The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation
New Orleans, LA · EIN 72-6123208. Reported 58 grants totalling $699,000 to 34 recipients across tax years 2021-2023. 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. The Mary Freeman Wisdom 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 $6,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $3,000 and the largest $47,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre | New Orleans, LA | $118,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc | Houston, TX | $100,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| New Orleans Startup Fund Inc | New Orleans, LA | $91,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Greater New Orleans Foundation | New Orleans, LA | $63,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Louise S Mcgehee School | New Orleans, LA | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra | New Orleans, LA | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Court Watch Nola | New Orleans, LA | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Bridge House Corporation | New Orleans, LA | $25,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Nc School of Science and Math Fdn | Durham, NC | $18,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Foundation for Louisiana | New Orleans, LA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Rooted Ones | Laplace, LA | $11,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Make Music Nola | New Orleans, LA | $11,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Audubon Nature Institute | New Orleans, LA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Families Helping Families Se La | New Orleans, LA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Metairie Park Country Day School | Metairie, LA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Preservation Hall Foundation Inc | New Orleans, LA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Soulnola | New Orleans, LA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Bright School | Chattanooga, TN | $8,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Aboena House | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Friends of City Park | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Grow Dat Youth Farm | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Home By Hand Inc | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| La Center for Children's Rights | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| New Orleans Airlift | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Reconcile New Orleans | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| STEM Library Lab | Metairie, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Youth Empowerment Project | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| College Track | New Orleans, LA | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Liberty's Kitchen | New Orleans, LA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Reentry Mediation Institute of La | New Orleans, LA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Second Lines Art Collective | New Orleans, LA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| St Anne's Episcopal Church | New Orleans, LA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Start the Adventure in Reading Inc | New Orleans, LA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Youth Run Nola Inc | New Orleans, LA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
13 of 34 (38%) 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 55%, across 2 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.
- Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE & SEX ED - Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre
PERFORMING ARTS TO NOLA COMMUNITY - Greater New Orleans Foundation
CHARITABLE CENTER FOR PHILANTROPY - New Orleans Startup Fund Inc
PROVIDE RESOURCES TO EARLY STAGE COS - Louise S Mcgehee School
PREK - 12TH GRADE EDUCATION - Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
PROFESSIONAL ORCHESTRA IN GULF SOUTH
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 40 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 | 21 | $210,000 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 23 | $258,000 | $5,000 |
| 2023 | 14 | $231,000 | $10,000 |
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
82% of its giving went to organizations in Louisiana. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
Get funders for your state and cause by email
We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.
Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.
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 $6,000. 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 Louisiana.
- 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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation'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: 1100 Poydras Street Suite 1350, New Orleans, LA, 70163. 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 72-6123208 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.