Does The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

Which funders back the same organizations as The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation)?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc, Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc.

Foundation Dossiers

Wisconsin · Private foundation

The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance 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.

$162k
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 24
Grants FY2025: 19
Organizations funded FY2024: 47%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2025: $5,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $22,000
Organizations funded a year: 14 to 33; FY2019 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 9
Total assets, FY2025: $1.1M
Applications: Preselected organizations only; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 47% of the organizations The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) funded were first-time grantees, receiving 22% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

AnimalsHuman ServicesEducationEnvironmentHealthFood & NutritionOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	24	$162k	42%
FY2024	19	$98k	47%
FY2023	19	$111k	37%
FY2022	14	$88k	50%
FY2021	23	$100k	39%
FY2020	33	$117k	76%
FY2019	25	$85k	n/a

99% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$247kHuman Services$100kAnimals$47kRecreation & Sports$41kEnvironment$39kArts & Culture$30kHousing & Shelter$28kHealth$26kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2019 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
International Crane Foundation Inc	$55,000	7	0%
Fish of Sanibel-Captiva Inc	$50,000	6	0%
Milwaukee County War Memorial Inc	$32,500	6	0%
Park City Day School	$30,000	2	0%
National Ability Center	$27,950	4	0%
Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Associati	$22,500	5	2%
Trustees of Boston College	$22,000	1	0%
Parents Place Inc	$20,000	2	2%
Community Housing and Resources Inc	$20,000	1	1%
Restoring Lands Inc	$17,000	6	0%

Show all 65 grantees

All grantees of The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
International Crane Foundation Inc	$55,000	7	0%
Fish of Sanibel-Captiva Inc	$50,000	6	0%
Milwaukee County War Memorial Inc	$32,500	6	0%
Park City Day School	$30,000	2	0%
National Ability Center	$27,950	4	0%
Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Associati	$22,500	5	2%
Trustees of Boston College	$22,000	1	0%
Parents Place Inc	$20,000	2	2%
Community Housing and Resources Inc	$20,000	1	1%
Restoring Lands Inc	$17,000	6	0%
Regis University	$16,000	2	0%
Mequon Nature Preserve Inc	$15,000	4	1%
Nativity Jesuit Academy Inc	$13,206	3	n/a
Urban Ecology Center Inc	$12,594	4	0%
Columbus School for Girls	$12,500	1	0%
The Women's Center Inc	$10,500	6	0%
Street Soccer USA Inc	$10,000	1	0%
Marquette University High School	$10,000	1	n/a
Benedict Center Inc	$5,500	3	0%
Digital Bridge Inc	$5,000	1	0%
La Clinica Tepeyac	$5,000	1	0%
Special Operations Warrior Foundation	$5,000	1	0%
Erin Riederer Foundation Ltd	$5,000	1	n/a
Alma Center Inc	$5,000	1	0%
Family Promise of Waukesha County Inc	$4,500	2	1%
Mankind Project	$4,500	2	1%
The Mankind Project USA	$4,500	1	0%
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee Inc	$4,000	4	0%
Children's Outing Association	$3,000	1	0%
Warriors & Walleye's Outdoors	$3,000	1	4%
Hunger Task Force Inc	$3,000	2	0%
Christ in the City	$3,000	1	0%
Family Promise of Ozaukee County	$3,000	1	0%
Oregon Food Bank	$2,500	1	0%
Playworks Education Energized	$2,500	1	0%
Sharp Literacy Inc	$2,500	1	0%
Friends of Kishwauketoe	$2,500	1	2%
The Maxfund Inc	$2,148	2	0%
Drive Fore a Cure Foundation Inc	$2,000	2	2%
Milwaukee Diaper Mission Inc	$2,000	2	0%
Food Pantry of Waukesha County Inc	$2,000	1	0%
Aldo Leopold Foundation Inc	$2,000	1	0%
Wisconsin Humane Society	$2,000	1	0%
Community Advocates Inc	$1,500	1	0%
Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation	$1,500	1	n/a
Strain for the Brain Inc	$1,040	1	1%
The Wild Animal Sanctuary	$1,000	1	0%
Lines for Life	$1,000	1	0%
World Wildlife Fund Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Nuzzles & Co	$1,000	1	0%
Denver Zoological Foundation	$1,000	1	0%
Liberation Institute	$1,000	1	n/a
Food Bank of the Rockies	$1,000	1	0%
Saukville Community Food Pantry Inc	$1,000	1	1%
West Suburban Community Pantry Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Carmen High School of Science and Technology Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Alpine Humane Society	$1,000	1	0%
Family Sharing of Ozaukee County Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Wounded Warrior Project Inc	$500	1	0%
Douglas F McKey Christmas Club Inc	$500	1	n/a
GEORGIA RIVER NETWORK INC dba GEORGIA RIVERS	$500	1	0%
The Uwm Foundation Inc	$500	1	0%
American Lung Association	$250	1	0%
Marquette University	$250	1	n/a
American Heart Association Inc	$250	1	0%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 27 recipients with no EIN on record ($259k), not named here.

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) supplied at peak.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 58.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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 Foundation IncWI43.2× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · Ralph Evinrude Foundation Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Anon Charitable Trust · Youth Foundation Inc · Archdiocese of Milwaukee Catholic Community Foundation Inc · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Generac Foundation Inc

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.

Compare The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) with peer funders

About The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation)

How much does The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) give?: The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) reported 24 grants totaling $161,844 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 14 and 33 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2024.
What does The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) fund?: By grant dollars over FY2019 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (41%), Human Services (17%), Animals (8%).
Who are The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation)'s largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2019 to FY2025: International Crane Foundation Inc ($55k), Fish of Sanibel-Captiva Inc ($50k), Milwaukee County War Memorial Inc ($33k).
Does The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 47% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) accept unsolicited applications?: Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation)?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc, Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc.
Where is The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) based?: The Cara Foundation (Fka the Milwaukee Insurance Foundation) is based in WI.