· Private foundation
Bidwell Foundation
Its FY2020 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2020
- Under $10k4 grants · $15k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $36k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| UW EAU CLAIRE COLLEGE | $16,000 |
| UW PLATTEVILLE COLLEGE | $10,000 |
| CITY OF PORTAGE - PARK&REC DEPT | $10,000 |
| UW LACROSSE COLLEGE | $5,000 |
| 2ND HARVEST FOOD PANTRY | $4,000 |
| PORTAGE FOOD PANTRY | $4,000 |
| COLUMBIA COUNTY VISITORS BUREAU | $2,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
11 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2020, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2020, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- UPUW PLATTEVILLE COLLEGE4× · 2017–2020 · $36k
- UEUW EAU CLAIRE COLLEGE2× · 2019–2020 · $26k
- ULUW LACROSSE COLLEGE3× · 2018–2020 · $23k
Funded once
- PEPORTAGE ELKS CLUB 675one grant, 2018 · $6k
- SJST JOHNS LUTHERN SCHOOLone grant, 2017 · $5k
- SMST MARYS CATHOLIC SCHOOLone grant, 2017 · $5k
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.
2 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. 2 of the 21 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Bidwell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bidwell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Bidwell’s filings →