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Bierman Family Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Bierman Family Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.4M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Public Benefit$4.9MRecreation & Sports$4.4MCrime & Legal$1.5MHousing & Shelter$1.1MPublic Safety & Disaster$954kEducation$948kArts & Culture$723kHuman Services$585kOther$0
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $74k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $340k
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.4M
$115,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$32M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CITY OF MERRILL$1,381,075
WISCONSIN ILLINOIS SENIOR HOUSING$1,000,000
THREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING INC$125,000
MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC$115,000
HAVEN INC$100,000
LINCOLN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC$44,141
NORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION$30,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, 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.

area typical 7%WISCONSIN VFW FOUNDATION: $1.2M → 10%NORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $480k → 11%TOMAHAWK SCHOOLS: $1.6M → 11%WISCONSIN VFW FOUNDATION: $1.0M → 10%NTC FOUNDATION: $175k → 11%CITY OF TOMAHAWK: $1.5M → 11%WISCONSIN VFW FOUNDATION: $500k → 10%NTC FOUNDATION: $175k → 11%MERRILL HOMELESS: $155k → 11%THREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING INC: $125k → 11%THREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING INC: $125k → 11%THREE RIVERS TEMPORARY HOUSING: $120k → 11%THREE RIVERS TEMPORARY HOUSING: $100k → 11%THREE RIVERS TEMPORARY HOUSING: $100k → 11%MERRILL HOMELESS: $70k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $1.4M → 11%WISCONSIN ILLINOIS SENIOR HOUSING: $1.0M → 11%MERRILL PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $995k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $713k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $650k → 11%LINCOLN CO SHERIFF: $606k → 11%MERRILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $600k → 11%LINCOLN COUNTY WI: $533k → 11%LINCOLN COUNTY WI: $421k → 11%TOWN OF CORNING: $400k → 11%BELL TOWER: $302k → 11%LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF: $297k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $277k → 11%MERRILL MEMORIAL PARK INC: $250k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $240k → 11%OPTIMIST CLUB OF MERRILL WISCONSIN: $215k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $210k → 11%BELL TOWER: $150k → 11%BELL TOWER RESIDENCE INC: $133k → 11%MERRILL PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $125k → 11%MERRILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $123k → 11%HAVENINC: $115k → 11%MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC: $115k → 11%HAVEN INC: $100k → 11%HAVEN INC: $100k → 11%MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC: $100k → 11%MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC: $100k → 11%HAVEN INC: $100k → 11%HAVEN INC: $100k → 11%CITY OF MERRILL: $96k → 11%MERRILL FIRE DEPARTMENT: $90k → 11%MERRILL HOMELESS SHELTER: $75k → 11%MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC: $75k → 11%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 7% of Bierman Family Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in WI; by stated purpose, 93%.

Bierman Family Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 14 repeat orgs$6.4M to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
16

Total granted

$12M
$5.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+7%
+15%

Still filing today

36%
13%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 63% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Housing & ShelterPublic BenefitAnimalsOther
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

  • NT
    NORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $970k · revenue +19% · 52% of their budget
  • MC
    MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $390k · revenue +7% · 53% of their budget
  • TR
    THREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING
    2× · 2024–2025 · $250k · revenue +7% · 64% of their budget

Funded once

  • TS
    TOMAHAWK SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2020 · $1.6M
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $1.5M
  • LC
    LINCOLN CO SHERIFF
    one grant, 2021 · $606k
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
Merrill Memorial Library

To provide free public library services to the town of yarmouth, maine and nearby communities.

—
2
New London Heritage Historical Society Inc

Preserve New London WI Heritage and History

—
3
Missaukee Humane Society

Humane treatement of animals

Animals
4
Menominee Animal Shelter Inc

Caring for stray cats and dogs.

Animals
5
Mercy Crest Housing Inc

Residential retirement living

—
6
Missaukee County Commission On Aging

To provide services and programs that promote wellness and independence and advocate for the life with dignity for the aging population and their caregivers.

Human Services
7
Marion Historical Society Inc

Promote history of marion iowa

Arts & Culture
8
Animal Protection League of Mercer
Animals
9
Ohio County & Independent Agri Societies

To support local county fair

—
10
Meyers Lake Preserve Inc

To preserve the ecosystem of meyers lake in meyers lake village, ohio

Environment
11
Rock County Historical Society

To preserve the history of rock county, minnesota

—
12
Berlin River Riders Inc

Provide snowmobile trails with funding from WI Dept of Natural Resources & other snowmobile clubs.

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bell Tower Residence Inc; the most unlike its peers is Three Rivers United Temporary Housing. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

9 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. 9 of the 32 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/9
Grantees still filing
5/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CITY OF MERRILL: $3,587,451 · OtherCITY OF MERRILLTOMAHAWK SCHOOLS: $1,555,242 · OtherTOMAHAWK SCHOOLSIndividual grant recipient: $1,500,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMERRILL PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $1,122,400 · OtherMERRILL PUBLIC SCHOOLSWISCONSIN ILLINOIS SENIOR HOUSING: $1,000,000 · OtherWISCONSIN ILLINOIS SENIOR HOUSINGNORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $970,000 · OtherNORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INCLINCOLN COUNTY WI: $954,350 · OtherLINCOLN COUNTY WIMERRILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $723,000 · OtherLINCOLN CO SHERIFF: $606,143 · Other+19 more: $3,399,984 · Other+19 moreWISCONSIN VFW FOUNDATION INC: $2,700,000 · Public BenefitWISCONSIN VFW FO…MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC: $390,000 · Housing & ShelterTHREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING: $250,000 · Housing & ShelterLINCOLN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETYINC: $44,141 · Animals
Other$15,418,570Public Benefit$2,700,000Housing & Shelter$640,000Animals$44,141

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWISCONSIN VFW FOUNDATION INC: $2,700,000 over 3y, 84% of budgetNORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $970,000 over 8y, 52% of budgetMERRILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $723,000 over 2y, 91% of budgetMERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC: $390,000 over 4y, 53% of budgetMERRILL MEMORIAL PARK INC: $250,000 over 1y, 63% of budgetTHREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING: $250,000 over 2y, 64% of budgetLINCOLN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETYINC: $44,141 over 1y, 8.3% 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.

  • Who funds WISCONSIN VFW FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds NORTHCENTRAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MERRILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds MERRILL COMMUNITY HOMELESS CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds MERRILL MEMORIAL PARK INC ↗
  • Who funds THREE RIVERS UNITED TEMPORARY HOUSING ↗
  • Who funds OPTIMIST CLUB OF MERRILL WISCONSIN INC ↗
  • Who funds BELL TOWER RESIDENCE INC ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETYINC ↗

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Church Mutual Insuran…
Church Mutual Insurance Company Foundation IncWI15.5× affinity5 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Church Mutual Insurance Company Foundation Inc

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 Bierman Family Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bierman Family Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Bierman Family Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Bierman Family 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 32 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Bierman Family’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