· Public charity
Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association
Wcma is a trade association with a stated mission to be the voice of the cheese industry using the collective knowledge and expertise of its members to promote excellence in the u.s.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k6 grants · $56k
- $10k–50k24 grants · $617k
- $50k–250k58 grants · $5.8M
- $250k+2 grants · $565k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SPECIALTY CHEESE INC | $288,730 |
| HIDDEN SPRINGS CREAMERY LLC | $275,897 |
| GOODSPORT NUTRITION LLC | $200,000 |
| WIDMER'S CHEESE CELLARS INC | $200,000 |
| SARTORI COMPANY | $194,086 |
| CONCEPT PROCESSING LLC | $183,954 |
| FARM LIFE CREAMERY LLC | $177,707 |
| KNUEVEN CREAMERY LLC | $175,806 |
| ROSEWOOD DAIRY INC | $167,765 |
| BRUNKOW CHEESE OF WISCONSIN INC | $133,680 |
| MILK SPECIALTIES GLOBAL INC | $116,296 |
| BIRCH POINT DISTILLERY | $111,096 |
| CINNAMON RIDGE INC | $108,472 |
| BUCKEYE MILK HOUSE LLC | $100,000 |
| JB'S BARNYARD (VENDOR) | $100,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 60% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
34 repeat relationships: 33 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 57 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.0M went to new ones.
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - RIVER FALLS FOUNDATION INC2× · 2024–2025 · $540k · revenue +43%- SCSPECIALTY CHEESE INC2× · 2024–2025 · $409k
- RDROSEWOOD DAIRY INC2× · 2024–2025 · $305k
Funded once
- MJMARCOOT JERSEY CREAMERY LLCone grant, 2024 · $105k
- UCUPLANDS CHEESEone grant, 2024 · $100k
- FSFARM STAPELSone grant, 2024 · $100k
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.
1 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. 1 of the 134 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.
Open a dossier: Food Export Association of the Midwest USA
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association’s filings →