scherer Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Karla Scherer’s filings →