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Highlands Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Highlands Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$610k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$250k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$18MArts & Culture$1.3MHuman Services$331kPhilanthropy$261kReligion$65kAnimals$20kHealth$11kRecreation & Sports$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $50k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $300k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS$250,000
DOMESTIC ABUSE INTERVENTION SERVICES$100,000
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION$100,000
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION$50,000
TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION$50,000
UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE$5,000
WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA$3,000
MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART$1,000
NORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%THE ARIZONA HUMANE SOCIETY: $20k → 11%THOMAS G STAMM FAMILY FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $50k → 11%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $300k → 14%FRIENDS OF THE WAISMAN CENTER INC: $10k → 10%TOWN OF MANITOWISH WATERS: $10k → 10%NATIONAL CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS: $50k → 9%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $250k → 14%UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY: $25k → 10%NORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER: $3k → 10%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $250k → 14%UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY: $25k → 10%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $250k → 14%UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY: $25k → 10%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $55k → 14%UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY: $25k → 10%UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY: $25k → 10%UNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY: $25k → 10%SAFE HARBOR CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC: $5k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $10.0M → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $6.9M → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $700k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $150k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $100k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $40k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $40k → 10%BETHEL HORIZONS FOUNDATION INC: $100k → 10%OVERTURE CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $100k → 10%BETHEL HORIZONS: $100k → 10%BETHEL HORIZONS: $75k → 10%BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH: $60k → 10%BETHEL HORIZONS: $25k → 10%MADISON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE: $5k → 10%MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE: $5k → 10%MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE: $5k → 10%MADISON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $5k → 10%MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE: $5k → 10%MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE: $4k → 10%WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: $3k → 10%WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA INC: $3k → 10%MADISON PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%EDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: $200k → 10%EDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART: $100k → 10%EDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART: $100k → 10%FOUNDATION FOR MADISON PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $10k → 10%ST MARIA GORETTI CATHOLIC PARISH: $4k → 10%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$20M · 12 repeat orgs$632k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
16

Total granted

$20M
$582k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+28%

Still filing today

67%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesReligionCrime & LegalAnimalsOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION
    5× · 2019–2024 · $18M · revenue +21%
  • JF
    JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +160%
  • DA
    DOMESTIC ABUSE INTERVENTION SERVICES INC
    2× · 2019–2024 · $110k · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • EH
    EDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
    one grant, 2022 · $200k
  • OC
    OVERTURE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • BH
    BETHEL HORIZONS FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
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
Madison Art Gallery
—
2
Madison Community Foundation

Madison community foundation will engage greater madison in philanthropy to advance a more vibrant and equitable community.

Philanthropy
3
Mathematics Institute of Wisconsin Co Kathryn Leverenz
Education
4
Museum of Wisconsin Art Inc

The museum of wisconsin art celebrates the value, diversity, and uniqueness of the visual arts and artists of wisconsin. this is achieved by collecting, conserving, documenting, exhibiting, and promoting aesthetic understanding of the…

Arts & Culture
5
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
6
Downtown Madison Inc

Make downtown madison an economically strong, equitable, inclusive, and vibrant place to live, work, and visit.

—
7
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation Inc

To administer investments and receive support for the exclusive benefit of the madison museum of contemporary art, inc.

Philanthropy
8
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
9
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
10
Wisconsin Historical Foundation Inc

The wisconsin historical foundation exists to advance the mission of the wisconsin historical society: to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories.

Arts & Culture
11
Milwaukee County War Memorial Inc

The war memorial center's mission is to honor the dead and serve the living. we commemorate the courageous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom while preserving and sharing the stories, experiences, and…

Arts & Culture
12
Wisconsin Maritime Museum Inc

The wisconsin maritime museum connects all people with wisconsin's waterways, by engaging and educating the public about wisconsin's maritime history, wisconsin's world war ii submarines, uss cobia, and the great lakes. the wisconsin…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Madison Children's Museum Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Thomas G Stamm Family Foundation. 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

17 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. 17 of the 29 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)
17/17
Grantees still filing
11/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $17,985,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION+2 more: $65,000 · EducationDOMESTIC ABUSE INTERVENTION SERVICES (DAIS): $220,000 · OtherEDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: $200,000 · OtherEDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART: $200,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $200,000 · OtherUNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY INC: $151,000 · OtherOVERTURE CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $100,000 · OtherBETHEL HORIZONS FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · OtherBETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH: $60,000 · OtherNATIONAL CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS: $50,000 · Other+7 more: $59,000 · OtherJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $1,105,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $33,500 · Arts & CultureDOMESTIC ABUSE INTERVENTION SERVICES INC: $110,000 · Human ServicesArizona Humane Society: $20,000 · AnimalsSAFE HARBOR CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC: $5,000 · Crime & LegalOCALA FARM MINISTRY INC: $1,000 · Religion
Education$18,050,000Other$1,340,000Arts & Culture$1,138,500Human Services$110,000Animals$20,000Crime & Legal$5,000Religion$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $17,985,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $1,105,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF DANE COUNTY INC: $151,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetDOMESTIC ABUSE INTERVENTION SERVICES INC: $110,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetArizona Humane Society: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMADISON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetWISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA INC: $13,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WAISMAN CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetTHOMAS G STAMM FAMILY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetMADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART INC: $7,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMADISON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAFE HARBOR CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMADISON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetVeterans of Foreign War 7591 Auxiliary: $1,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetOCALA FARM MINISTRY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

Madison Community Fou…Madison Gas and Elect…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Endres Manufacturing …The Evjue Foundation …Veridian Foundation I…United Way of Dane Co…Green Bay Packers Fou…Alliant Energy Founda…Steinhauer Charitable…John W Thompson and J…Hooper Corp Foundation
Madison Community FoundationWI23.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Madison Community Foundation · Madison Gas and Electric Foundation Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Endres Manufacturing Foundation Inc · The Evjue Foundation Inc · Veridian Foundation Inc · United Way of Dane County Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · Steinhauer Charitable Foundation · John W Thompson and Jane a Bartell Charitable Foun · Hooper Corp 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 Highlands Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Highlands Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 Highlands Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Highlands 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 29 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Highlands’ 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