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Wilson Family Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Wilson Family Foundation Inc

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.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Religion$1.1MArts & Culture$483kEducation$175kInternational$20kPublic Benefit$15kHousing & Shelter$10kPhilanthropy$8kHuman Services$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.0M
$1,037,968
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FOX RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH$1,037,968
MILWAUKEE WORLD FESTIVAL$20,000
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 22% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%JACK MILLER CENTER: $20k → 22%AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: $10k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $45k → 14%FOX RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH: $1.0M → 5%SPECIAL SPACES: $5k → 6%ACTS HOUSING: $10k → 17%JASPER NEWTON FOUNDATION: $3k → 9%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION: $5k → 6%AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: $5k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $25k → 14%FOX RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH: $50k → 5%FLORENTINE OPERA CO: $33k → 17%FRIENDS OF FLORENCE: $10k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $5k → 14%POTAWATOMI AREA COUNCIL: $15k → 5%WISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $25k → 17%AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: $5k → 14%WAUKESHA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATIO: $5k → 5%FLORENTINE OPERA CO: $25k → 17%SHARON LYNN WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $100k → 5%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $25k → 17%BROOKFIELD ACADEMY: $50k → 5%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $25k → 17%SHARON LYNN WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $45k → 5%FLORENTINE OPERA CO: $15k → 17%SHARON LYNN WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $42k → 5%FLORENTINE OPERA CO: $12k → 17%SHARON LYNN WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $25k → 5%MILWAUKEE FILM: $10k → 17%BROOKFIELD ACADEMY: $10k → 5%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE BALLET: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER: $5k → 17%AUGUSTINE PREP: $3k → 17%AUGUSTINE PREP: $2k → 17%CITY FORWARD COLLECTIVE: $5k → 17%UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND: $4k → 17%UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND: $4k → 17%KINGDOM PREP: $3k → 17%WISCONSIN COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCA: $3k → 17%ST MARCUS SCHOOL: $5k → 17%MILWAUKEE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $3k → 17%MILWAUKEE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $3k → 17%PATHWAYS HIGH: $3k → 17%VETSNET: $5k → 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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 13 repeat orgs$136k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
23

Total granted

$1.6M
$136k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+2%
+16%

Still filing today

77%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHousing & ShelterInternationalCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • SHARON LYNNE WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $211k · revenue +49%
  • FLORENTINE OPERA COMPANY INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $85k · revenue +44%
  • MILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $60k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • WISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC INC
    one grant, 2024 · $25k · revenue 0%
  • JM
    JACK MILLER CENTER
    one grant, 2024 · $20k
  • PA
    POTAWATOMI AREA COUNCIL
    one grant, 2023 · $15k
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 Theatre Inc

Making the arts accessible to all

—
2
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Inc

Strengthen communities by providing high-quality and innovative artistic experiences that entertain, inspire, and unite diverse audiences.

Arts & Culture
3
Madison Opera Inc

The mission of madison opera is to produce operas of the highest artistic standards.

Arts & Culture
4
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
5
Skylight Music Theatre Corp

To bring the full spectrum of music theatre works to a wide and diverse audience

Arts & Culture
6
Milwaukee Youth Arts Center Inc

To provide the finest collaborative environment for: supporting performing arts training and education for a diverse population of youth; nurturing youth from diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, instilling life-skills…

Arts & Culture
7
Civic Music Association of Milwaukee

One of milwaukee's oldest arts organizations...

—
8
Classical Music Chicago

Presenting free high-quality classical music performances and music education experiences in the Chicago metropolitan area for people of all ages and degrees of musical awareness so they can experience how music enriches life.

Arts & Culture
9
South Milwaukee Performing Arts Council

Support the south milwaukee performing arts center and community arts

Arts & Culture
10
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
11
Minnesota Orchestral Association

The minnesota orchestra mission is to enrich, inspire and serve our community as an enduring symphony orchestra internationally recognized for its artistic excellence.

Arts & Culture
12
Opera Omaha Inc

Enriching the quality of life in the community by creating professional opera and music theater, which uniquely combine the visual and performing arts to express humanity's deepest emotions and highest aspirations.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is First Stage Milwaukee; the most unlike its peers is Hillsdale College. 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

27 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. 27 of the 39 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/27
Grantees still filing
17/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FOX RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH: $1,087,968 · OtherFOX RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH+15 more: $76,000 · Other+15 moreSHARON LYNNE WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $211,225 · Arts & CultureSHARON LYNNE WILSON CENTER FO…FLORENTINE OPERA COMPANY INC: $84,500 · Arts & CultureFLORENTINE OPERA COMPANY INCMILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INC: $60,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INCMILWAUKEE WORLD FESTIVAL INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE WORLD FESTIVAL INCWISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC INC: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+9 more: $57,000 · Arts & Culture+9 moreHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $75,000 · EducationACADEMY OF BASIC EDUCATION INC: $60,000 · EducationCITY FORWARD COLLECTIVE INC: $5,000 · Education+1 more: $2,500 · EducationAMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: $20,000 · InternationalACTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $10,000 · Housing & ShelterWAUKESHA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · PhilanthropyJASPER NEWTON FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 · PhilanthropyELM GROVE WOMAN'S CLUB: $1,000 · Community Improvement
Other$1,163,968Arts & Culture$477,725Education$142,500International$20,000Housing & Shelter$10,000Philanthropy$7,500Community Improvement$1,000

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 budgetSHARON LYNNE WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $211,225 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetFLORENTINE OPERA COMPANY INC: $84,500 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY INC: $60,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetACADEMY OF BASIC EDUCATION INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMILWAUKEE WORLD FESTIVAL INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetAMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: $20,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Florence: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMILWAUKEE FILM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetACTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYoung America's Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY FORWARD COLLECTIVE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMILWAUKEE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAUKESHA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRANKLY MUSIC INC: $4,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetJASPER NEWTON FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPATHWAYS HIGH INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFIRST STAGE MILWAUKEE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetELM GROVE WOMAN'S CLUB: $1,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetADOPTION SERVICES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLIFE NAVIGATORS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOptimist Theatre: $500 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

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.

Green Bay Packers Fou…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Bert L and Patricia S…Greater Milwaukee Fou…National Center for H…Gardner FoundationBaird Foundation IncEvan & Marion Helfaer…Bradley Impact Fund I…United Way of Greater…Ralph Evinrude Founda…The Lynde and Harry B…
Green Bay Packers FoundationWI32.7× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Green Bay Packers Foundation · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Bert L and Patricia S Steigleder Charitable · Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · National Center for Housing Management Inc · Gardner Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Ralph Evinrude Foundation Inc · The Lynde and Harry Bradley 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Wilson Family Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wilson Family Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%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 · 0–10%
    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.

    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 39 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 Wilson Family’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