About Cise
CISE empowers students and strengthens their families and communities by providing access to a values-based Catholic education at inner-city elementary schools and Catholic high schools. Through strong partnerships and vital support services, we create safe, nurturing environments where children gain the foundational values they need for lifelong success.
Focus Areas
K-12 educationCatholic/values-based educationScholarships and financial aidTeacher recruitment and retentionSchool safety and capital improvementsCareer & technical education / workforce development
Who They Fund
low-income elementary school studentsfamilies from low-income communities
Funding Style
start-up capital / seed fundingcapital projects (property acquisition & redevelopment)
About Cise
Cise’s largest recent grant was a $10,679,332 award to Xavier Jesuit Academy in Cincinnati for the acquisition and redevelopment of property and other start-up expenses to open an elementary school for low-income students. That single grant reflects the foundation’s broader pattern: it backs Catholic education infrastructure, tuition support, and school capacity-building for children in Cincinnati’s inner-city communities. Across the recent grants list, the foundation also appears in recurring mission support to CISE Foundation and in repeated tuition support awards to schools serving students from underserved families. The giving profile points to a funder that works at both the school-creation level and the student-support level. On one side, Cise has supported opening a new elementary school and funding capital and start-up needs. On the other, it regularly helps existing schools cover tuition assistance, so families can access Catholic education. The foundation’s stated focus areas include K-12 education, Catholic and values-based education, scholarships and financial aid, teacher recruitment and retention, school safety and capital improvements, and career and technical education/workforce development.
What Cise Funds
A major thread in Cise’s grantmaking is tuition assistance for Catholic schools. The foundation gave $357,200 to St Francis de Sales School in 2025 for tuition support, alongside similar tuition awards to Holy Family School, St Boniface School, Corryville Catholic Elementary School, St Joseph School, and St Francis Seraph School. Another clear area is school launch and redevelopment. Cise awarded $7,988,629 to Xavier Jesuit Academy in 2023 for acquisition and redevelopment of the intended property and other start-up expenses, following a larger 2024 award for the same purpose. That shows support for new elementary-school capacity, not just ongoing operations. Cise also funds student access through renewable high school scholarships. Its CISE High School Scholarships program provides four-year scholarships of $4,000 per year for students from underserved Cincinnati communities attending Catholic high schools.
How Cise Gives
Typical grants are sizable: the p25 is $100,000, the median is $270,725, and the p75 is $309,975. The recent list also includes very large one-time awards tied to school launch and property redevelopment, alongside a stream of recurring tuition-support grants at roughly similar levels across multiple years. Several recipients appear in consecutive years, including St Francis de Sales School, Holy Family School, St Boniface School, St Joseph School, Corryville Catholic Elementary School, St Francis Seraph School, Romero Academy at Resurrection, St Cecilia, and St Williams. Cise operates as a foundation rather than a donor-advised fund, does not fund individuals, and does not make program-related investments. The CISE-SGO program accepts unsolicited donations, while some operating and capital-support programs are invite-only.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$2.7M
Total Assets
$12M
Total Revenue
$6.4M
Total Expenses
$7M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $100K and $310K, with a median of $271K.
25th Percentile
$100K
Median
$271K
75th Percentile
$310K
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Philip R McHugh
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