Although The Kara Foundation's roots are in healthcare and social services funding, we consider ourselves to be 'go anywhere' philanthropists, who are willing to consider any project that meets our requirements.  Take a look at our 'Gallery' page for some examples of our unconventional approach to giving.

The most important traits we look for are  prudent, thrifty management and a need for our assistance.  There are plenty of worthy causes that are over-funded and/or poorly managed.   These don't interest us.  We also avoid funding charities that act as 'middlemen' without  taking direct action themselves.  

Not at this time.  Instead, we are always on the lookout for opportunities where our capital, both human and monetary, can make a difference.

St. Augustine spoke of 'hope' having two daughters: anger and courage.   Anger at the way things are, and courage to try to change them.  We agree, and our motto stems from that belief. 

One of the biggest differences is that we are not content to merely throw money at problems.  Instead we prefer to partner with our grantees and help them succeed by using our knowledge and connections in the community, in addition to our monetary resources.  Our members have experience in diverse fields including education, law, agriculture and marketing, and we're always happy to share what we've learned with our grantees.

We believe that having regular face to face interactions with our grantees is important in order to monitor their success and keep up to date on ways we can better serve them.   Because our decision makers are based in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin, we generally prefer to fund projects in those areas (although we make exceptions from time to time).