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· Private foundation

Northwestern Mutual Life Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$23M
Granted FY2022
373
Grants FY2022
31
States reached
$1.8M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02Your fieldRead
03Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0196% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2021–2025.

Religion$101MPhilanthropy$7.5MHealth$4.1MArts & Culture$2.9MEducation$2.4MHuman Services$1.4MYouth Development$487kCommunity Improvement$304kOther$0
02FY2022 · 373 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 373 grants below total $19,948,262 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $22,889,385 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $2,941,123 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k167 grants · $604k
  • $10k–50k135 grants · $2.9M
  • $50k–250k53 grants · $5.0M
  • $250k+18 grants · $11M
$10,000
Median grant
31
States reached
$88M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County$1,755,000
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer$1,550,000
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Foundation, Inc$1,000,000
Milwaukee World Festival Inc$965,535
Matching Gifts Program$765,892
United Performing Arts Fund$750,000
Matching Gifts Program$742,812
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Foundation, Inc$500,000
Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy$500,000
Matching Gifts Program$392,869
Matching Gifts Program$389,017
Matching Gifts Program$375,273
Milwaukee Public Museum$350,000
Matching Gifts Program$330,567
Matching Gifts Program$281,036
02Your 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
The University School of Milwaukee Corporation

University school of milwaukee cultivates excellence in learning, leadership, and citizenship for prekindergarten through 12th grade students. students are engaged, known, and valued within our passionate independent school community…

Education
2
Radio Milwaukee Inc

To reach a new generation of radio listeners on air, online and in the community with a compelling selection of music and public affairs programming. the corporation celebrates milwaukee music, arts, heritage, and culture by supporting and…

Arts & Culture
3
Michigan Science Center

The mission of the michigan science center is to inspire curious minds of all ages to discover, explore and appreciate science, technology, engineering and math in a creative, dynamic learning environment.

Education
4
Milwaukee Bar Association Inc

The mission of the milwaukee bar association is to be an inclusive, equitable and diverse organization that serves the interests of the lawyers, judges and the people of milwaukee county by working to promote the professional interests of…

—
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
Milwaukee Excellence Inc

The mission of the organization is to provide a high quality education for all students with choices after graduation that will provide financial stability, inspire personal freedom to builda legacy.

—
7
Minnesota Medical Association

To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

—
8
Midwest Dairy Association

Midwest dairy works with others to give consumers an excellent dairy experience increasing sales, fostering innovation, and inspiring consumer confidence of dairy products and practices.

—
9
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The minnesota chamber of commerce proactively leads the business community statewide to: advance pro-business, responsible minnesota public policy that creates jobs and grows the econony; provde member services to address evolving business…

—
10
Minnesota Business Partnership

The minnesota business partnership's mission is to maintain a high quality of life for all minnesotans by ensuring that the state's economy remains strong, globally competitive and its prospects for growth bright by working with elected…

—
11
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
12
Wisconsin School Counselor Association Inc

Our vision is for wisconsin to be the model for excellence in equitable school counseling practice, exemplified by the advocacy, leadership, and expertise of the members of the wsca.

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin Inc and the most unlike its peers is Sharp Literacy Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCollege Foundation SupportChildhood Cancer SupportFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Girls Stem Education Progra…Civil Legal ServicesCharter and Independent Sch…Immigrant and Latino Integr…Ymca Community CentersUnited Way AffiliatesYouth Sports ProgramsEducation Equity InitiativesCommunity Hospital SystemsLocal History MuseumsCommunity Theater CompaniesCommunity Literacy TutoringFaith-Based Homeless Servic…Women's Empowerment Organiz…Public School District Foun…Affordable Housing Construc…Domestic Violence and Sexua…Community Arts CentersAffordable Housing Developm…Classical Music OrchestrasUrban Agriculture EducationVeteran Support ServicesEarly Childhood Care CentersPublic Library SupportYouth Development CentersChristian Youth CampsCommunity FoundationsChild Abuse Advocacy Servic…Volunteer Fire & RescueDevelopmental Disabilities …Animal Rescue and ShelterEnvironmental Advocacy and …Jewish Community Federations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 34 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number17%1%<5yr12%6%5–10yr20%13%10–20yr16%32%20–35yr16%23%35–55yr19%27%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value17%0%<5yr12%3%5–10yr20%2%10–20yr16%31%20–35yr16%24%35–55yr19%40%55yr+

The field is 17% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.6% lost their exemption, against 8% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.6%1/178
the rest of the field
8%
3,022/36,348

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.

03the grantee network

167 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. 167 of the 219 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
25
Early backer (in before they grew)
166/167
Grantees still filing
109/167
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Matching Gifts Program — $5,203,054 · OtherMatching Gifts ProgramALEXS LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION — $1,576,500 · OtherALEXS LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION+80 more — $2,523,511 · Other+80 moreMILWAUKEE WORLD FESTIVAL INC — $1,085,535 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE WORLD…UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC — $750,000 · Arts & CultureUNITED PERFORMI…MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC — $383,500 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE PUBLI…MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC — $171,200 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE REPER…AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE - MILWAUKEE INC — $100,000 · Arts & Culture+11 more — $279,675 · Arts & Culture+11 moreUNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC — $1,756,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF …GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC — $415,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER MILWAU…DONALD DRIVER FOUNDATION INC — $182,583 · PhilanthropyDONALD DRIVER …+10 more — $189,300 · Philanthropy+10 moreCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION INC — $1,681,549 · HealthCHILDREN'S HO…RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF EASTERN WISCONSIN INC — $159,600 · HealthRONALD MCDONA…BEADS OF COURAGE INC DBA CENTER FOR ARTS IN NURSING — $100,000 · HealthPENFIELD CHILDREN'S CENTER INC — $78,000 · Health+18 more — $292,600 · Health+18 moreDR HOWARD FULLER COLLEGIATE ACADEMY INC — $596,475 · EducationDR HOWARD …Marquette University — $176,650 · EducationMarquette …MILWAUKEE AREA TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $175,850 · EducationMILWAUKEE …THE MILWAUKEE SCIENCE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC — $151,000 · EducationTHE MILWAU…MCPREPARATORY SCHOOL OF WISCONSIN INC — $136,500 · EducationMCPREPARAT…THE UWM FOUNDATION INC — $125,000 · EducationTHE UWM FO…HMONG AMERICAN PEACE ACADEMY LTD — $86,000 · EducationCARMEN HIGH SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC — $75,000 · Education+24 more — $328,080 · Education+24 moreUNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $156,500 · Human ServicesMETCALFE PARK COMMUNITY BRIDGES INC — $130,000 · Human ServicesYoung Men's Christian Association of Metropolitan Milwaukee Inc — $59,700 · Human ServicesMILWAUKEE URBAN LEAGUE — $57,000 · Human ServicesTHE HARRY AND ROSE SAMSON FAMILY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF MILWAUKEE — $56,300 · Human ServicesDATA YOU CAN USE INC — $51,000 · Human ServicesTHE COMMITTEE FOR HISPANIC CHILDREN AND FAMILIES INC — $50,000 · Human ServicesJOURNEY HOUSE INC — $29,000 · Human Services+21 more — $225,250 · Human ServicesEzekiel Community Development Corp — $166,000 · Community ImprovementTHE COMMUNITY WAREHOUSE INC — $70,000 · Community ImprovementLOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION — $65,000 · Community ImprovementHISPANIC PROFESSIONALS OF GREATER MILWAUKEE INC — $18,800 · Community ImprovementRIVERWORKS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $15,000 · Community Improvement+1 more — $5,000 · Community Improvement
Other$9,303,065Arts & Culture$2,769,910Philanthropy$2,542,883Health$2,311,749Education$1,850,555Human Services$814,750Community Improvement$339,800

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC — $1,756,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION INC — $1,681,549 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetALEXS LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION — $1,576,500 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetMILWAUKEE WORLD FESTIVAL INC — $1,085,535 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetUNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC — $750,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetDR HOWARD FULLER COLLEGIATE ACADEMY INC — $596,475 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetGREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC — $415,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC — $383,500 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetDONALD DRIVER FOUNDATION INC — $182,583 over 1y, 39% of budgetMarquette University — $176,650 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE AREA TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $175,850 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC — $171,200 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEzekiel Community Development Corp — $166,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF EASTERN WISCONSIN INC — $159,600 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetUNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $156,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDOMINICAN CENTER FOR WOMEN INC — $151,600 over 1y, 39% of budgetTHE MILWAUKEE SCIENCE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC — $151,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER MILWAUKEE INC — $145,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S OUTING ASSOCIATION — $138,600 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMCPREPARATORY SCHOOL OF WISCONSIN INC — $136,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMETCALFE PARK COMMUNITY BRIDGES INC — $130,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetTHE UWM FOUNDATION INC — $125,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMILWAUKEE COMMUNITY CROSSROADS INC — $110,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE CTY — $101,780 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBEADS OF COURAGE INC DBA CENTER FOR ARTS IN NURSING — $100,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetAFRICAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE - MILWAUKEE INC — $100,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetHMONG AMERICAN PEACE ACADEMY LTD — $86,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEXT DOOR FOUNDATION INC — $79,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPENFIELD CHILDREN'S CENTER INC — $78,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetCARMEN HIGH SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC — $75,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY WAREHOUSE INC — $70,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetLOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION — $65,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBIG BROTHERS AND BIG SISTERS OF METRO MILWAUKEE — $64,250 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCHILDRENS ONCOLOGY CAMPING ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL — $62,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetWISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY — $62,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association of Metropolitan Milwaukee Inc — $59,700 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMILWAUKEE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC — $59,280 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetImagine MKEInc — $57,525 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetSCULPTURE MILWAUKEE INC — $57,500 over 1y, 9.4% of budgetMILWAUKEE URBAN LEAGUE — $57,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetTHE HARRY AND ROSE SAMSON FAMILY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF MILWAUKEE — $56,300 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC — $55,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetWISCONSIN BLACK HISTORAL SOCIE — $55,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $55,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MILWAUKEE INC — $54,450 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC — $52,800 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetDATA YOU CAN USE INC — $51,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetTHE COMMITTEE FOR HISPANIC CHILDREN AND FAMILIES INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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…Herbert H Kohl Charit…United Way of Greater…Ralph Evinrude Founda…Joseph and Vera Zilbe…Green Bay Packers Fou…Evan & Marion Helfaer…Richard and Ethel Her…Brewers Community Fou…Anon Charitable TrustMilwaukee Jewish Fede…Youth Foundation Inc
Greater Milwaukee Foundation IncWI109.4× affinity65 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 · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Ralph Evinrude Foundation Inc · Joseph and Vera Zilber Family Foundation Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Inc · Brewers Community Foundation Inc · Anon Charitable Trust · Milwaukee Jewish Federation Inc · Youth 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.

03Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Northwestern Mutual Life Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Northwestern Mutual Life 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 219 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 2022, released 2022. 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 $27M 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 FY2022, 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 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