Funders › Illinois

Lenz Edward and June Char Tr 71504

Chicago, IL · EIN 47-4511458. Reported 59 grants totalling $2,732,996 to 36 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$25,000median grant
$2,732,996granted, 2021-2024
36recipients, as named on its returns
54%of grantees funded again the next year

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. Lenz Edward and June Char Tr 71504 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 $25,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $11,000 and $60,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $365,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
5 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
7 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
16 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
13 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
11 grants
$100,000 and Up
7 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
Village of PardeevillePardeeville, WI$395,000222024
Portage Center for the Art IncPortage, WI$310,000222024
Adrc of Columbia CountyPortage, WI$200,000222024
Pardeeville Boys Club IncPardeeville, WI$160,000112024
Pardeeville Area School DistrictPardeeville, WI$152,535112024
Boys & Girls Clubs of West Central Attn Karen DesentoTomah, WI$150,000112023
Greater Portage Youth Education FdnPortage, WI$148,062442024
City of PortagePortage, WI$130,845332024
Canopy Center Inc Attn Marti Ager Associate DirectorMadison, WI$100,000222024
Pardeeville Bulldog Support FoundationPardeeville, WI$83,696222024
Columbia County CASA IncPortage, WI$80,000222022
Portage Community School District Girls Basketball ProgramPortage, WI$77,765112024
Portage Area Community Charitable TrustPortage, WI$65,000222022
Pardeeville District Ambulance ServicePardeeville, WI$63,000112024
Kinship Mentoring of Columbia CountyPortage, WI$62,500332023
River Haven Homeless ShelterPortage, WI$62,500222024
Portage Youth Baseball ClubPortage, WI$61,326112023
Saint Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionPortage, WI$60,000112022
Portage Recovery Center IncPortage, WI$50,000222024
Portage Curling Association IncPortage, WI$48,890442024
Portage Touchdown Club IncPortage, WI$40,000112023
National Society Daughters of the AmerBaraboo, WI$38,000222022
Portage Community School District-RuscPortage, WI$31,500222022
Pardeeville Curling Club Inc Attn Amanda Seichter PresidentPardeeville, WI$23,333112022
Positively Portage - Pacct Attn Rich Jacobson ResidentPortage, WI$19,000222024
Portage Service Club AssociationPortage, WI$18,275112024
The Womens Civic League of PortagePortage, WI$15,630222024
Columbia County Public HealthPortage, WI$13,000112024
Portage Youth Soccer AssociationPortage, WI$12,800112024
Portage Youth IncPortage, WI$12,000112022
Pardeeville United Methodist ChurchPardeeville, WI$11,000112021
National Society of Colonial Dames of America-State of WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$10,839112021
National Society of Colonial Dames Historic Indian Agency HousePortage, WI$10,000112023
Columbia County Association for Home aMerrimac, WI$9,000112021
Northwood Inc of WisconsinPortage, WI$6,500112022
Arlington Curling Club IncArlington, WI$1,000112023

17 of 36 (47%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 54%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

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.

Recreation & Sports
9 grants
Youth Development
6 grants
Mental Health
2 grants
Education
2 grants
Housing & Shelter
2 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202113$267,039$13,000
202214$639,518$23,934
202313$844,013$38,842
202419$982,426$48,696

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

Portage, WI
$1.5M
Pardeeville, WI
$889K
Tomah, WI
$150K
Madison, WI
$100K
Baraboo, WI
$38K
Milwaukee, WI
$11K
Merrimac, WI
$9K
Arlington, WI
$1K

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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.

Alliant Energy Foundation Inc3 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $25,000. 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 Lenz Edward and June Char Tr 71504's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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: Po Box 95672, Chicago, IL, 60694. 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 47-4511458 · 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.