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· Private foundation

Kevin and Connie Michels 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.

$481k
Granted FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$180k
Largest
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Religion$1.2MHealth$198kEducation$193kHuman Services$120kArts & Culture$58kHousing & Shelter$58kAnimals$35kFood & Nutrition$26kOther$0
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k14 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $361k
$5,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ST FRANCIS DE SALES SEMINARY$180,000
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC COMMUNITY$80,000
AGNESIAN HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC$50,500
ST MARY'S SPRINGS ACADEMY$50,000
LOVE ONE ANOTHER CAMPAIGN$30,000
FANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION$30,000
FOND DU LAC SCHOOL DISTRICT$10,000
GREEN LAKE ASSOCIATION$10,000
THELMA SADOFF CENTER FOR THE ARTS$5,000
THE ARC OF FOND DU LAC$5,000
ST KATHERINE DREXEL SHELTER$5,000
FOND DU LAC FOOD PANTRY INC$5,000
WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT$4,000
FOND DU LAC HUMANE SOCIETY$3,000
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF FOND DU LAC$3,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY18–25, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 84% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $4k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $4k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $3k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $3k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $3k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $1k → 14%Catholic Charities of the ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE: $5k → 17%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE: $250 → 17%FOND DU LAC FAMILY YMCA: $1k → 9%FOND DU LAC FAMILY YMCA: $1k → 9%FOND DU LAC FAMILY YMCA: $1k → 9%FOND DU LAC FAMILY YMCA: $1k → 9%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.

Which US states your grants reach

MN
WI
NY
OR
VA
MD
KS
FL

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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.3M · 35 repeat orgs$667k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +19% since the first grant, against -2% for the ones you funded once.

35 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
11

Total granted

$1.3M
$461k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+19%
-2%

Still filing today

69%
18%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $206k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesArts & CultureHealthAnimalsYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentOther

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

  • AH
    AGNESIAN HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $67k · revenue +32%
  • FC
    FANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2025 · $65k · revenue +22%
  • TA
    THE ARC FOND DU LAC INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $37k · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • US
    UNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE
    one grant, 2024 · $280k
  • SO
    SISTERS OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI
    one grant, 2020 · $150k
  • SC
    SOLUTIONS CENTER SHELTER
    one grant, 2020 · $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
Fond Du Lac Area United Way Inc

To unite individuals and organizations in a collaborative cost-effective effort to meet the human service needs of the community

Philanthropy
2
Envision Greater Fond Du Lac Foundation Inc

The mission of envision greater fond du lac foundation, inc. is to inspire our community to work in partnership and cultivate a vibrant economic future.

Education
3
Envision Greater Fond Du Lac Inc

The mission of envision greater fond du lac, inc. is to inspire our community to work in partnership and cultivate a vibrant economic future.

4
Downtown Fond Du Lac Partnership Inc

To establish a diverse, prosperous and healthy district that is the social, commercial and cultural heart of the community.

Community Improvement
5
Fond Du Lac Soccer Association Inc

To educate the community in soccer

Recreation & Sports
6
Fund for Lake Michigan Inc

Lake Michigan is one of Wisconsin's greatest assets, and its water is critical to the state's future. The Fund for Lake Michigan is here to help sustain the Lake on behalf of the people and places that depend on it. Our goal is to have a…

Environment
7
Fond Du Lac County Agricultural Society

Administration of fond du lac county fair - fond du lac, wisconsin

Recreation & Sports
8
Habitat for Humanity of Fond Du Lac County Inc

Habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.

9
Fond Du Lac Festivals Inc

Direct, promote, and support festivals and special events that showcase fond du lac and the surrounding communities, and also provide assistance to other area charitable organizations.

Philanthropy
10
Lad Lake Inc

The mission of lad lake, inc. is to guide the growth of at-risk youth so that they reach their potential and live responsibly.

11
Fond Du Lac Lutheran Home Inc

Fond du lac lutheran home, as part of lutheran homes and health services, provides a christian-based innovative approach to aging through comprehensive services, programs, and communities.

12
Saint Frances Animal Center

Our mission is to provide a safe and nuturing environment for abandoned and mistreated dogs and cats until they can be placed in loving homes.

Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Museum of Fond Du Lac Inc and the most unlike its peers is Green Lake Association 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 43 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr12%6%5–10yr19%3%10–20yr18%32%20–35yr14%24%35–55yr20%35%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr12%4%5–10yr19%1%10–20yr18%12%20–35yr14%12%35–55yr20%72%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 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/40
the rest of the field
11%
1,524/14,114

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

30 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 30 of the 53 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/30
Grantees still filing
19/30
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC COMMUNITY — $379,320 · OtherHOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC COMMUNITYUNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE — $280,000 · OtherUNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCESAINT FRANCIS DE SALES SEMINARY — $180,000 · OtherSAINT FRANCIS DE SALES SEMINARYST MARYS SPRINGS ACADEMY — $166,900 · OtherST MARYS SPRINGS ACADEMYSISTERS OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI — $150,000 · OtherSISTERS OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISILOVE ONE ANOTHER CAMPAIGN — $90,000 · OtherLOVE ONE ANOTHER CAMPAIGNAGNESIAN HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC — $66,500 · Other+30 more — $348,600 · Other+30 moreFANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION — $65,000 · HealthTHE ARC FOND DU LAC INC — $36,500 · Health+1 more — $500 · HealthCAMP GRAY INC — $80,000 · Recreation & SportsTHELMA SADOFF CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC — $41,000 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF FOND DU LAC INC — $13,000 · Arts & CultureFOND DU LAC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $4,000 · Arts & CultureSOLUTIONS CENTER INC — $18,000 · Human ServicesWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC — $17,500 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE INC — $4,750 · Human ServicesFOND DU LAC AREA WOMEN'S FUND INC — $4,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF FOND DU LAC WI INC — $4,000 · Human ServicesFOND DU LAC HUMANE SOCIETY — $23,500 · AnimalsHUMANE SOCIETY OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY INC — $7,500 · AnimalsTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $4,000 · AnimalsGREEN LAKE ASSOCIATION INC — $10,000 · Environment
Other$1,661,320Health$102,000Recreation & Sports$80,000Arts & Culture$58,000Human Services$48,250Animals$35,000Environment$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCAMP GRAY INC — $80,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetAGNESIAN HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC — $66,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetFANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION — $65,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTHELMA SADOFF CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC — $41,000 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetTHE ARC FOND DU LAC INC — $36,500 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetMAHALA'S HOPE INC — $29,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetFOND DU LAC HUMANE SOCIETY — $23,500 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetFONDY FOOD PANTRY — $21,250 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetSOLUTIONS CENTER INC — $18,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC — $17,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFOND DU LAC AREA FOUNDATION — $14,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF FOND DU LAC INC — $13,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetPAWS FOR PURPLE HEARTS — $9,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY INC — $7,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCOPS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION INC — $6,500 over 8y, 9.5% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE INC — $4,750 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFOND DU LAC AREA WOMEN'S FUND INC — $4,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF FOND DU LAC WI INC — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFOND DU LAC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $4,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetFAMILY RESOURCE CENTER OF FDL COUNTY INC — $3,500 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetASTOP INC — $3,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF GREEN COUNTY INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetOSHKOSH AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION CORPORATION — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREEN LAKE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF FOND DU LAC INC — $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY INC — $1,300 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFREE SPIRIT RIDERS INC — $300 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.

  • Who funds CAMP GRAY INC
  • Who funds AGNESIAN HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds FANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION
  • Who funds THELMA SADOFF CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC
  • Who funds THE ARC FOND DU LAC INC
  • Who funds MAHALA'S HOPE INC
  • Who funds FOND DU LAC HUMANE SOCIETY
  • Who funds FONDY FOOD PANTRY
  • Who funds SOLUTIONS CENTER INC
  • Who funds WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC
  • Who funds FOND DU LAC AREA FOUNDATION
  • Who funds CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF FOND DU LAC INC
  • Who funds GREEN LAKE ASSOCIATION INC
  • Who funds PAWS FOR PURPLE HEARTS
  • Who funds HUMANE SOCIETY OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY INC
  • Who funds COPS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE INC
  • Who funds THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
  • Who funds FOND DU LAC AREA WOMEN'S FUND INC
  • Who funds YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF FOND DU LAC WI INC
  • Who funds FOND DU LAC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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.

Fond Du Lac Area FoundationWI49.4× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fond Du Lac Area Foundation · Michels Family Foundation · Mike Shannon Automotive Foundation Inc · Mid-States Aluminum Foundation Inc · Grande Foundation · Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Patrick & Marysue Michels Family Foundation · Agnesian Healthcare Inc · Jf Ahern Co Foundation · Sadoff Family Foundation · Herbert H Kohl Charities 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 Kevin and Connie Michels 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
202122232425
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 0%
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
14report 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, FY2025

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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Kevin and Connie Michels Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Kevin and Connie Michels Family Foundation 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 53 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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