Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Heil Family Foundation

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.

$590k
Granted FY2019
45
Grants FY2019
5
States reached
$136k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0189% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Arts & Culture$1.1MEducation$302kHealth$84kCommunity Improvement$82kYouth Development$69kPhilanthropy$56kHousing & Shelter$20kEnvironment$18kOther$0
02FY2019 · 45 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k34 grants · $83k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $116k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $391k
$2,500
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILWAUKEE BALLET$136,050
IMAGINE MKE$100,000
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN$90,000
MILWAUKEE FILM$65,000
88NINE RADIO MILWAUKEE$25,000
MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM$20,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILW$20,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN$16,000
UNITED WAY FUND OF GREATER MILWAUKEE$15,000
MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN$10,000
UW FOUNDATION$10,000
Individual grant recipient$7,000
WISCONSIN PRESERVATION FUND$5,000
AIDS RESOURCE CENTER OF WISCONSIN$5,000
CHARLES E KUBLY FOUNDATION$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–19) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 98% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%HEART PRODUCTIONS: $19k → 10%WALLPAPERED CITY: $7k → 6%MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART: $5k → 6%UW FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%IMAGINE MKE: $183k → 17%THE FIELD: $5k → 17%CHARLES E KUBLY FOUNDATION: $5k → 6%UW FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%IMAGINE MKE: $100k → 17%CHARLES E KUBLY FOUNDATION: $5k → 6%WALNUT WAY CONSERVATION CORP: $5k → 17%WALNUT WAY CONSERVATION CORP: $5k → 17%WALNUT WAY CONSERVATION CORP: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE FILM: $85k → 17%MILWAUKEE FILM: $65k → 17%MILWAUKEE FILM: $55k → 17%MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER: $6k → 17%88NINE RADIO MILWAUKEE: $25k → 17%88NINE RADIO MILWAUKEE: $20k → 17%88NINE RADIO MILWAUKEE: $20k → 17%UWM PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS: $15k → 17%UWM FILM FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $136k → 17%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $135k → 17%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $35k → 17%UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND: $17k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN: $16k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN: $16k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN: $16k → 17%PUBLIC POLICY FORUM: $6k → 17%MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN: $90k → 17%MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN: $90k → 17%MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN: $90k → 17%GREATER MILWAUKEE FDN -IMAGINE MKE: $82k → 17%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILW: $21k → 17%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILW: $20k → 17%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILW: $20k → 17%UNITED WAY FUND OF GREATER MILWAUKEE: $15k → 17%GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION: $15k → 17%WISCONSIN PRESERVATION FUND: $10k → 17%UNITED WAY FUND OF GREATER MILWAUKEE: $10k → 17%UNITED WAY FUND OF GREATER MILWAUKEE: $10k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.6M · 33 repeat orgs$162k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +34% since the first grant, against -1% for the ones you funded once.

33 repeat relationships — 31 still active in FY2019, 2 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
10

Total granted

$1.6M
$132k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
-1%

Still filing today

76%
30%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHousing & ShelterPhilanthropyAnimalsOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • MILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $306k · revenue +5%
  • TM
    THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $270k · revenue +54%
  • MILWAUKEE FILM INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $205k · revenue +11%

Funded once

  • GM
    GREATER MILWAUKEE FDN -IMAGINE MKE
    one grant, 2017 · $82k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $19k
  • UF
    UWM FILM FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $10k

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Milwaukee Public Theatre Inc

Making the arts accessible to all

—
2
Milwaukee Women Inc

Milwaukee women inc is an organization of executives determined to change the quality and composition of corporate boards to maximize the performance of public and private companies with a focus on women and women of color.

Education
3
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Inc

Strengthen communities by providing high-quality and innovative artistic experiences that entertain, inspire, and unite diverse audiences.

Arts & Culture
4
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
5
Milwaukee World Festival Inc

The corporation shall be a civic organization not organized for profit but operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes including in furtherance thereof, the production of an annual festival in the milwaukee metropolitan…

Arts & Culture
6
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
7
Milwaukee Public Museum Endowment Fund

Supporting the charitable, scientific and educational purposes of the milwaukee public museum.

—
8
The Uwm Foundation Inc

The mission of the uwm foundation, inc. is to support the educational, literary, and scientific endeavors of the university of wisconsin-milwaukee by receiving, managing, and distributing gifts to benefit the university's students,…

Education
9
Milwaukee Youth Arts Center Inc

To provide the finest collaborative environment for: supporting performing arts training and education for a diverse population of youth; nurturing youth from diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, instilling life-skills…

Arts & Culture
10
Milwaukee Water Commons Inc

Milwaukee water commons is helping catalyze milwaukee as a true model water city-a place where we all have a stake in the health of our waters and all share in their stewardship and benefits. we are advancing our community envisioned water…

Environment
11
Milwaukee Parks Foundation Inc

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

Environment
12
Artworks for Milwaukee Inc

ArtWorks mission is preparing youth for tomorrow by providing transferable career skills through arts internships today. More than 1,450 high school students have completed ArtWorks internships since our inception.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Milwaukee Art Museum Inc and the most unlike its peers is Blood Cancer United Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 37 years old; the field is 22. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr12%3%5–10yr17%8%10–20yr18%34%20–35yr17%16%35–55yr18%40%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr12%19%5–10yr17%14%10–20yr18%8%20–35yr17%5%35–55yr18%53%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/39
the rest of the field
12%
915/7,657

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 39 of the 58 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/39
Grantees still filing
27/39
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INC — $306,050 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INCImagine MKEInc — $282,671 · Arts & CultureImagine MKEIncMILWAUKEE FILM INC — $205,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE FILM INCRADIO MILWAUKEE INC — $65,000 · Arts & CultureRADIO MILWAUKEE INCMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC — $60,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC+11 more — $67,500 · Arts & Culture+11 moreGREATER MILWAUKEE FDN -IMAGINE MKE — $82,102 · OtherGREATER MILWAUKEE FD…BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILW — $61,000 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB …UNITED WAY FUND OF GREATER MILWAUKEE — $35,000 · OtherUNITED WAY FUND OF G…MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN INC — $30,000 · OtherMILWAUKEE INSTITUTE …Individual grant recipient — $18,500 · OtherIndividual grant rec…UWM PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS — $17,500 · OtherUWM PECK SCHOOL OF T…+21 more — $75,100 · Other+21 moreTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC — $270,000 · EducationTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE…UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION — $20,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WISCO…+2 more — $9,000 · EducationPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN INC — $48,000 · HealthVIVENT HEALTH INC — $15,000 · HealthTHE CHARLES E KUBLY FOUNDATION INC — $12,500 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $6,000 · HealthWISCONSIN PRESERVATION FUND INC — $20,000 · Housing & ShelterWALNUT WAY CONSERVATION CORPORATION — $15,000 · Housing & ShelterGREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 · PhilanthropyLAKE PARK FRIENDS LTD — $3,000 · PhilanthropyAURORA HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION INC — $2,000 · Philanthropy+1 more — $500 · PhilanthropyWISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY — $4,500 · Animals
Arts & Culture$986,221Other$319,202Education$299,000Health$81,500Housing & Shelter$35,000Philanthropy$25,500Animals$4,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INC — $306,050 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetImagine MKEInc — $282,671 over 2y, 20% of budgetTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC — $270,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE FILM INC — $205,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetRADIO MILWAUKEE INC — $65,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC — $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN INC — $48,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN INC — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC — $27,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWISCONSIN PRESERVATION FUND INC — $20,000 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetVIVENT HEALTH INC — $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWALNUT WAY CONSERVATION CORPORATION — $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CHARLES E KUBLY FOUNDATION INC — $12,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetMILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC — $12,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDISCOVERY WORLD LTD — $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PERFORMANCE ZONE INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFLORENTINE OPERA COMPANY INC — $4,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFIRST STAGE MILWAUKEE — $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDANCEWORKS INC — $4,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSafe & Sound Inc — $3,750 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTRUE SKOOL INC — $3,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetLAKE PARK FRIENDS LTD — $3,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetHOFFMAN INSTITUTE FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRUNNING REBELS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmericans for the Arts Inc — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAURORA HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARTS AT LARGE INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROCK THE GREEN INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Greater Milwaukee Fou…Ralph Evinrude Founda…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Baird Foundation IncRichard and Ethel Her…United Way of Greater…Bert L and Patricia S…Joseph and Vera Zilbe…Green Bay Packers Fou…Evan & Marion Helfaer…Milwaukee Jewish Fede…Hauske Family Foundat…
Greater Milwaukee Foundation IncWI40.8× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Ralph Evinrude Foundation Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Inc · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Bert L and Patricia S Steigleder Charitable · Joseph and Vera Zilber Family Foundation Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Milwaukee Jewish Federation Inc · Hauske Family Foundation Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Heil Family Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 58 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $737k of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2019, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines