Wisconsin · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC
UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 180 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,331,149 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($25,336,950). 121 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $52M
- Funders on record
- 180
- Grants received
- $97M
- Net assets
- $42M
What United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc does
Mission
We unite people to create positive lasting change in our community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
United way of greater milwaukee & waukesha county's funding model is intentionally focused on impact based funding. Investments are made to organizations that demonstrate they can advance the work of our key initiatives. This will allow us to more effectively drive community-wide progress on important issues by allocating more funding and staff capacity to these initiatives.this is about investing more effectively and efficiently in our community. Our goal is to solve important issues faster with our donors.our vision: we envision a united community where people come together to invest in significant and measurable solutions that foster wellness and opportunity for all.our values:collaborationwe believe in the power of working together with businesses, nonprofits, government,and community members to achieve meaningful and lasting impact.integritywe are committed to transparency, accountability, and ethical practices in all that we do, building trust with our partners, donors, and community.compassionwe approach our work with empathy, understanding, and a commitment to supporting those in our community who face challenges.inclusionwe are not succeeding unless our success impacts…
$23,630,901 spentof which $21,773,450 as grants$272,805 earned by the program49% of program spendingDonor directed designations to specific member and non-member agencies to address donor perceived community needs.
$19,031,741 spentof which $19,031,741 as grants39% of program spendingGrantscommunity schools the milwaukee community schools partnership (mcsp) is a strategy implemented by milwaukee public schools and united way to transform the way a school interacts with its students, their families and the surrounding community to better support all the needs of a child.the community schools model works to increase a school's capacity to grow strong partnerships with its surrounding community and better engage and align resources centered on the self-identified, real-time needs of communities. Our strategy places the focus on the whole child, with the understanding that a child belongs to a family, and that family lives and interacts within a larger community.current mcsp may have different focuses and activities to improve their schools and communities, but all share core characteristics: a shared vision that integrates into the work of the school and all partners. Demonstrated long-term commitment and shared ownership as evidenced by a partnership agreement signed by the school, district, and lead partner agency. A full-time community school coordinator hired by a non-profit partner and placed in the school to assess, align, and support programs and resources…
$3,423,048 spentof which $2,465,720 as grants7% of program spendingVolunteer engagementunited way provides multiple ways for community members to engage by inviting individuals, businesses, and community organizations to live united by giving, advocating and volunteering. Volunteering through united way of greater milwaukee & waukesha county is a great way to give back, while getting involved in supporting many of the most important issues facing our community today. We believe strategic volunteerism multiplies the positive impact of united way's financial investments and has the potential to improve results in the areas of education, financial stability, and health. Volunteer opportunities also support our key initiatives including safe & stable homes, reducing barriers to employment & advancement, empowering minds, and techquity.available opportunities include:*supporting united way's signature events including project homeless connect, backpack coalition, diaper bank, winter bites and our martin luther king jr. Dayof service.*on-site projects: volunteers can do good without even leaving their office by sponsoring and hosting kit packing events to prepare care packages for individuals and families such as personal care kits; snack packs for…
$2,105,462 spentof which $976,076 as grants4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $48,191,152.
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 2020 to 2021, from $37M to $61M (+65%).
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 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 1% · 2021 3% · 2022 5% · 2023 9% · 2024 7% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Amy Lindner
President and CEO/board officer
Board chair
George R Oliver
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 53 funders to 83 funders, grant income rose $3.9M → $13M.
29 of 180 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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: $11M from 19 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc); $421k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 180 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
UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
65% 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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 16% · 2018 17% · 2019 20% · 2020 25% · 2021 79% · 2022 20% · 2023 38% — 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
59% of UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
56% of UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $43M that is directly attributable, 70% of it comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $55M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC's revenue fell 16% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 452 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.0M on record.
- Department of Education$2.0M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.0M
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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY 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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY 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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC?
- UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 180 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,331,149 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($25,336,950). 121 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC have?
- IRS filings report 180 organizations giving $97,331,149 in grants to UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC, 121 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $25,336,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY 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 180 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