David Grohne — The Summit Academy Capital Campaign

David Grohne Qualification

David F and Margaret T Grohne Family Foundation · Foundation · Priority: High · Capacity: $1,000,000

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Notes

Pulled from Partnership Schools Annual Report, 2025.

Research from August 2026:

David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Family Foundation — Giving, FY2022–FY2024

Grohne Family Foundation — Giving, FY2022–FY2024

Total charitable giving was ~$33.8M over three years ($10.0M → $10.3M → $13.5M) across ~117 grants. Education is a real but secondary program area — Hillsdale is the anchor, but conservation and wildlife (Ducks Unlimited alone) dominate the portfolio.

3-year giving total: ~$33.8M
Education total (narrow: K-12 + higher ed + civic + choice policy): ~$3.5–4.5M, or ~10–13% of total giving
Hillsdale College: $500,000/year every year — the consistent higher-ed anchor
Other recurring education: Leadership Institute ($100K/yr), Field School Chicago ($100K), Partnership Schools ($100K in 2023), Purdue Polytechnic, plus small Catholic school gifts (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Philip Neri); FY2024 adds KIPP Foundation and EdChoice (both new)
Actual portfolio driver: conservation & wildlife — Ducks Unlimited $7.5M in FY2022 alone, plus Delta Waterfowl, Sportsmen's Alliance, Wetlands Initiative, Illinois Conservation, Max McGraw Wildlife
Other major clusters: healthcare (Morris Hospital, Salk, Mayo, IU School of Medicine, Phoenix Children's), veterans (Wounded Warriors, DAV, Luke's Wings), conservative policy (Heritage, Cato, Leadership Institute)

Bottom line: Hillsdale is a durable $500K/year commitment from Grohne, but characterizing them as an "education foundation" would be wrong — they're primarily a conservation-and-outdoors foundation with a meaningful higher-ed and Catholic-school sidecar. If you're approaching them, lead with Hillsdale as the reference relationship, but recognize that education competes with much larger conservation commitments for their attention.

Open Next Actions

Due	Action
2026-09-03	f/u on LOI package

Activity History + Log

Date	Type	Method	Notes
2026-08-31	Next Action Complete	—	Completed: mail LOI package
2026-08-26	Next Action Complete	—	Completed: draft letter which combines Outdoor & campus — done - ready to mail - waiting on printer

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