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Friends of Wisconsin State Parks Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Friends of Wisconsin State Parks Inc

To preserve, promote, protect, and enhance wisconsin state parks, forests, trails, and recreation areas.

$86k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$7k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Recreation & Sports$94kEnvironment$92k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $7,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $86,381 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $79,381 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$7,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$826k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES$7,000
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 (FY21–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 85% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%FRIENDS OF LAPHAM PEAK UNIT: $9k → 5%FRIENDS OF HIGH CLIFF STATE PARK: $7k → 6%NAVARINO NATURE CENTER INC: $7k → 7%FRIENDS OF WHITEFISH DUNES: $6k → 8%FRIENDS OF GOVERNOR DODGE STATE: $12k → 9%FRIENDS OF THE KETTLE MORAINE: $8k → 9%FRIENDS OF MIRROR LAKE STATE PARK: $9k → 9%FRIENDS OF KOHLER ANDRAE STATE PARK: $12k → 9%BONG NATURALIST ASSOCIATION: $9k → 10%FRIENDS OF BIG FOOT BEACH STATE: $9k → 10%FRIENDS OF BRUNET ISLAND STATE: $9k → 10%WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: $7k → 10%FRIENDS OF YELLOWSTONE LAKE: $8k → 11%FRIENDS OF BUCKHORN STATE PARK: $9k → 14%FRIENDS OF COPPER FALLS STATE PARK: $9k → 14%FRIENDS OF WILDCAT MOUNTAIN STATE: $7k → 15%KETTLE MORAINE NATURAL HISTORY: $9k → 5%FRIENDS OF PENINSULA STATE PARK: $10k → 8%FRIENDS OF PENINSULA STATE PARK: $10k → 8%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 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
Friends of Stone Lakes National Wildlife
Environment
2
Friends of Beaver Creek State

Teach visitors about the beaver creek history

Arts & Culture
3
Friends of Moran State Park

Friends of moran support park staff as they manage moran state park. we strive to enhance the visitor experience by providing educational opportunities related to the cultural, historical and natural environments at the park.

Recreation & Sports
4
Friends of Highland State Recreation Area

Maintain and expand park service area to enhance visitor experience

Arts & Culture
5
Friends of Fort Worden State Park

To provide both financial and volunteer support for improvements and programs at Fort Worden State Park not funded by the State Park system.

Recreation & Sports
6
Friends of Willow River-Kinnickinnic State Parks

Promote environmental education and stewardship of the natural resources at Willow River and Kinnickinnic State Parks.

Environment
7
Friends of Lost Pines State Parks

Support state park facilities events

Environment
8
Friends of Rock Island State Park Inc

Operating and maintaining rock island state park

Recreation & Sports
9
America's State Parks Foundation
Recreation & Sports
10
Friends of Pike Lake Inc

Financial and program support of Pike Lake State Forest Park operated and managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Environment
11
Friends of Lime Kiln Society

Preserve and Educate about Lime Kiln Point State Park

Environment
12
Friends of the Parks

Enhance the village park system

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Friends of Mirror Lake State Park; the most unlike its peers is Navarino Nature Center 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

12 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. 12 of the 19 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
7/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: $16,458 · OtherWISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCESFriends of Kohler-Andrae State Park: $12,119 · OtherFriends of Kohler-Andrae State ParkFRIENDS OF BUCKHORN STATE PARK INC: $9,360 · OtherFRIENDS OF BUCKHORN STATE PARK INCBong Naturalist Association Inc: $9,360 · OtherBong Naturalist Association IncKettle Moraine Natural History Assoc: $9,360 · OtherKettle Moraine Natural History AssocFRIENDS OF BRUNET ISLAND STATE PARK INC: $8,775 · OtherFRIENDS OF BRUNET ISLAND STATE PARK INCFRIENDS OF BIG FOOT BEACH STATE PARK INC: $8,700 · OtherFRIENDS OF BIG FOOT BEACH STATE PARK INCFRIENDS OF THE KETTLE MORAINE INC: $8,112 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE KETTLE MORAINE INCFriends of Wildcat Mountian State Park: $7,457 · OtherFriends of Wildcat Mountian State ParkWISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: $7,000 · OtherWISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCESFRIENDS OF WHITEFISH DUNES: $6,300 · OtherFRIENDS OF WHITEFISH DUNESFRIENDS OF GOVERNOR DODGE STATE PARK: $12,480 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF GOVERNOR DODGE STATE …FRIENDS OF MIRROR LAKE STATE PARK: $9,431 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF MIRROR LAKE STATE PAR…FRIENDS OF LAPHAM PEAK UNIT - KETTLE MOR: $9,415 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF LAPHAM PEAK UNIT - KE…FRIENDS OF YELLOWSTONE LAKE STATE PARK: $7,884 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF YELLOWSTONE LAKE STAT…FRIENDS OF HIGH CLIFF STATE PARK: $7,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF HIGH CLIFF STATE PARKNAVARINO NATURE CENTER INC: $6,750 · EnvironmentNAVARINO NATURE CENTER INCFRIENDS OF PENINSULA STATE PARK INC: $19,984 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF PENINS…THE FRIENDS OF COPPER FALLS STATE P: $9,360 · Recreation & SportsTHE FRIENDS OF CO…
Other$103,001Environment$52,960Recreation & Sports$29,344

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFRIENDS OF PENINSULA STATE PARK INC: $19,984 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF GOVERNOR DODGE STATE PARK: $12,480 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetFriends of Kohler-Andrae State Park: $12,119 over 1y, 19% of budgetFRIENDS OF MIRROR LAKE STATE PARK: $9,431 over 1y, 13% of budgetFRIENDS OF LAPHAM PEAK UNIT - KETTLE MOR: $9,415 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetBong Naturalist Association Inc: $9,360 over 1y, 8.4% of budgetKettle Moraine Natural History Assoc: $9,360 over 1y, 10% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF COPPER FALLS STATE P: $9,360 over 1y, 9.6% of budgetFRIENDS OF YELLOWSTONE LAKE STATE PARK: $7,884 over 1y, 45% of budgetFRIENDS OF HIGH CLIFF STATE PARK: $7,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetNAVARINO NATURE CENTER INC: $6,750 over 1y, 2.7% 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.

Alliant Energy Founda…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Alliant Energy Foundation IncWI12.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Friends of Wisconsin State Parks Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Friends of Wisconsin State Parks Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Friends of Wisconsin State Parks Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Friends of Wisconsin State Parks 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 19 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Friends of Wisconsin State Parks’ filings →

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