Funders › Wisconsin

Schoenleber Foundation Inc

Milwaukee, WI · EIN 39-1049364. Reported 113 grants totalling $2,299,500 to 57 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$15,000median grant
$2,299,500granted, 2021-2025
57recipients, as named on its returns
58%of grantees funded again the next year
$10.8Massets, 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. Schoenleber 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 $15,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $75,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
7 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
9 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
63 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
22 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
12 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
Uwm Research FoundationMilwaukee Wi, WI$250,000552025
University of Wisconsin FoundationMadison, WI$200,000442025
Planned Parenthood of WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$150,000332023
Hunger Task ForceMilwaukee Wi, WI$135,000552025
Children's Hospital of WiMilwaukee, WI$120,000332025
Planned Parenthood of WiMilwaukee, WI$100,000222025
Betty Brinn Children's MuseumMilwaukee, WI$90,000552025
Milwaukee Symphony OrchestraMilwaukee, WI$75,000332023
University of Wi FoundationMadison, WI$75,000112024
Uw-Madison School of Veterinary SciMadison, WI$75,000332023
Marquette Univ Law SchoolMilwaukee, WI$72,000332025
Milwaukee Public MuseumMilwaukee, WI$62,500332023
Kathy's HouseMilwaukee Wi, WI$55,000222022
Lotus Legal ClinicMilwaukee, WI$50,000222025
Milw Symphony OrchestraMilwaukee, WI$50,000222025
Marquette UniversityMilwaukee, WI$48,000222022
Discovery WorldMilwaukee, WI$40,000442024
Milw Public Library FoundationMilwaukee, WI$40,000222023
Wisconsin Adaptive SportsBrookfield, WI$40,000332023
Acts HousingMilwaukee, WI$30,000332025
Journey 21 IncOconomowoc, WI$30,000222025
Little Traverse ConservationHarbor Springs, MI$30,000222022
Matc FoundationMilwaukee, WI$30,000222022
Milwaukee Habitat for HumanityMilwaukee, WI$30,000222022
Wi Adaptive SportsBrookfield, WI$30,000222025
Zoological Society of MilwaukeeMilwaukee, WI$30,000222022
Family Promise Ozaukee CountyPort Washington, WI$25,000332025
Historic Haymarket MilwaukeeMilwaukee, WI$25,000112025
Running Rebels Community OrgMilwaukee, WI$25,000222023
Aldo Leopold Nature CenterMonona, WI$20,000222022
Convergence Resource CtrWauwatosa, WI$20,000222025
Edward Macdowell MontessoriMilwaukee, WI$20,000112025
Miad Milwaukee InstituteMilwaukee, WI$20,000222022
The Benedict CenterMilwaukee, WI$20,000222023
Milw Habitat for HumanityMilwaukee, WI$15,000112025
Milwaukee PBSMilwaukee, WI$15,000112025
Mps FoundationMilwaukee, WI$15,000112023
Wuwm 897 Milwaukee's NPRMilwaukee, WI$15,000112025
Hope CenterWaukesha, WI$10,000112024
Life NavigatorsWauwatosa, WI$10,000112025
Milwaukee PBS Milwaukee PBSMilwaukee, WI$10,000112024
Pathfinders Milwaukee IncMilwaukee, WI$10,000112025
Raymond Volunteer Fire & RescueFranksville, WI$10,000112025
Repairers of the BreachMilwaukee, WI$10,000112025
Sojourner Family Peace CtrMilwaukee, WI$10,000112024
Sojourner FoundationMilwaukee, WI$10,000112022
Center for Deaf - BlindWest Allis, WI$7,500222022
Acadia Theatre CompanyMilwaukee, WI$5,000112021
Boys & Girls Club of KenoshaKenosha, WI$5,000112022
Easter Seals of WiWest Allis, WI$5,000112024
Prevent Blindness WiMilwaukee, WI$5,000112024
Third Avenue PlayworksSturgeon Bay, WI$5,000112025
Walkers Point Youth & FamilyMilwaukee, WI$5,000112024
St Leonard CongregationMuskego, WI$3,000112022
Procaro Family CharitiesRacine, WI$2,500112023
Wi Ems Assoc FoundationWind Lake, WI$2,000222025
Wisconsin Ems Assoc FoundationWind Lake, WI$2,000222023

34 of 57 (60%) 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 58%, 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 57 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.

Education
11 grants
Housing & Shelter
8 grants
Health Care
8 grants
Arts & Culture
7 grants
Youth Development
5 grants
Community Improvement
5 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
3 grants
Human Services
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$479,000$15,000
202225$410,500$15,000
202320$450,000$20,000
202422$460,000$12,500
202525$500,000$15,000

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

99% 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
$2.3M
Michigan
$30K

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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 Fund23 shared recipientsGreater Milwaukee Foundation Inc21 shared recipientsUnited Way of Greater Milwaukee &20 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc19 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust18 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program17 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. 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 Schoenleber Foundation Inc'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: 111 East Wisconsin Ave Rm/Ste 1800, 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 39-1049364 · 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.