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The Lee Bruno Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Lee Bruno 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.

$688k
Granted FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Religion$1.5MHealth$1.5MEducation$1.3MFood & Nutrition$123kCivil Rights$92kHuman Services$68kArts & Culture$62kHousing & Shelter$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $20k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $200k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $470k
$15,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CATHEDRAL OF ST PAUL$100,000
ST ROSE ACADEMY$100,000
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC SCHOOL$85,000
Individual grant recipient$75,000
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$60,000
FOCUS MISSION FOUNDATION$50,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
UNITED ABILITY$20,000
BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF CULLMAN ALABAMA$20,000
TRIUMPH SERVICES$20,000
ROAD TO PURITY$15,000
HER CHOICE BIRMINGHAM$15,000
THE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION$15,000
HOLY FAMILY CRISTO REY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL$15,000
THE BELL CENTER$12,500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $174k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%BIG OAK RANCH: $20k → 13%BIG OAK RANCH: $12k → 13%BIG OAK RANCH: $12k → 13%BIG OAK RANCH: $12k → 13%BIG OAK RANCH: $10k → 13%UNLESS U: $30k → 16%UNLESS U: $25k → 16%UNLESS U: $15k → 16%UNLESS U: $5k → 16%TRIUMPH SERVICES: $20k → 16%TRIUMPH SERVICES: $10k → 16%TRIUMPH SERVICES: $3k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

CT
CO
MO
MD
TN
NC
AL
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.8M · 43 repeat orgs$435k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +50% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

43 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

43
18

Total granted

$4.8M
$415k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+50%
+25%

Still filing today

58%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k 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
HealthReligionHuman ServicesEducationRecreation & SportsFood & NutritionOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • HC
    Her Choice Birmingham Inc
    9× · 2017–2025 · $300k · revenue +35%
  • AC
    Alabama Children's Hospital Foundation
    5× · 2017–2025 · $185k · revenue +81%
  • TB
    THE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS
    8× · 2017–2025 · $170k · revenue +141%

Funded once

  • GS
    GOOD SHEPARD CATHOLIC CHURCH
    one grant, 2021 · $75k
  • GS
    GOOD SHEPHERD CATHOLIC CHURCH
    one grant, 2022 · $75k
  • SE
    ST ELIAS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
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.

04Its field

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.

1
The Children's Hospital of Alabama

The mission of Children's of Alabama is to provide the finest pediatric health services to all children in an environment that fosters excellence in research and medical education. Children's will be an advocate for all children and work…

Health
2
Ave Maria Communications

Ave Maria Communications (AMC)employs radio, internet and other media to offer news, analysis, teaching, devotion and music to demonstrate Catholic values.

Religion
3
Christianity Today International

Christianity Today is a global community inspired by evangelical conviction to advance the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God. Our mission is to elevate the storytellers and sages of the global church.

Religion
4
Priests for Life
Youth Development
5
Catholics for Choice

Catholics for Choice - which serves the pro-choice Catholic majority - encounters, educates, and emboldens people of faith who support reproductive freedom. Catholics for Choice believes healthcare is a human right and that includes access…

Civil Rights
6
Mercy Health

Mercy Health will provide assistance, support and direction to all of the health care institutions and activities operated and maintained by its Subsidiaries. The mission of Mercy Health in performing these activities shall be to provide a…

—
7
Catholic Answers Inc

Catholic answers is an apostolate dedicated to serving christ by bringing the fullness of catholic truth to the world. we help good catholics become better catholics, bring former catholics home, and lead non-catholics into the fullness of…

—
8
Life Teen Inc

Life teen is a missionary youth movement within the catholic church. we believe that eucharist-based ministry has the power to transform teens, transform parishes, and transform culture. our top priorities are resourcing and (continued on…

—
9
Childcare Worldwide

Childcare Worldwide (CW) transforms children's lives by exposing them to the gospel of Jesus Christ, providing for their physical needs, and sponsoring their education. We connect sponsors with children through Christ-based life centers.…

International
10
The Institute for the Psychological Sciences Inc

Divine Mercy University is a Catholic graduate school of psychology and counseling, founded in 1999. The University is dedicated to the scientific study of psychology and counseling with a Catholic understanding of the person, marriage and…

Education
11
Choose Life of North Alabama Inc

Our mission is to offer gospel-focused, life-affirming choices, education and compassionate counsel to those facing pregnancy related decisions.

—
12
Christian Works for Children Inc

Adoption, maternity & parenting services, family & individual counseling, children's support groups

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Ability Inc; the most unlike its peers is Magic City Harvest Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

35 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. 35 of the 62 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/35
Grantees still filing
29/35
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $500,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientCATHEDRAL OF ST PAUL: $364,650 · OtherCATHEDRAL OF ST PAULST ROSE CATHOLIC SCHOOL: $270,000 · OtherST ROSE CATHOLIC SCHOOLST BERNARD PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $250,300 · OtherST BERNARD PREPARATORY SCHOOLHOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC SCHOOL: $225,000 · OtherHOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC SCHOOLST FRANCIS XAVIER CATHOLIC SCHOOL: $200,000 · OtherST FRANCIS XAVIER CATHOLIC SCHOOLFELLOWSHIP OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: $165,000 · Other+32 more: $1,372,065 · Other+32 moreHer Choice Birmingham Inc: $300,000 · HealthHer Choice Birmingham IncAlabama Children's Hospital Foundation: $185,000 · HealthAlabama Children's Hospital…THE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS: $169,500 · HealthTHE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY I…SMILE-A-MILE: $150,000 · HealthSMILE-A-MILEMITCHELL'S PLACE INC: $129,200 · HealthMITCHELL'S PLACE INCOasis Counseling for Women and Children: $104,500 · HealthOasis Counseling for Women …MAGIC MOMENTS: $102,500 · HealthMAGIC MOMENTSUNITED ABILITY INC: $99,000 · HealthUNITED ABILITY INCWOMEN'S HEALTH SERVICES INC: $50,000 · Health+2 more: $3,800 · HealthUNLESS U INC: $75,000 · Human ServicesBIG OAK RANCH INC: $66,300 · Human ServicesTRIUMPH SERVICES INC: $32,500 · Human ServicesLA PROMESA FOUNDATION: $56,116 · ReligionRoad to Purity Inc: $32,500 · ReligionETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK INC: $30,000 · ReligionAvila Foundation Inc: $25,000 · ReligionCatholics Come Home Inc: $5,000 · ReligionMAGIC CITY HARVEST INC: $122,500 · Food & NutritionTHE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION: $102,500 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $1,500 · Recreation & SportsUNITED FOR LIFE FOUNDATION: $92,000 · Civil Rights
Other$3,347,015Health$1,293,500Human Services$173,800Religion$148,616Food & Nutrition$122,500Recreation & Sports$104,000Civil Rights$92,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHer Choice Birmingham Inc: $300,000 over 9y, 10.0% of budgetAlabama Children's Hospital Foundation: $185,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS: $169,500 over 8y, 1.7% of budgetSMILE-A-MILE: $150,000 over 8y, 1.9% of budgetMITCHELL'S PLACE INC: $129,200 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetMAGIC CITY HARVEST INC: $122,500 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetHOLY FAMILY CRISTO REY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL INC: $111,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetOasis Counseling for Women and Children: $104,500 over 9y, 1.4% of budgetMAGIC MOMENTS: $102,500 over 9y, 3.4% of budgetTHE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION: $102,500 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetUNITED ABILITY INC: $99,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED FOR LIFE FOUNDATION: $92,000 over 7y, 13% of budgetUNLESS U INC: $75,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetBIG OAK RANCH INC: $66,300 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLA PROMESA FOUNDATION: $56,116 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetCHRISTLIFE INC: $50,000 over 5y, 3.3% of budgetWOMEN'S HEALTH SERVICES INC: $50,000 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetBIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S THEATRE INC: $35,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetRoad to Purity Inc: $32,500 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetTRIUMPH SERVICES INC: $32,500 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetPRESCHOOL PARTNERS: $32,500 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBaby Steps: $30,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetBirmingham Zoo Inc: $25,680 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCATHOLIFY: $25,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetAvila Foundation Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetITALIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE SOCIETY: $25,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetSamford University: $9,435 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCatholics Come Home Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFRATERNUS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVULCAN PARK FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLife-Giving Wounds Corporation: $1,300 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
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 Her Choice Birmingham Inc ↗
  • Who funds Alabama Children's Hospital Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS ↗
  • Who funds SMILE-A-MILE ↗
  • Who funds MITCHELL'S PLACE INC ↗
  • Who funds MAGIC CITY HARVEST INC ↗
  • Who funds HOLY FAMILY CRISTO REY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds Oasis Counseling for Women and Children ↗
  • Who funds MAGIC MOMENTS ↗
  • Who funds THE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ST MARK THE EVANGELIST CONFERENCE ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds UNITED ABILITY INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED FOR LIFE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNLESS U INC ↗
  • Who funds BIG OAK RANCH INC ↗
  • Who funds LA PROMESA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHRISTLIFE INC ↗
  • Who funds WOMEN'S HEALTH SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds Road to Purity Inc ↗
  • Who funds TRIUMPH SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds PRESCHOOL PARTNERS ↗
  • Who funds ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK INC ↗

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.

The Community Foundat…Susan Mott Webb Chari…Protective Life Found…Hill Crest Foundation…The Joseph S Bruno Ch…Robert R Meyer Founda…Alabama Power Foundat…The Daniel Foundation…Junior League of Birm…The Hugh Kaul Foundat…Dunn-French FoundationMike and Gillian Good…
The Community Foundation of Greater BirminghamAL40.5× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham · Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust · Protective Life Foundation · Hill Crest Foundation Inc · The Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation · Robert R Meyer Foundation · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Junior League of Birmingham Inc · The Hugh Kaul Foundation · Dunn-French Foundation · Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Lee Bruno Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Lee Bruno Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    8report 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, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 62 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Lee Bruno’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home