Lff Foundation
Milwaukee, WI · EIN 52-7253360. Reported 121 grants totalling $175,986 to 51 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Lff Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $500. Half of everything it gave fell between $200 and $1,000; the smallest was $57 and the largest $100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical College of Wisconsin | Milwaukee, WI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Institute for Justice | Arlington, VA | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| St John the Evangelist Church | Naples, FL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Circle of Friends | Naples, FL | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Hoover Institution | Stanford, CA | $4,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Salvation Army | Milwaukee, WI | $3,887 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| National Review Institute | New York, NY | $3,750 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Ucc | Milwaukee, WI | $3,700 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Milwaukee Rescue Mission | Milwaukee, WI | $3,618 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Cato Institute | Wshington, DC | $3,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New Criterion | New York, NY | $3,300 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Reason Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $3,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Charles E Kubly Foundation | Mequon, WI | $2,200 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Milwaukee Zoological Society | Milwaukee, WI | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Naples Circle of Friends | Naples, FL | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Settlement Music School | Philadelphia, PA | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| League Club | Naples, FL | $1,900 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tax Foundation | Washington, DC | $1,650 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Institute for Economic Research | Milwaukee, WI | $1,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| George Mason Univ Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $1,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Tlc Circle of Friends | Naples, FL | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Capuchion Community Services | Milwaukee, WI | $1,300 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Mercatus Center | Pittsburgh, PA | $1,150 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| John Michael Kohler Arts | Sheboygan, WI | $1,115 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Collier Community Foundation | Naples, FL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra | Milwaukee, WI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Settlement Music | Philadelphia, PA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| St John Neumann Catholic High Sch | Naples, FL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Vertex Partnership Academies | Bronx, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hope Street | Milwaukee, WI | $900 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Friends of Greenwood Cemetary | Whitefish Bay, WI | $744 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Schlitz Audubon Nature Center | Milwaukee, WI | $700 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Heartland Institute | Arlington Heights, IL | $600 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Fox Point Bayside Foundation | Fox Point, WI | $500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Donor | New York, NY | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Teens Grow Greens | Milwaukee, WI | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Schlitz Audobon Nature Center | Milwaukee, WI | $450 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Phi Beta Kappa | Washington DC, DC | $365 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Badger Institute | Milwaukee, WI | $350 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Manhattan Institute | New York, NY | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Daniel Bunn Tax Foundation | Merrifield, VA | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Fire Foundation | Philadelphia, PA | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Fox Point - Bayside Education Found | Fox Point, WI | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Fox Point Foundation | Fox Point, WI | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Maciver Institute | Madison, WI | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| American Transparency | The Villages, FL | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hillsdale College | Hillsdale, MI | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Hope Ministry | Milwaukee, WI | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Miscellaneous | Milwaukee, WI | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Woodson Center | Washington, DC | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| City Journal | New York, NY | $57 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
26 of 51 (51%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 68%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 61 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 26 | $16,816 | $325 |
| 2022 | 28 | $18,019 | $550 |
| 2023 | 24 | $13,384 | $457 |
| 2024 | 23 | $15,010 | $450 |
| 2025 | 20 | $112,757 | $500 |
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
71% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $500. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Wisconsin.
- 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.
- 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 Lff Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). 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: 322 E Michigan St, Milwaukee, WI, 53202. 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 52-7253360 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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