Funders › Wisconsin

A Sturm & Sons Foundation Inc

Manawa, WI · EIN 39-6084283. Reported 81 grants totalling $481,300 to 31 recipients across tax years 2023-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$481,300granted, 2023-2025
31recipients, as named on its returns
90%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,628,326assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. A Sturm & Sons Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $7,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $33,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
33 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
33 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
12 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Mchs FoundationMarshfield, WI$64,500332025
Lions Pride Endowment FundRosholt, WI$57,000332025
Little Wolf High SchoolManawa, WI$42,000422025
Manawa Fire DepartmentManawa, WI$27,500332025
Manawa Area Food PantryManawa, WI$24,000332025
St Paul Lutheran SchoolManawa, WI$21,700332025
Living Word High SchoolJackson, WI$20,500212023
Sturm Memorial LibraryManawa, WI$20,000332025
Manawa Rescue SquadManawa, WI$19,500332025
Waupaca County 4-H ClubsWaupaca, WI$17,400222025
Sacred Heart ChurchMarengo, IL$15,000332025
St Paul Lutheran ChurchMadison, WI$15,000332025
United Methodist ChurchMadison, WI$15,000332025
Zion Lutheran ChurchMilwaukee, WI$15,000332025
Manawa FFAAmherst, WI$11,000332025
Thedacare Medical Center New LondonAppleton, WI$11,000332025
Thedacare Medical Center WaupacaAppleton, WI$11,000332025
Cap ServicesStevens Point, WI$10,000332025
Cerebral Palsy of Ne WisconsinGreen Bay, WI$9,000332025
Rawhide Youth ServicesNew London, WI$9,000332025
Waupaca County 4-H ClubWaupaca, WI$7,200112023
USA Clay Target LeagueEagan, MN$7,000332025
Waupaca Chain SkiersKing, WI$6,000112025
Acts 18 MinistryGreen Bay, WI$5,000332025
Birchsturm FoundationRosholt, WI$5,000332025
Manawa Revitalization CommitteeManawa, WI$5,000112023
Easter Seals of WisconsinWest Allis, WI$4,000332025
Mid-State Youth Football & CheerleaScandinavia, WI$3,500332025
Waupaca County Natural Resources FWaupaca, WI$2,000222025
Waupaca County Resources FoundationWaupaca, WI$1,000112023
Girl Scouts of the Northwestern GreAppleton, WI$500112024

25 of 31 (81%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 90%, across 2 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

Plus 3 grants to individuals totalling $545,800 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 23 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Health Care
6 grants
Recreation & Sports
4 grants
Religion
3 grants
Human Services
3 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Community Improvement
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202327$127,200$3,000
202427$141,700$5,000
202527$212,400$5,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

95% of its giving went to organizations in Wisconsin. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Wisconsin
$459K
Illinois
$15K
Minnesota
$7K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund5 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust3 shared recipientsThrivent Financial for Lutherans3 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund3 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc3 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation for the Fox Valley3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Wisconsin.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from A Sturm & Sons Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 6 returns (tax years 2020-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 1026 Bridge St, Manawa, WI, 54949. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 39-6084283 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.