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Badger Meter Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Badger Meter Foundation Inc

Its FY2022 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$157k
Granted FY2021
44
Grants FY2021
2
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

93% of Badger Meter Foundation Inc’s FY2022 grant dollars went to Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2022 names 23 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2021, the last year Badger Meter Foundation Inc named its own grantees at scale: 30 organizations, $157k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

0
’20
30
’21
23
’22

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2022.

Philanthropy$2.1MHealth$94kEnvironment$66kHuman Services$34kFood & Nutrition$24kEducation$23kYouth Development$15kArts & Culture$14kOther$0
02FY2021 · 44 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k42 grants · $97k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $60k
$2,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$30,000
MILWAUKEE WATER COUNCIL$30,000
Individual grant recipient$7,500
MILWAUKEE COUNTY ZOO$5,000
ALVERNO COLLEGE$5,000
HUNGER TASK FORCE$5,000
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM$5,000
FEEDING AMERICA SECOND HARVEST$5,000
ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION OF SE WISCONSIN$3,000
PENFIELD CHIRLDREN'S CENTER$3,000
UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER$3,000
BROWN DEER SCHOLARSHIP FUND$3,000
BENEDICT CENTER$2,500
VERSITI BLOOD RESEARCH INSTITUTE$2,500
GRAND AVENUE CLUB$2,500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–22, $33k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 83% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%DESIGNING DREAMS: $3k → 9%DESIGNING DREAMS: $3k → 9%MILWAUKEE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENCE: $3k → 17%MILWAUKEE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENCE: $2k → 17%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER: $4k → 17%JOURNEY HOUSE: $3k → 17%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER: $3k → 17%JOURNEY HOUSE: $2k → 17%SOJOURNER FAMILY PEACE CENTER: $3k → 17%SOJOURNER FAMILY PEACE CENTER: $2k → 17%HEAR WISCONSIN: $3k → 17%SILVER SPRING NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER: $3k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$282k · 30 repeat orgs$202k to everyone else

30 repeat relationships: 30 still active in FY2021, 0 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call). Read against FY2021, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
1

Total granted

$282k
$164k

Still filing today

50%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $13k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22
Human ServicesHealthEducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PC
    PENFIELD CHILDREN'S CENTER INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $8k · revenue +13%
  • UC
    UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $7k · revenue +22%
  • AUDIO & BRAILLE LITERACY ENHANCEMENT INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $6k · revenue +8%

Funded once

  • S
    SEE
    one grant, 2020 · $164k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Wisconsin Policy Forum Inc

We conduct impartial public policy research and analysis to drive informed debate and effective decision-making in the state of wisconsin.

Public Benefit
2
Milwaukee Parks Foundation Inc

Engage our community in supporting milwaukee county parks to collectively steward a thriving park system.

Environment
3
Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee Inc

To promote interests and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector through strengthening organizational capacity, expanding volunteerism and encouraging collaboration.

—
4
Disability Rights Wisconsin Inc

Legal protection and advocacy to protect the rights of people with disabilities in wisconsin.

—
5
Radio Milwaukee Inc

To reach a new generation of radio listeners on air, online and in the community with a compelling selection of music and public affairs programming. the corporation celebrates milwaukee music, arts, heritage, and culture by supporting and…

Arts & Culture
6
Portal Inc

To enhance opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (i/dd) to participate fully in their community as valued neighbors, productive workers and respected citizens. portal, inc. assists more than 200 adults…

Employment
7
Milwaukee Community Service Corps Inc

The milwaukee community service corps (mcsc) is a non-profit vocational training organization providing employment, education and life skills to training youth adults and unemployed and underemployed of milwaukee, wisconsin.

Employment
8
Milwaukee Excellence Inc

The mission of the organization is to provide a high quality education for all students with choices after graduation that will provide financial stability, inspire personal freedom to builda legacy.

—
9
Pathways of Wisconsin Inc

Pathways of wisconsin provides supported employment opportunities and empowerment through quality, person-centered programming for individuals of all abilities.

Human Services
10
Milwaukee Development Corporation

-instigate, implement, participate in and promote such activities as shall, in the judgment of mdc, tend to support the general community interest in a strong, vital, aesthetically exciting and economically viable greater milwaukee…

Community Improvement
11
East Side Business Improvement Dist

Building a coalition to create Milwaukee most dynamic neighborhood.

Community Improvement
12
Milwaukee Public Theatre Inc

Making the arts accessible to all

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Milwaukee Center for Independence Inc; the most unlike its peers is Epilepsy Families Southeast Wi Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

32 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 32 of the 51 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/32
Grantees still filing
20/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC: $2,111,609 · PhilanthropyGREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INCSEE: $164,050 · OtherSEEMILWAUKEE WATER COUNCIL: $60,000 · OtherMILWAUKEE WATER C…CHILDRENS HOSPITAL: $60,000 · OtherCHILDRENS HOSPITA…Individual grant recipient: $15,500 · Other+28 more: $107,250 · Other+28 moreUNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $7,000 · Human ServicesDESIGNING DREAMS: $5,500 · Human ServicesSOJOURNER FAMILY PEACE CENTER INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesJOURNEY HOUSE INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesMILWAUKEE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $4,500 · Human ServicesSILVER SPRING NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER INC: $3,000 · Human ServicesHEAR Wisconsin Inc: $2,500 · Human ServicesPENFIELD CHILDREN'S CENTER INC: $8,000 · HealthAUDIO & BRAILLE LITERACY ENHANCEMENT INC: $5,500 · HealthFroedtert Hospital Foundation Inc: $2,500 · HealthEPILEPSY FAMILIES SOUTHEAST WI INC: $2,000 · HealthMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureFIRST STAGE MILWAUKEE: $3,500 · Arts & CultureALVERNO COLLEGE: $8,000 · EducationSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $500 · Education+1 more: $100 · EducationBest Buddies International Inc: $5,000 · International
Philanthropy$2,111,609Other$406,800Human Services$32,500Health$18,000Arts & Culture$13,500Education$8,600International$5,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC: $2,111,609 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetHUNGER TASK FORCE INC: $13,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALVERNO COLLEGE: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPENFIELD CHILDREN'S CENTER INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAUDIO & BRAILLE LITERACY ENHANCEMENT INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetBENEDICT CENTER INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDESIGNING DREAMS: $5,500 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetSOJOURNER FAMILY PEACE CENTER INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBest Buddies International Inc: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJOURNEY HOUSE INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF WASHINGTON COUNTY INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFIRST STAGE MILWAUKEE: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetURBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSILVER SPRING NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINTERFAITH CAREGIVERS INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetGRAND AVENUE CLUB INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEXT DOOR FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEAR Wisconsin Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFroedtert Hospital Foundation Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEPILEPSY FAMILIES SOUTHEAST WI INC: $2,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY NORTHWOODS INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMILWAUKEE HOMELESS VETERANS INITIATIVE INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSafe & Sound Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF SCHLITZ AUDUBON NATURE CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWISCONSIN PHILANTHROPY NETWORK INC: $750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PARKSIDE FOUNDATION INC: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Green Bay Packers Fou…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Greater Milwaukee Fou…Anon Charitable TrustBaird Foundation IncEvan & Marion Helfaer…United Way of Greater…Milwaukee Jewish Fede…Peck Foundation Milwa…Otto Bremer TrustJoseph and Vera Zilbe…Melitta S and Joan M …
Green Bay Packers FoundationWI38.6× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Green Bay Packers Foundation · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Anon Charitable Trust · Baird Foundation Inc · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Milwaukee Jewish Federation Inc · Peck Foundation Milwaukee Ltd · Otto Bremer Trust · Joseph and Vera Zilber Family Foundation Inc · Melitta S and Joan M Pick Charitable Trust

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Badger Meter Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Badger Meter Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Best Buddies International Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Badger Meter Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Badger Meter Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 51 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Badger Meter’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home