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Brzezinski Family Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Brzezinski Family Fund

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$4k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Human Services$34kEducation$19kHealth$18kReligion$6kInternational$4kHousing & Shelter$3kPhilanthropy$500Food & Nutrition$100Other$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$3,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$14k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Make a Wish Foundation$3,000
Soaring Spirits International$1,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–19, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Journey House: $25k → 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.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$38k · 6 repeat orgs$52k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +168% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
18

Total granted

$38k
$51k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+168%
+7%

Still filing today

67%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthEducationHousing & ShelterInternationalHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • LH
    LUKE HOMAN FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2019–2021 · $7k · revenue +98%
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF JOURNEY HOUSE ACTIONS RWANDA INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $3k · revenue +193%
  • MILWAUKEE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $1k · revenue +168%

Funded once

  • JOURNEY HOUSE INC
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -46%
  • UO
    University of Wisconsin
    one grant, 2021 · $9k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $3k
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
Friendship House of Milwaukee
—
2
Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha County Inc

Seeking to put god's love into action. habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.

—
3
Wisconsin Lutheran Home Ministries Inc

To share christ's love as we serve the spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional needs of people entrusted to our care and others whose lives we touch.

—
4
Harwood Place Inc

Harwood place, inc. is dedicated to serving older adults and enriching the lives of those we touch by providing compassionate and loving care.

Housing & Shelter
5
Jobswork Mke Inc

Jobswork mke, inc has been formed to help individuals lift themselves out of poverty to self-sufficiency through employment, including by, but not limited to, (a) providing comprehensive job readiness and (b) supporting the development and…

Human Services
6
House of Hope Green Bay Inc

House of hope green bay provides a safe and supportive place where youth and young families with children experiencing homelessness will be come confident, independent, and successful members of our community. house of hope envisions a…

—
7
Sunshine House Inc

Sunshine resources of door county enriches lives to nurture and inspire the human spirit with care, compassion, partnership and integrity.

Human Services
8
Jw House

Jw house keeps families together during medical crisis by offering a welcoming home just steps away from the hospital, providing a caring and compassionate environment that inspires hope.

Health
9
Habitat for Humanity of Wisconsin Inc

Our mission is to empower WI Habitat for Humanity affiliates to create one voice that advocates and influences affordable home ownership.

Housing & Shelter
10
Habitat for Humanity of Wausau Inc

Seeking to put god's love into action, habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.

—
11
Neighborhood Housing Services of Southeast Wisconsin Inc

The purpose of neighborhood housing services of southeast wisconsin, inc. is to renew pride, restore confidence,promote reinvestment, and revitalize the nhs neighborhoods through the efforts of local residents acting in concert with…

Housing & Shelter
12
House of Hope Midwest

The House of Hope is dedicated to serving individuals, families, and our community by providing a hand up into a hope-filled future.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Journey House Inc; the most unlike its peers is Samaritan's Purse. 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

13 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. 13 of the 25 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
7/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

University of Wisconsin: $9,000 · OtherUniversity of WisconsinMake a Wish Foundation: $6,605 · OtherMake a Wish FoundationSt Paul Catholic Center: $5,000 · OtherSt Paul Catholic CenterIndividual grant recipient: $3,200 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $2,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientHebron House: $1,050 · Other+9 more: $4,525 · Other+9 moreJOURNEY HOUSE INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesJOURNEY HOUSE INCKathy's House Inc: $16,000 · HealthKathy's House IncMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC: $2,000 · HealthMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION…LUKE HOMAN FOUNDATION INC: $7,125 · EducationLUKE HOMAN…ST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $1,000 · EducationST AUGUSTI…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF JOURNEY HOUSE ACTIONS RWANDA INC: $2,500 · InternationalJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WISCONSIN INC: $1,000 · InternationalHEBRON HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY INC D/B/A HEBRON HOUSING SERVICES: $1,800 · Housing & ShelterMILWAUKEE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $1,000 · Housing & ShelterSoaring Spirits International: $1,000 · Philanthropy
Other$31,380Human Services$25,000Health$18,000Education$8,125International$3,500Housing & Shelter$2,800Philanthropy$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJOURNEY HOUSE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKathy's House Inc: $16,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetLUKE HOMAN FOUNDATION INC: $7,125 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF JOURNEY HOUSE ACTIONS RWANDA INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEBRON HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY INC D/B/A HEBRON HOUSING SERVICES: $1,800 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSoaring Spirits International: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WISCONSIN INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $700 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEXT DOOR FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKINSHIP MKE INC: $100 over 1y, 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.

United Way of Greater…Greater Milwaukee Fou…Evan & Marion Helfaer…Waukesha County Commu…Greater Green Bay Com…Baird Foundation IncGe Aerospace Foundati…Anon Charitable TrustJoseph and Vera Zilbe…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Green Bay Packers Fou…Otto Bremer Trust
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County IncWI17.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Waukesha County Community Foundation · Greater Green Bay Community Foundation Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Anon Charitable Trust · Joseph and Vera Zilber Family Foundation Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Otto Bremer 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 Brzezinski Family Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Brzezinski Family Fund. 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 →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report 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.

    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 25 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

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    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