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Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$120k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through 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, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$421kRecreation & Sports$200kReligion$70kEducation$58kHealth$50k
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$970k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND HERITAG$100,000
VERSITI BLOOD RESEARCH INSTITUTE$10,000
MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART DESIGN$5,000
MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$5,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 90% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 5%CEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER: $5k → 6%FAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH: $15k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION: $10k → 5%FAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH ELCA: $15k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 5%FAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH: $15k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION: $10k → 5%FAITH SANTE FE LUTHERAN CHURCH: $15k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION: $10k → 5%SEEDS OF HEALTH: $10k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION: $10k → 5%FAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM: $15k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM: $15k → 17%HISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $11k → 17%HISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $10k → 17%HISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $10k → 17%HISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $10k → 17%HISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART DESIGN: $8k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND HERITAG: $100k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM: $15k → 17%CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND HERITAG: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM: $15k → 17%CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND HERITAG: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND HERITAG: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10k → 17%CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND: $20k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MILWAUKEE: $10k → 17%CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING AND HERITAG: $20k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25k → 17%FROEDTERT AND MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WI: $13k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 17%VERSITI BLOOD RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 17%CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN: $10k → 17%MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $7k → 17%MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN: $10k → 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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$694k · 10 repeat orgs$105k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
9

Total granted

$694k
$95k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+47%

Still filing today

90%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
Arts & CultureRecreation & SportsHealthEducationOther
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

  • CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING &
    6× · 2018–2025 · $200k · revenue +32%
  • MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC
    6× · 2018–2024 · $90k · revenue +7%
  • TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $80k · revenue +4%

Funded once

  • FS
    FAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH ELCA
    one grant, 2019 · $15k
  • FS
    FAITH SANTE FE LUTHERAN CHURCH
    one grant, 2018 · $15k
  • FA
    FROEDTERT AND MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WI
    one grant, 2019 · $13k
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
Milwaukee Public Museum Endowment Fund

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

—
2
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
3
Wisconsin Museum of Nature and Culture

WMNC will continue constructing the new Milwaukee Public Museum facility to completion and will then continue as the owner and operator of the new museum.

Arts & Culture
4
Waukesha County Historical Society & Museum Inc

The museum is an educational institution dedicated to preserving the history and culture of waukesha county.

—
5
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
6
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
7
Milwaukee Public Theatre Inc

Making the arts accessible to all

—
8
Medical Society of Milwaukee Foundation Inc
Health
9
Milwaukee Art Museum Inc

To inspire and educate people in the greater milwaukee area, across the state of wisconsin and beyond by collecting, preserving and presenting art; to expand and diversify the local artistic and cultural identity of the greater milwaukee…

Arts & Culture
10
Mathematics Institute of Wisconsin Co Kathryn Leverenz
Education
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
Milwaukee Parks Foundation Inc

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

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Milwaukee Public Museum Inc; the most unlike its peers is Cedarburg Cultural 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 20 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
10/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $150,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INCMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC: $90,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INCTEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INC: $80,000 · Arts & CultureTEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INCCEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER INC: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $7,000 · Arts & CultureHISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $56,200 · OtherHISTORIC MILWAUKEE INCFAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH: $40,000 · OtherFAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCHMILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN INC: $18,000 · OtherMILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & D…FAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH ELCA: $15,000 · OtherFAITH SANTA FE LUTHERAN CHURCH…MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · OtherMILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUND…FAITH SANTE FE LUTHERAN CHURCH: $15,000 · OtherFAITH SANTE FE LUTHERAN CHURCHFROEDTERT AND MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WI: $12,500 · OtherFROEDTERT AND MEDICAL COLLEGE …VERSITI BLOOD RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $10,000 · OtherSEEDS OF HEALTH INC: $10,000 · OtherMILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MILWAUKEE: $10,000 · Other+1 more: $5,000 · OtherCONSERVANCY FOR HEALING &: $200,000 · Recreation & SportsCONSERVANCY FOR HEALING &CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN INC: $30,000 · HealthTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC: $10,000 · Education
Arts & Culture$342,000Other$216,700Recreation & Sports$200,000Health$30,000Education$10,000

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 budgetCONSERVANCY FOR HEALING &: $200,000 over 6y, 7.4% of budgetMILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $150,000 over 7y, 4.9% of budgetMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC: $90,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetTEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INC: $80,000 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetHISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC: $56,200 over 6y, 2.9% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN INC: $18,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetMILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSEEDS OF HEALTH INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $7,000 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.

  • Who funds CONSERVANCY FOR HEALING & ↗
  • Who funds MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds HISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC ↗
  • Who funds CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN INC ↗
  • Who funds MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN INC ↗
  • Who funds CEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SEEDS OF HEALTH INC ↗
  • Who funds THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC ↗
  • Who funds MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗

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.

Greater Milwaukee Fou…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Olive & Eunice Toussa…Evan & Marion Helfaer…Baird Foundation IncMarcus Corporation Fo…Richard and Ethel Her…Brewers Community Fou…Anon Charitable TrustRalph Evinrude Founda…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …
Greater Milwaukee Foundation IncWI21.7× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Olive & Eunice Toussaint Fdn Inv Agy · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · Marcus Corporation Foundation Inc · Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Inc · Brewers Community Foundation Inc · Anon Charitable Trust · Ralph Evinrude Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–15%
    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 Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Koeppen-Gerlach 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 20 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

    Play a game based on Koeppen-Gerlach’s 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