Donahue Foundation

The Donahue Foundation is a small Colorado-based family foundation (Centennial, CO; ~$3.4M assets) whose grantmaking is driven by the personal mission of founder William L. Donahue: making Catholic private school education financially accessible to families who cannot otherwise afford tuition. Approach this funder as a faith-aligned, education-focused family foundation — not a generalist or issue-agnostic grantmaker. The strongest theory-of-change alignment is: K-12 Catholic school scholarship/tuition assistance, parish-affiliated educational programs, and organizations that directly remove financial barriers for low-and-middle-income Catholic families. Because the board is composed of the founder's children and great-grandchildren (a three-generation family board that meets once annually in spring), relationships and long-term trust matter more than cold applications. Before approaching, confirm you have a Catholic-school, tuition-assistance, or Catholic-education nexus. Avoid pitching general-purpose nonprofits, secular education reform, or out-of-mission causes — they will not pass board screening.

Cumulative grants from 1990-2025 total $8,726,684, implying a long-run average of roughly $240K-$280K per year distributed across a modest number of grantees — consistent with a ~$3.4M asset base and a ~5% minimum payout requirement. Expect individual grant sizes in the $5,000 to $50,000 range with occasional larger commitments to anchor grantees. Geographic focus skews toward Colorado (Denver metro, where the founder built his paper-distribution business) and likely extends to select out-of-state Catholic schools with family ties. Sector focus is overwhelmingly Catholic K-12 education and tuition assistance, with possible smaller allocations to Catholic parishes, religious orders, and Catholic higher education. Frequency is annual — the board meets once a year in spring to decide the following calendar year's grants, so the docket is set well in advance and off-cycle requests are unlikely to succeed.

Compared to other small family foundations (under $5M in assets) with a Catholic-education focus, Donahue is mid-pack in size but above average in longevity and payout consistency.

Donahue's competitive edge is its multigenerational family engagement — three generations on the board signal long-term continuity and relationship-based giving. Its ceiling is relatively low compared to flagship Catholic-education funders like GHR Foundation or the Healey Education Foundation.

Public-facing activity is limited to annual grant reports posted at donahuefoundation.org/grants, with disclosed annual totals from 2012 forward (cumulative $8.7M since 1990). No press releases, program announcements, or leadership changes are publicly visible. The board continues to expand — three great-grandchildren have recently joined alongside the five children of the founder, signaling a multigenerational succession plan and likely continued commitment to the Catholic-education mission into the 2030s and beyond. The spring 2026 board meeting would be the relevant decision point for calendar-year 2027 grants. There is no indication of a strategic shift, rebranding, or new program area — expect continuity with the founder's original intent.

(1) Lead with the Catholic-education, tuition-assistance alignment in the first paragraph — board time is scarce and off-mission asks get filtered quickly. (2) Establish a warm introduction before submitting anything in writing; this is a family board, not a staffed foundation with an open RFP. Ask your diocesan development office, Catholic school network, or existing Donahue grantees for an introduction. (3) Time your outreach for fall/winter so the board can consider your request at the spring meeting for the following calendar year's disbursement. (4) Keep asks modest — $10K-$25K is more likely to succeed than a six-figure request on a first ask. (5) Include clear budget showing tuition assistance dollars going directly to qualifying low/middle-income Catholic families, with named schools and student counts. (6) If you are not Catholic-education focused, do not apply — use peer funders like GHR Foundation or local diocesan foundations instead. Note: web research was limited to the foundation's own Squarespace site; no third-party coverage or 990 commentary surfaced in standard web queries.