Wisconsin · Nonprofit
GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC
GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,571,770 to it, the largest being GERTRUDE S GORDON FOUNDATION XXXXXX0291 ($1,063,400). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $42M
- Funders on record
- 63
- Grants received
- $9.6M
- Net assets
- $98M
What Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation Inc does
Mission
The mission of gundersen lutheran medical foundation, inc. Is to improve the lives of patients and our larger community through medical education, research, outreach, and the philanthropic support of gundersen health system.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educational programs: gundersen lutheran medical foundation, inc. Sponsors a premier community-based academic health center which is dedicated to exceptional education in a collaborative culture that fosters life-long learning, and the development of compassionate healthcare professionals devoted to the communities they serve. There are 6 fully accredited residency programs (family medicine, internal medicine, general surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery, podiatric medicine and surgery and transitional year) and 3 fully accredited fellowships (advanced gi minimally invasive/bariatric surgery, hematology and medical oncology, and hospice and pallative medicine). The clinical experience provided at gundersen inolves a balance of primary, tertiary, inpatient and outpatient medicine in serving a largely rural population in a tri-state area. Gundersen lutheran medical foundation serves as the western academic campus for the university of wisconsin school of medicine and public health (uw-smph) and as one of three sites for the wisconsin academcy for rural medicine (warm). We offer clinical experiences for more than 70 medical students per year and is primarily responsible for the…
$19,116,558 spentof which $3,209,911 as grants$11,969,917 earned by the program56% of program spendingResearch programs: the gundersen lutheran medical foundation, inc. Research program includes research navigation, including nursing research, clinical trials, and translational research that seek evidence-based, reproducible answers to important questions that pertain to the health of the citizens in the tri-state region. Research helps direct medical staff to provide patients with the most up-to-date advancements in medical care. The department supports research throughout the organization including efforts that have led to being named a national cancer institute community oncology research program (ncorp)- one of thirty-two such sites in the nation. Our foundation in consecutive years, 2014 through 2025, in partnership with marshfield clinic research foundation and theda care health system (these three organizations collectively referred to as wincorp) shared in a $17.2 million in national institute of health grant awards to improve the health of our community through cancer research. At any given time, over 100 clinical trials targeting more than 11 disease sites are available to our patients, with 376 individuals enrolled in cancer, cardiology, ophthalmology, interventional…
$8,561,796 spentof which $1,437,633 as grants$2,025,547 earned by the program25% of program spendingCommunity health programs: the community health programs sponsored by gundersen lutheran medical foundation, inc. Promote community health, emphasize disease prevention, wellness, improve access to care and quality of care, and other patient education programs. A total of $7.28 million was distributed in support of our mission: 45% for behavioral health, 13% for pediatric needs, 13% for medical research, 9% for medical education, 8% for oncology needs, 5% for patient services and community health programs, and 1-2% each for cardiology & emergency services, social services, hospice, pt/ot and employee health & wellness. Support for programs that benefit the community, such as an emergency response toolkit for the cardiopulmonary unit, meals for patient families, hospice volunteer training, saftey items for survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault, newborn car seats for families in need and personal items for patients in substance use recovery programs, are a few examples among many efforts made possible with philanthropic distributions of gundersen lutheran medical foundation, inc.
$5,775,848 spentof which $969,838 as grants$200,016 earned by the program17% of program spendingOther
$943,744 spentof which $158,466 as grants$219,613 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $34,397,946.
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.
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 $81M to $97M (+20%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 2% · 2018 3% · 2019 5% · 2020 6% · 2021 4% · 2022 8% · 2023 7% · 2024 3% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (7% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
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.
Chief executive
Scott Rathgaber Md
CEO
Board chair
Stephen Shapiro Md
Board of directors, chairman, md
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $626k → $959k.
10 of 63 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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: $109M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 63 funders by total. 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
GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
39% 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 GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 17% · 2019 43% · 2020 19% · 2021 16% · 2022 17% · 2023 26% — broadly stable.
“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
51% of GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% give in more than one year at all.
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
54% of GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $839k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.
Against its field
GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,969 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,969 health nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.3M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$4.4M
- Department of Defense$951k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
38%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 32 related entities
- Bellin Gundersen Health System Inc · exempt
- Gundersen Lutheran Health System Inc · exempt
- Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center Inc · exempt
- Gundersen Clinic Ltd · exempt
- Gundersen Lutheran Administrative Services Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION 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.
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 GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC?
- GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,571,770 to it, the largest being GERTRUDE S GORDON FOUNDATION XXXXXX0291 ($1,063,400). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 63 organizations giving $9,571,770 in grants to GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC?
- GERTRUDE S GORDON FOUNDATION XXXXXX0291 is the largest funder on record, with $1,063,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GUNDERSEN LUTHERAN MEDICAL FOUNDATION 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 63 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing