The Schmitz Family Foundation (CO) Annie McBournie is narrowly focused on expanding privately funded K–12 scholarship opportunities for low-income children, directing its entire recorded giving to ACE Scholarships. Grants are explicitly aimed at enabling school choice for disadvantaged families, suggesting the foundation prioritizes direct financial support that increases access to private education rather than broader education-system reform or ancillary services. Its giving is highly targeted and programmatic, consistent with a donor intent to scale scholarships through a single operating partner.
Schmitz Family Foundation CO Annie McBournie directs its recorded giving almost entirely toward one scholarship intermediary: ACE Scholarships. The foundation’s two largest recent grants, $2,107,750 in 2025 and $1,648,000 in 2023, both supported private-school scholarships for children from low-income families in grades K-12. That repeated pairing signals a highly focused approach to funding school access rather than a broad portfolio of education, youth, or community programs. Beyond ACE Scholarships, the record shows smaller grants tied to Catholic education and school-choice advocacy, including support for Bishop Machebeuf High School and Invest in Education. Other awards point to a consistent interest in K-12 education framed through private schooling, Catholic formation, and family-directed choice. The foundation’s grantmaking also includes a handful of programmatic gifts to organizations working in teacher formation, campus ministry, early literacy, and special-needs support, but those amounts remain much smaller than the scholarship grants that define the profile. Overall, the foundation’s giving pattern is narrow, education-centered, and structured around organizations that translate donor support into direct access, school formation, or related infrastructure for private K-12 pathways.
Private-school scholarships are the clearest throughline in the record. In 2025, Schmitz Family Foundation CO Annie McBournie gave $2,107,750 to ACE Scholarships to provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12, following a $1,648,000 grant for the same purpose in 2023. Catholic schooling is another visible theme. The foundation gave $50,000 to Cabrini Teaching Fellows for recruiting, forming, equipping, and housing young Catholic educators in partner Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Denver, and $4,000 to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School for classical Catholic education. The record also includes support for access and formation outside the classroom. Gifts to Focus and St Joan of Arc connect to campus ministry and parish life, while smaller awards to Learning Ally and Fire Foundation point to early-learner support and inclusive education.
$2.4M
$302K
$3.7M
$2.6M
Most grants fall between $7K and $68K, with a median of $9K.
25th Percentile
$7K
Median
$9K
75th Percentile
$68K
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Extremely concentrated: all recorded dollars went to a single grantee (ACE Scholarships) across repeat grants, indicating large, targeted commitments to one core education nonprofit rather than distributed small grants or multiple issue areas.
Notable grantees: ACE Scholarships
The typical grant size is modest relative to a few large scholarship awards: p25 is $6,500, the median is $8,750, and p75 is $67,500. That spread reflects a handful of very large grants alongside many smaller gifts. The foundation’s recorded giving is highly concentrated in one recipient across multiple years, with ACE Scholarships appearing in both 2023 and 2025 at the top of the list. It is a family foundation in structure, and it funds individuals. The latest 990 year on file is 2025. Program-related investments are not part of the record provided.
Grantmaking is regional and heavily centered in Colorado. Seventy-one percent of grants go to recipients in the foundation’s HQ state, and Colorado is also the top state by grant count. Denver appears repeatedly, with recipients such as ACE Scholarships, Seeds of Hope, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, and Oak Rose Fund. Other Colorado recipients include Golden, Littleton, and Sedalia. Outside Colorado, the foundation has also made grants to organizations in New York, New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Florida.
Its recorded giving is centered on K-12 private school scholarships for low-income families. The largest grants in the file both went to ACE Scholarships for scholarships to private schools in grades K-12, and additional gifts support Catholic schooling, teacher formation, and related education access work.
The distribution is mixed: p25 is $6,500, the median grant is $8,750, and p75 is $67,500. That pattern sits alongside a few very large scholarship grants, including a seven-figure award and another near that level.
Yes. ACE Scholarships appears in both 2023 and 2025 with large grants for the same scholarship purpose, and Learning Ally, Seeds of Hope, Fire Foundation, and Hope Haven also recur across years in the recent-grants list.
Colorado receives the largest share of grants by count, and 71% of grants go to recipients in the foundation’s HQ state. Denver is the most frequent city in the list, with additional Colorado gifts to Golden, Littleton, and Sedalia.
The record includes Catholic schools, teacher fellows, campus ministry, and literacy or inclusion groups. Examples include Cabrini Teaching Fellows for recruiting and housing young Catholic educators, Learning Ally for early and struggling learners, and Fire Foundation for inclusive Catholic school culture.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACE Scholarships | Denver, CO | $2,107,750 | 2025 | To provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12. |
| FOCUS | Golden, CO | $75,000 | 2025 | We're a campus outreach that pursues college students with intentionality and love. We invite them into a growing relationship with Jesus and the Catholic faith, inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship and friendships in which they lead others to do the same. |
| Fire Foundation | Littleton, CO | $75,000 | 2025 | Fosters aculture of acceptanceandcompassionthat allows all students to grow together infaith, friendship,andknowledge |
| Cabrini Teaching Fellows | Golden, CO | $50,000 | 2025 | On behalf of partner Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Denver, the Cabrini Teaching Fellows Program recruits, forms, equips, and houses young men and women to inspire a new generation of Catholic educators, improve the stability of Catholic schools, and increase the longevity of the Catholic teaching profession. |
| Invest in Education | Albany, NY | $50,000 | 2025 | This new tax provision provides K-12 scholarships for students across America to attend schools that best meet their educational needs as determined by their parents. Under this new law, $1,700 in tax credits will be available annually for individuals that contribute to non-profit scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs). The funds could be used to pay for tuition, tutoring, special needs services, education technology, among other eligible uses. Scholarships will be funded with private donations, not federal dollars, and donors receive a federal tax credit. |
| Learning Ally | Princeton, NJ | $10,000 | 2025 | A leading nonprofit education solutions organization that transforms the lives of early and struggling learners through proven solutions |
| Seeds of Hope | Denver, CO | $8,000 | 2025 | To cultivate minds and hearts for Christ by striving to make a transformative Catholic education available. |
| St Joan of Arc | Spring Hill, FL | $5,000 | 2025 | We, the parish members of St. Joan of Arc, are conscious of the mandate of Jesus, that we must love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34). It is the measure of all that we do as a community of people dedicated to the love and service of Christ. In order that Jesus be first in our lives, we need to foster the practice of prayer, personal and communal and in particular regular participation in the Eucharist. |
| Oak Rose Fund | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 2025 | To create pathways to human flourishing through K-12 education reform, workforce development initiatives, and other programs. |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School | Denver, CO | $4,000 | 2025 | Under the patronage of our Blessed Mother, the mission of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Classical School is to support parents in their role as the primary educators of their children. classical training draws out of students their natural desire for wisdom and virtue. By fostering a love for truth, beauty, and goodness, we seek to form disciples of Jesus Christ, set free to realize their full potential by living joyfully in accordance with the truth revealed by God through nature and the Catholic Church. |
| Hope Haven | Sedalia, CO | $3,000 | 2025 | Transforming Rwandan families through a holistic approach to education and discipleship, actively demonstrating the love, hope, and truth of Jesus Christ. |
| ACE Scholarships | Denver, CO | $1,876,750 | 2024 | To provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12. |
| FOCUS | Golden, CO | $100,000 | 2024 | We're a campus outreach that pursues college students with intentionality and love. We invite them into a growing relationship with Jesus and the Catholic faith, inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship and friendships in which they lead others to do the same. |
| Colorado Opportunity Fund | Denver, CO | $100,000 | 2024 | The goal of the COF program is to bring awareness to Colorado resident students that state funds exist to help finance their college education and improve access with a particular emphasis on higher education/K-12 linkages and strengthening accountability. |
| Fire Foundation | Littleton, CO | $75,000 | 2024 | Fosters aculture of acceptanceandcompassionthat allows all students to grow together infaith, friendship,andknowledge |
| Arupe Jesuit High School | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 2024 | To serve economically disadvantaged students from inner-city neighborhoods, by enhancing the human experience through Gospel values. |
| FADICA | Washington, DC | $8,750 | 2024 | Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA) connects philanthropists through a membership community to ensure lasting impact in support of a vital Church and human flourishing. FADICA spiritually enriches the Catholic philanthropic community, both individually and collectively. |
| Oak Rose Fund | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 2024 | To create pathways to human flourishing through K-12 education reform, workforce development initiatives, and other programs. |
| Hope Haven | Sedalia, CO | $3,000 | 2024 | Transforming Rwandan families through a holistic approach to education and discipleship, actively demonstrating the love, hope, and truth of Jesus Christ. |
| Seeds of Hope | Denver, CO | $2,500 | 2024 | To cultivate minds and hearts for Christ by striving to make a transformative Catholic education available. |
| Bishop Machebeuf High School | Denver, CO | $2,000 | 2024 | Philanthropy Roundtable pursues a mission to foster excellence in philanthropy, protect philanthropic freedom and help donors advance liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility |
| Blessed Sacrament | Denver, CO | $2,000 | 2024 | Blessed Sacrament Catholic School is an academic community of faith that develops the whole child's mind, heart and soul. We do this by. Faith: Inspiring students to encounter, love, and serve Jesus Christ through the Catholic faith. |
| ACE Scholarships | Denver, CO | $1,648,000 | 2023 | To provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12. |
| Bishop Machebeuf High School | Denver, CO | $125,000 | 2023 | Philanthropy Roundtable pursues a mission to foster excellence in philanthropy, protect philanthropic freedom and help donors advance liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility |
| Learning Ally | Princeton, NJ | $10,000 | 2023 | A leading nonprofit education solutions organization that transforms the lives of early and struggling learners through proven solutions |
| FADICA | Washington, DC | $8,750 | 2023 | Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA) connects philanthropists through a membership community to ensure lasting impact in support of a vital Church and human flourishing. FADICA spiritually enriches the Catholic philanthropic community, both individually and collectively. |
| Seeds of Hope | Denver, CO | $7,000 | 2023 | To cultivate minds and hearts for Christ by striving to make a transformative Catholic education available. |
| Hope Haven | Sedalia, CO | $6,000 | 2023 | Transforming Rwandan families through a holistic approach to education and discipleship, actively demonstrating the love, hope, and truth of Jesus Christ. |
| Fire Foundation | Littleton, CO | $3,000 | 2023 | Fosters aculture of acceptanceandcompassionthat allows all students to grow together infaith, friendship,andknowledge |
ACE Scholarships
$2,107,750To provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12.
FOCUS
$75,000We're a campus outreach that pursues college students with intentionality and love. We invite them into a growing relationship with Jesus and the Catholic faith, inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship and friendships in which they lead others to do the same.
Fire Foundation
$75,000Fosters aculture of acceptanceandcompassionthat allows all students to grow together infaith, friendship,andknowledge
Cabrini Teaching Fellows
$50,000On behalf of partner Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Denver, the Cabrini Teaching Fellows Program recruits, forms, equips, and houses young men and women to inspire a new generation of Catholic educators, improve the stability of Catholic schools, and increase the longevity of the Catholic teaching profession.
Invest in Education
$50,000This new tax provision provides K-12 scholarships for students across America to attend schools that best meet their educational needs as determined by their parents. Under this new law, $1,700 in tax credits will be available annually for individuals that contribute to non-profit scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs). The funds could be used to pay for tuition, tutoring, special needs services, education technology, among other eligible uses. Scholarships will be funded with private donations, not federal dollars, and donors receive a federal tax credit.
A leading nonprofit education solutions organization that transforms the lives of early and struggling learners through proven solutions
Seeds of Hope
$8,000To cultivate minds and hearts for Christ by striving to make a transformative Catholic education available.
St Joan of Arc
$5,000We, the parish members of St. Joan of Arc, are conscious of the mandate of Jesus, that we must love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34). It is the measure of all that we do as a community of people dedicated to the love and service of Christ. In order that Jesus be first in our lives, we need to foster the practice of prayer, personal and communal and in particular regular participation in the Eucharist.
To create pathways to human flourishing through K-12 education reform, workforce development initiatives, and other programs.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School
$4,000Under the patronage of our Blessed Mother, the mission of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Classical School is to support parents in their role as the primary educators of their children. classical training draws out of students their natural desire for wisdom and virtue. By fostering a love for truth, beauty, and goodness, we seek to form disciples of Jesus Christ, set free to realize their full potential by living joyfully in accordance with the truth revealed by God through nature and the Catholic Church.
Transforming Rwandan families through a holistic approach to education and discipleship, actively demonstrating the love, hope, and truth of Jesus Christ.
To provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12.
FOCUS
$100,000We're a campus outreach that pursues college students with intentionality and love. We invite them into a growing relationship with Jesus and the Catholic faith, inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship and friendships in which they lead others to do the same.
Colorado Opportunity Fund
$100,000The goal of the COF program is to bring awareness to Colorado resident students that state funds exist to help finance their college education and improve access with a particular emphasis on higher education/K-12 linkages and strengthening accountability.
Fire Foundation
$75,000Fosters aculture of acceptanceandcompassionthat allows all students to grow together infaith, friendship,andknowledge
Arupe Jesuit High School
$10,000To serve economically disadvantaged students from inner-city neighborhoods, by enhancing the human experience through Gospel values.
Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA) connects philanthropists through a membership community to ensure lasting impact in support of a vital Church and human flourishing. FADICA spiritually enriches the Catholic philanthropic community, both individually and collectively.
To create pathways to human flourishing through K-12 education reform, workforce development initiatives, and other programs.
Transforming Rwandan families through a holistic approach to education and discipleship, actively demonstrating the love, hope, and truth of Jesus Christ.
To cultivate minds and hearts for Christ by striving to make a transformative Catholic education available.
Bishop Machebeuf High School
$2,000Philanthropy Roundtable pursues a mission to foster excellence in philanthropy, protect philanthropic freedom and help donors advance liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility
Blessed Sacrament
$2,000Blessed Sacrament Catholic School is an academic community of faith that develops the whole child's mind, heart and soul. We do this by. Faith: Inspiring students to encounter, love, and serve Jesus Christ through the Catholic faith.
ACE Scholarships
$1,648,000To provide children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12.
Bishop Machebeuf High School
$125,000Philanthropy Roundtable pursues a mission to foster excellence in philanthropy, protect philanthropic freedom and help donors advance liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility
A leading nonprofit education solutions organization that transforms the lives of early and struggling learners through proven solutions
Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA) connects philanthropists through a membership community to ensure lasting impact in support of a vital Church and human flourishing. FADICA spiritually enriches the Catholic philanthropic community, both individually and collectively.
To cultivate minds and hearts for Christ by striving to make a transformative Catholic education available.
Transforming Rwandan families through a holistic approach to education and discipleship, actively demonstrating the love, hope, and truth of Jesus Christ.
Fire Foundation
$3,000Fosters aculture of acceptanceandcompassionthat allows all students to grow together infaith, friendship,andknowledge