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Wisconsin · Nonprofit

COMMON GROUND INC

COMMON GROUND INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,241,080 to it, the largest being GREATER GREEN BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($617,333). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.3M
Funders on record
23
Grants received
$2.2M
Net assets
$1.2M
12/23 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 68%
01What it does

What Common Ground Inc does

Mission

Common Ground is a civic and educational organization whose mission is to build a broad-based citizen organization to act for the common good in the Greater Milwaukee area

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program and a significant change in how it conducts a program.

A nonpartisan drive to encourage voting in the 2024 elections was done

Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).

The Washington High School reconstruction project was completed

Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).

  1. The issue of reckless driving was studied and a proposal to have high school students receive driver's education at no cost was developed. A bill was passed through the State of Wisconsin to provide funding for this project.

    $10,000 spent
    2% of program spending
  2. A non partisan drive to encourage voting in the 2024 elections

    $61,559 spent
    13% of program spending
  3. Tenants in public housing were organized to advocate for improved living conditions and a better relationship with management.

    $300,000 spent
    65% of program spending
  4. Management Expenses

    $90,283 spent
    20% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $461,842.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($376k) Expenses 100 ($385k) Net assets 100 ($637k)2018 Revenue 92 ($347k) Expenses 108 ($415k) Net assets 38 ($240k)2019 Revenue 84 ($316k) Expenses 115 ($441k) Net assets 42 ($265k)2020 Revenue 161 ($608k) Expenses 89 ($342k) Net assets 63 ($402k)2021 Revenue 125 ($471k) Expenses 60 ($231k) Net assets 101 ($642k)2022 Revenue 83 ($312k) Expenses 104 ($401k) Net assets 61 ($386k)2023 Revenue 89 ($335k) Expenses 96 ($369k) Net assets 65 ($415k)2024 Revenue 335 ($1.3M) Expenses 120 ($462k) Net assets 190 ($1.2M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (335)Expenses (120)Net assets (190)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $415k to $1.2M (+191%).

$952k
$515k
$265k
$402k
$642k
$386k
$415k
$1.2M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

96% of COMMON GROUND INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,434 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$8k
’17
−$68k
’18
−$125k
’19
$265k
’20
$240k
’21
−$89k
’22
−$34k
’23
$798k
’24
23
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed766415151414
Joined·+1+2+1+11+1+0+0
No longer listed·2230110
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $43k → $44k.

9 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $249k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Common Ground Healthcare Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money COMMON GROUND INC raised.

From the IRS filings of COMMON GROUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

COMMON GROUND INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

87% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund COMMON GROUND INC.

28%
largest funder
57%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 48% · 2019 44% · 2020 31% · 2021 100% · 2022 59% · 2023 69% — growing more concentrated.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

8% of COMMON GROUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

COMMON GROUND INC draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 7 states in all.

IL
WI
NY
MA
OH
CA
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’22
’23
Wisconsin out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

COMMON GROUND INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.

Operating margin63% · top quartile
Months of reserve22.9mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)19% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like COMMON GROUND INC

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Wisconsin

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

100% of spending goes to programs.

Program 100%Management 0%Fundraising 0%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

96%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

WI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COMMON GROUND INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds COMMON GROUND INC?
COMMON GROUND INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,241,080 to it, the largest being GREATER GREEN BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($617,333). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does COMMON GROUND INC have?
IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $2,241,080 in grants to COMMON GROUND INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of COMMON GROUND INC?
GREATER GREEN BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $617,333 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like COMMON GROUND INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

Play a game about who funds Common Ground →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 23 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing