Butler Foundation

The Butler Foundation is a small, tightly family-controlled private foundation created by Bill and Sue Butler and administered out of the Corporex Companies headquarters in Covington, KY — the same real-estate firm Bill Butler founded. The board (Chair Marty Butler, Vice Chair Bob Klare, Treasurer Tom Banta, Secretary Christa Butler as of mid-2023, plus trustees William P. Butler, Kevin Butler and Amanda Kolar) reports zero officer compensation, and Executive Director Barbara Schaefer runs day-to-day operations alongside Corporex staff (application questions route to Julie Dickman, a Corporex employee). This is not a large-staff institutional funder; it behaves like a hands-on family giving vehicle with a hard geographic wall around Northern Kentucky (Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties) — 198 of 231 tracked grants (86%) went to Kentucky-based organizations, with only 30 to Ohio and 3 to DC-based national intermediaries.

The Foundation runs three distinct funding tracks, and understanding which one applies is the single most important strategic decision an applicant makes. Charity Grants are the open, general-application track for basic-needs nonprofits (startup, operating, or program support) and are what most new applicants should pursue. Helping Hands Grants are emergency hardship relief funneled through roughly 30 pre-vetted referral organizations (churches, schools, charities) — not something a new nonprofit applies for directly. Butler Scholar Grants fund tuition/scholarship support through the Alliance for Catholic Education and a defined set of Northern Kentucky Catholic high schools and colleges (Covington Catholic, Notre Dame Academy, Newport Central Catholic, Holy Cross, Thomas More University) — again, essentially closed to general applicants outside that network.

First-time applicants should expect a modest opening ask and a relationship that scales with track record: among the top 50 grantees, most of the largest recipients (Northern Ky University Foundation, Society of St. Vincent DePaul-NKY, Samaritan Car Care Clinic) received funding in all five years sampled, indicating the Foundation rewards proven, efficiently-run partners with renewed, sometimes escalating support rather than one-off grants.

Butler Foundation's most recent typical-grant data (n=38 grants) shows a median award of $14,900, an average of $24,314, and a wide range from $174 to $150,000 — meaning most awards cluster well below the average, which is pulled upward by a handful of large education and challenge grants. Historically, across 231 tracked grants totaling $4,717,653, the average award was $20,423.

Geographically, funding is overwhelmingly Kentucky-concentrated: 198 grants (85.7%) to KY organizations, 30 (13%) to Ohio (largely Cincinnati-based regional intermediaries serving NKY residents), and just 3 (1.3%) to DC-based national organizations. By purpose, scholarship support dominates the top of the grantee list — six of the top ten recipients by dollar volume carry "scholarship" or "tuition assistance" purposes (Northern Ky University Foundation $440,000; Alliance for Catholic Urban Education $250,000; Holy Cross High School $225,000; Covington Catholic High School $224,218; Newport Central Catholic $217,500; Notre Dame Academy $175,000), while basic human-needs organizations (Society of St. Vincent DePaul-NKY $438,650; Samaritan Car Care Clinic $410,135; Life Learning Center $150,348) round out the rest. The top 10 grantees alone account for roughly $2.36 million of the $4.72 million tracked — about half of all measured giving concentrated in ten long-term partners.

The Foundation's balance sheet has grown substantially: total assets rose from roughly $3.5 million (2010-2014 average) to $8.1-13.6 million (2018-2022), and stand at $13,471,508 today. That growth was not linear — a $5,544,024 contribution inflow in FY2021 alone (versus $60,000-$425,000 in typical years) appears to have been a step-change event, likely a major gift or bequest, that reset the Foundation's giving capacity. Grants paid grew in tandem, from roughly $550,000/year in 2010-2014 to $841,731-$1,623,042/year in 2018-2022, with FY2022 (the latest complete year) showing $1,186,305 in grants paid against $1,507,544 in total giving and $12,641,378 in assets — a payout rate near 9.4% of assets, well above the 5% federal minimum and consistent with an actively distributing, non-endowment-building family foundation.

Butler Foundation is a fraction of the size of Kentucky's largest private funders — Haile ($283M in assets) and James Graham Brown ($390M) each give roughly 10x Butler's annual amount and operate largely invitation-driven, highly selective processes for six- and seven-figure grants. Butler's real peer in accessibility is Horizon Community Foundation of NKY: both serve the same three-county footprint with an open, competitive application, though Horizon spreads smaller pools of money across many causes through donor-advised funds, while Butler is single-family-directed and concentrated in Catholic institutional and basic-needs giving. For a first-time Northern Kentucky applicant, Butler and Horizon represent the realistic entry points; Haile and JGB are longer-term relationship targets once an organization has scale and a track record.

The most significant recent development is a $2 million challenge grant announced January 21, 2026 backing Holy Cross District High School's new River Cities Scholars Program, aimed at expanding education access for Northern Kentucky students — by far the largest single commitment surfaced in current reporting and a marked step up from the Foundation's typical $14,900 median award. In August 2025, the Notre Dame Urban Education Center successfully met a Butler Foundation matching challenge, with community donations matched dollar-for-dollar to add $100,000 to its 2025 fundraising total. Also in August 2025, the Foundation confirmed it is supporting 73 Butler Scholars for the 2025-26 academic year, following a 'record' cohort celebrated in February 2025 for 2024-25 — indicating the scholarship program has been expanding for at least two consecutive academic years. On the recognition front, Adopt A Class named the Butler Foundation its 'Funder of the Year' at a June 4, 2025 Celebration Breakfast attended by roughly 600 Northern Kentucky educators and business leaders. On governance, the Foundation's IRS filings show Christa Butler succeeding Mary S. Butler as Secretary sometime after July 2023, while Marty Butler (Chair), Bob Klare (Vice Chair), Tom Banta (Treasurer), and Executive Director Barbara Schaefer have remained in place across the available filing years. No other leadership changes or new program lines were identified in current reporting; the pattern is one of steady, escalating investment in existing education-focused relationships (Holy Cross, Notre Dame Urban Education Center, Butler Scholars) rather than expansion into new cause areas.

Confirm eligibility before applying: only 501(c)(3) public charities based in or directly serving financially disadvantaged residents of Northern Kentucky (Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties) qualify — organizations outside that footprint should not apply. Watch for the name collision: the correct site is butlerfoundationnky.org, not the similarly named butlerfoundation.org (an unrelated, New York-based disability-focused foundation) — applying to the wrong site wastes a cycle.

There are two annual deadlines, March 1 (spring cycle) and October 1 (fall cycle), and the Foundation's board typically communicates decisions within about 10 days of its post-deadline meeting. Apply through the online portal (click "New Applicant?" to register with email and password) and have your Tax ID/EIN, IRS determination letter, and recent financial statements ready before starting — the application will not proceed without them.

Use the Foundation's own language when framing a proposal: they explicitly prioritize programs promoting "individual dignity," "gainful employment," "self-sufficiency," "education and life-long learning," long-term outcomes, and efficient, collaborative use of resources. Basic-needs framing performs best in the actual grantee data — shelter, food, clothing, education, legal representation, rehabilitation, substance-abuse counseling, and child-abuse prevention are named priorities, and organizations like Henry Hosea House, Welcome House, Brighton Center, Be Concerned, Faith Community Pharmacy, and Kentucky Refugee Ministries anchor the grantee list on that basis.

Do not request funding for event sponsorships, already-completed projects, or capital campaigns/endowments — the Foundation explicitly excludes these except in rare case-by-case circumstances, and the grantee data (dominated by "operating support" and "program support" purposes) confirms operating dollars are the norm, not capital dollars. Calibrate a first ask modestly: the median past award is $14,900 and the average is $24,314, with a full range of $174 to $150,000 — unless proposing a large matched challenge-grant structure, which the Foundation has shown real appetite for at much greater scale ($2 million to Holy Cross, a $100,000 match to Notre Dame Urban Education Center). Faith-based and Catholic institutional applicants have historically been well represented among top grantees, and expect renewal-based relationships: most top-20 grantees appear in every year sampled, so treat a first grant as the opening of a multi-year relationship rather than a one-time transaction. If you don't get an automated confirmation email after submitting, follow up directly with Julie Dickman (jdickman@corporex.com, 859-292-5515) — that is standard practice, not an exception.