Skip to content
Plinth

· Public charity

City Forward Collective Inc

Cfc's mission is to secure the future of milwaukee and its institutions, economy, and quality of life by ending educational inequity and ensuring every child has the opportunity to attend a high-quality school.

$480k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 53% of CITY FORWARD COLLECTIVE INC’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $30k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $450k
$50,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$8.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DR HOWARD FULLER COLLEGIATE ACADEMY$50,000
LUMIN SCHOOLS$50,000
ROCKETSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS$50,000
UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER$50,000
ST MARCUS LUTHERAN SCHOOL$50,000
ST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY$50,000
ST ANTHONY SCHOOL$50,000
NOTRE DAME MIDDLE SCHOOL OF MILWAUKEE$50,000
MILWAUKEE COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL$50,000
GREENHOUSE E3$30,000
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 (FY20–25, $121k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER: $50k → 17%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER: $50k → 17%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTER: $21k → 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.

55%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.1M · 14 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +60% since the first grant, against +4% for the ones you funded once.

14 repeat relationships — 8 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
16

Total granted

$2.1M
$1.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+60%
+4%

Still filing today

57%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $80k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • ST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC
    5× · 2020–2025 · $374k · revenue +342%
  • ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION
    4× · 2020–2023 · $330k · revenue +60%
  • MS
    MCPREPARATORY SCHOOL OF WISCONSIN INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $160k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • VS
    VARIOUS SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2021 · $995k
  • CA
    CFC ACTION FUND INC
    one grant, 2024 · $105k
  • BE
    BELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +27%

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
Central City Cyberschool of Milwaukee Inc

A charter school providing motivation to inner city children to promote a successful future

Education
2
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
3
Mastery Charter High School

All students learn the academic and personal skills they need to be truly prepared for postsecondary success and able to pursue their dreams.

Education
4
One City Schools Inc

Our mission is to seed a new model of public education that ensures young children are on track to succeed in a college or career preparatory program from birth through high school graduation.

Human Services
5
College Prep Elementary

To prepare scholars to build character and accept of the value of various cultures

Education
6
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
7
Washington Leadership Academy Public Charter School

Wla combines best practices in teaching and learning, with the latest in educational technology to create an unparalleled high school experience. students will graduate from wla prepared for college, career, and lives of public leadership.

Education
8
Milwaukee Math and Science Academy Inc

The mission of milwaukee math and science academy, inc. is to create a learning community in which:-teachers, parents and students work together to develop young people who are confident and achieve academic excellence in a powerful…

Education
9
Downtown Montessori Academy Inc

To create a montessori environment where the child's early experiences with learning will help him or her to become a self-confident, competent, cooperative adult.

Education
10
Sonoma Charter School

Sonoma charter school seeks to achieve academic excellence through engaged learning in a setting that involves students, teachers, and parents.

Education
11
South Shore Charter School

The mission of south shore charter school is to cultivate students the tenacity, integrity, and curiosity needed to become innovative and socially responsible leaders, ready to face and solve the ever-changing challenges facing our…

Education
12
Madison Academy Inc

Private school dedicated to education of children from pk4 through grade 12.

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Milwaukee Science Education Consortium Inc and the most unlike its peers is Serve Incorporated. 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 29 years old; the field is 22. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%4%<5yr12%4%5–10yr17%15%10–20yr18%31%20–35yr15%15%35–55yr20%31%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%4%<5yr12%1%5–10yr17%22%10–20yr18%36%20–35yr15%8%35–55yr20%29%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 4% 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%0/31
the rest of the field
12%
710/5,757

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

20 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. 20 of the 32 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
13/20
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

VARIOUS SCHOOLS — $995,096 · OtherVARIOUS SCHOOLSST MARCUS LUTHERAN CHURCH — $362,600 · OtherST MARCUS LUTHERAN CHURCHNOTRE DAME SCHOOL OF MILWAUKEE INC — $100,000 · OtherST ANTHONY CONGREGATION — $100,000 · OtherNATIVITY JESUIT ACADEMY INC — $99,000 · OtherLUTHERAN URBAN MISSION INITIATIVE INC — $86,303 · OtherUNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE — $74,095 · Other+10 more — $184,484 · Other+10 moreST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC — $374,034 · EducationST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INCROCKETSHIP EDUCATION — $330,000 · EducationROCKETSHIP EDUCATIONMCPREPARATORY SCHOOL OF WISCONSIN INC — $160,000 · EducationMCPREPARATORY SCHOOL OF WISCONSIN INCDR HOWARD FULLER COLLEGIATE ACADEMY INC — $140,440 · EducationDR HOWARD FULLER COLLEGIATE ACADEMY INCCFC ACTION FUND INC — $105,000 · EducationCFC ACTION FUND INCBELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC — $100,000 · EducationBELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INCTHE MILWAUKEE SCIENCE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC — $94,918 · EducationTHE MILWAUKEE SCIENCE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM IN…CARMEN HIGH SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC — $70,000 · EducationHMONG AMERICAN PEACE ACADEMY LTD — $68,000 · Education+2 more — $71,300 · EducationUNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $121,000 · Human ServicesSERVE INCORPORATED — $50,000 · Community ImprovementNEXT DOOR FOUNDATION INC — $45,000 · Recreation & SportsGreenhouse E3 — $30,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$2,001,578Education$1,513,692Human Services$121,000Community Improvement$50,000Recreation & Sports$45,000Housing & Shelter$30,000

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 budgetST AUGUSTINE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC — $374,034 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetROCKETSHIP EDUCATION — $330,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMCPREPARATORY SCHOOL OF WISCONSIN INC — $160,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetDR HOWARD FULLER COLLEGIATE ACADEMY INC — $140,440 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetUNITED COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $121,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE MILWAUKEE SCIENCE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC — $94,918 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCARMEN HIGH SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC — $70,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHMONG AMERICAN PEACE ACADEMY LTD — $68,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetROCKETSHIP EDUCATION WISCONSIN INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSERVE INCORPORATED — $50,000 over 1y, 36% of budgetNEXT DOOR FOUNDATION INC — $45,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCITY YEAR INC — $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGreenhouse E3 — $30,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetHIGHLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL INC — $24,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetURBAN LEARNING COLLABORATIVE INC — $21,300 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPENFIELD MONTESSORI ACADEMY INC — $18,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSEEDS OF HEALTH INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 Foundation IncWI40.9× affinity18 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 · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Northwestern Mutual Life Foundation Inc · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · Cedar Street Charitable Foundation Inc · Hh Camp Foundation · Youth Foundation Inc · Bradley Impact Fund 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 City Forward Collective Inc 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.

2025
202122232425
no gov · 10%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 21%
  • City Year Inc21% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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.

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 32 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph