Wisconsin · Nonprofit
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Wisconsin) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,165,140 to it, the largest being HERBERT H KOHL CHARITIES INC ($3,028,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 49
- Grants received
- $8.2M
- Net assets
- $3.8M
What Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation does
Mission
To promote educational excellence and strengthen community participation in milwaukee public schools.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
School funds - provides funding for supplies, materials, and special programming at the various mps schools.
$867,985 spentof which $867,985 as grants31% of program spendingLet us play - provides funding to mps for projects designed to improve green schoolyards, which offer a variety of active play options that engage children of varying fitness levels, ages, and genders.
$752,020 spentof which $752,020 as grants27% of program spendingLEARNING JOURNEYS - To connect classroom instruction for students with real-world learning opportunities at museums, cultural experiences, and scientific venues.
$410,331 spentof which $410,331 as grants15% of program spendingOther-
$267,100 spentof which $217,500 as grants10% of program spendingScholarships - funds scholarships for graduating mps students who are attending post-secondary educational institutions.
$178,918 spentof which $178,918 as grants6% of program spendingUNSIL - To provide funding for students to learn about the United Nations and its 193 member countries throughout the world.
$90,055 spentof which $90,055 as grants3% of program spendingEarly childhood - provides funding for mps's early childhood programming and initiatives.
$79,588 spentof which $79,588 as grants3% of program spendingDepartmental funding - provides support for mps departmental initiatives designed to support students of mps.
$63,822 spentof which $63,822 as grants2% of program spendingNo empty backpacks - provides mps students with backpacks and school supplies needed for the schoolyear.
$57,003 spentof which $57,003 as grants2% of program spendingStem - provides funding to mps for materials and other costs related to programs supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.
$2,561 spentof which $2,561 as grants0% of program spending
The 10 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,769,383.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.5M to $4.1M (+64%).
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: 2021 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
John Kersey
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $168k → $1.2M.
10 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 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
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
51% 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 MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 36% · 2019 84% · 2020 46% · 2021 30% · 2022 60% · 2023 45% — diversifying over time.
“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
43% of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
96% of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
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
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
51%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Milwaukee Public Schools · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: 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 MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Wisconsin) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,165,140 to it, the largest being HERBERT H KOHL CHARITIES INC ($3,028,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $8,165,140 in grants to MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- HERBERT H KOHL CHARITIES INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,028,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION 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 49 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