· Private foundation
The Karol 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, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k5 grants · $20k
- $10k–50k7 grants · $175k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ST FRANCIS DE SALES SEMINARY - ANNUAL APPEAL | $50,000 |
| ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE - STEWARDSHIP APPEAL | $40,000 |
| ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE - LOVE ONE ANOTHER CAPITAL CAMPAIGN | $30,000 |
| SETON CATHOLIC SCHOOLS | $25,000 |
| MILWAUKEE CATHOLIC HOME | $25,000 |
| BOSTON COLLEGE - INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED JESUIT STUDIES | $25,000 |
| DIVINE SAVIOR HOLY ANGELS - FORWARD IN FAITH CAPITAL CAMPAIGN | $20,000 |
| ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE - CATHOLIC SCHOOLS DINNER | $10,000 |
| ST JOSEPHAT BASILICA FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| GREENSBURG CENTRAL CATHOLIC SCHOOL | $5,000 |
| WOMEN'S SUPPORT CENTER OF MILWAUKEE | $5,000 |
| MILWAUKEE RESCUE MISSION | $2,500 |
| ST ANTHONY SCHOOL | $2,500 |
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 (FY20–25, $55k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 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.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +153% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
15 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 2 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, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SFST FRANCIS DE SALES SEMINARY - ANNUAL APPEAL4× · 2022–2025 · $298k
- AOARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE - STEWARDSHIP APPEAL4× · 2022–2025 · $160k
- SCSETON CATHOLIC SCHOOLS6× · 2020–2025 · $150k
Funded once
- TSTHE SALESIANUM TRUSTone grant, 2024 · $500k
- VOVALLEY OF OUR LADY MONASTERYone grant, 2021 · $25k
- SFST FRANCIS OF ASSISI - CAPITAL CAMPAIGNone grant, 2021 · $25k
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.
6 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. 6 of the 28 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.
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: Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · 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 Karol Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Karol Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Karol’s filings →