The Aaron Semenske Scholarship Foundation makes targeted, locally-focused gifts to support secondary education in the Brookfield/Riverside-Brookfield community. Its giving is concentrated—a single, sizable unrestricted grant to the Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation—indicating a preference for direct support of local high school programs and student opportunities. The foundation appears to prioritize immediate, flexible funding that school leaders can deploy where it's most needed, likely including scholarships, extracurricular programs, or general academic support.
Concentrated, one-off large grant to a single local grantee; focused geographic giving with unrestricted funding rather than many small or diversified gifts.
The Aaron Semenske Scholarship Foundation’s recent giving is anchored by one large unrestricted award to the Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation, paired with individual scholarship support for Brookfield students. That combination shows a local education funder that works in two ways: direct support for a school foundation and tuition assistance for named students. In 2025, the foundation gave $87,924 for unrestricted educational purposes to the Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation in Riverside, Illinois, then followed with $4,000 scholarships to Nicolas Novak, Hayden Marrs, Bryce Paco, and Mary Izzo, all in Brookfield. The pattern points to a scholarship program built around the Brookfield/Riverside-Brookfield school community rather than broad, multi-state grantmaking. A smaller set of 2023 awards continued the same student-centered approach, with additional educational support grants to Brookfield recipients. Across the available record, the foundation’s work is tightly tied to secondary education and college access for students connected to the local area.
One clear theme is secondary-school support. The foundation gave $87,924 to the Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation for unrestricted educational purposes, indicating flexible backing for the local school community. Another theme is college access through individual aid: Nicolas Novak received $4,000 in 2025 for college tuition assistance, one of several student awards in the recent record. Educational support also appears as a separate purpose in 2023, when Mary Izzo, Luke Gentile, David Keen, and Nicolas Novak each received $3,000 grants in Brookfield. Across these awards, the foundation’s support is centered on students rather than institutions alone. The recent grants show a mix of school-based funding and direct aid to named individuals, all connected to education in the same local Illinois community.
The foundation’s typical grant size sits at $3,000 at the 25th percentile, $4,000 at the median, and $4,000 at the 75th percentile, which reflects a tight cluster of student-level awards. The recent record also includes one much larger unrestricted grant, showing that the foundation can make a separate institutional gift alongside individual scholarships. The pattern appears recurring: Mary Izzo and Nicolas Novak each received grants in both 2023 and 2025, suggesting an ongoing scholarship relationship rather than one-time support. The foundation runs an active scholarship program, Aaron Semenske Scholarship, focused on higher education and student support. That program does not accept unsolicited applications.
$104K
$0
-$1K
$119K
Most grants fall between $3K and $4K, with a median of $4K.
25th Percentile
$3K
Median
$4K
75th Percentile
$4K
About 100% of grants go to recipients in IL.
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Notable grantees: Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation
Grantmaking is entirely in Illinois, with 100% of grants going to recipients in the HQ state. The recent record is concentrated in Brookfield and Riverside, both in the same local area. Brookfield appears repeatedly among individual recipients, while the largest institutional grant went to Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation in Riverside. The active scholarship program is also tied to Illinois, reinforcing a local footprint rather than a regional or national one.
Its giving is centered on education, especially secondary school support and college tuition assistance for students in the Brookfield and Riverside-Brookfield community. The recent record includes a large unrestricted gift to Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation and individual scholarship awards to local students.
The distribution is narrow: p25 is $3,000, median is $4,000, and p75 is $4,000. That indicates most awards are in the $3,000 to $4,000 range, with one larger institutional grant standing apart from the student scholarships.
It funds both. The record includes an institutional grant to Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation and multiple individual scholarships to students in Brookfield, including awards for college tuition assistance and educational support.
The active Aaron Semenske Scholarship program does not accept unsolicited applications. It is described as an annual scholarship program that has awarded individual student scholarships from 1997 to 2015.
It is local. All listed grants went to recipients in Illinois, and the recent recipients are in Brookfield and Riverside. The geographic scope of giving is marked as local, with 100% of grants going to recipients in the HQ state.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation | Riverside, IL | $87,924 | 2025 | Unrestricted educational purposes |
| Bryce Paco | Brookfield, IL | $4,000 | 2025 | Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10) |
| Mary Izzo | Brookfield, IL | $4,000 | 2025 | Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10) |
| Nicolas Novak | Brookfield, IL | $4,000 | 2025 | Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10) |
| Hayden Marrs | Brookfield, IL | $4,000 | 2025 | Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10) |
| Nicolas Novak | Brookfield, IL | $3,000 | 2023 | Educational Support |
| Mary Izzo | Brookfield, IL | $3,000 | 2023 | Educational Support |
| Luke Gentile | Brookfield, IL | $3,000 | 2023 | Educational Support |
| David Keen | Brookfield, IL | $3,000 | 2023 | Educational Support |
Riverside Brookfield High School Educational Foundation
$87,924Unrestricted educational purposes
Bryce Paco
$4,000Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10)
Mary Izzo
$4,000Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10)
Nicolas Novak
$4,000Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10)
Hayden Marrs
$4,000Scholorship for college tutition assistance (See statement 10)
Nicolas Novak
$3,000Educational Support
Mary Izzo
$3,000Educational Support
Luke Gentile
$3,000Educational Support
David Keen
$3,000Educational Support