FundersWisconsin

Cremer Foundation

Milwaukee, WI · EIN 39-6086822. Reported 63 grants totalling $1,348,560 to 41 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$20,000median grant
$1,348,560granted, 2021-2024
41organizations funded
31%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,578,605assets, 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. Cremer 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.

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 $20,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
1 grant
$5,000 - $10,000
9 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
22 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
27 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
The Salvation Army of Dane CountyMadison, WI$120,000442024
Briarpatch Youth Services IncMadison, WI$101,000332023
Bayview FoundationMadison, WI$100,000222024
Operation Fresh Start IncMadison, WI$85,000332024
Sun Prairie East High SchoolSun Prairie, WI$81,250332024
Goodman Community CenterMadison, WI$75,000332024
Madison College FoundationMadison, WI$60,000222023
The River Food PantryMadison, WI$55,000222024
One City Schools Foundation IncMadison, WI$50,000112022
The Colonial ClubSandoval, IL$50,000112021
East Madison Community CenterMadison, WI$49,000332024
Meriter Foundation IncMadison, WI$40,000222023
YWCA MadisonMadison, WI$40,000112024
Goodman Community Center for GirlsMadison, WI$35,000112021
Sun Prarie High SchoolSun Prarie, WI$31,500112021
Horizon High School of Madison IncMadison, WI$30,000332023
Madison Area Technical CollegeMadison, WI$30,000112022
Operation Fresh StartGrand Haven, MI$30,000112023
YWCAChicago, IL$30,000112021
YWCA USA IncWashington, DC$30,000112022
YWCAWashington, DC$25,000112023
The River PantryRockford, IL$20,000112021
Sun Prairie East High School Cross CountSun Prairie, WI$18,250112023
Domestic Abuse Intervention ServicesMadison, WI$15,000222023
Unitypoint Meriter Foundation Unitypoint Meriter FoundationMadison, WI$15,000112024
Personal Essentials Pantry AtwoodMadison, WI$10,500112024
DaisMadison, WI$10,000112021
Lakeview Lutheran ChurchMadison, WI$10,000112024
Omega School IncMadison, WI$10,000222023
Planned Parenthood of Wi IncMilwaukee, WI$10,000112023
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsn IncMilwaukee, WI$10,000112022
Solace FriendsMadison, WI$10,000112024
Specialty Care Free ClinicMadison, WI$10,000112024
The First Tee South Central WisconsinMadison, WI$10,000112021
The Foundation for Black Women's WellnMadison, WI$10,000112021
Madison School & Community RecreationMadison, WI$6,060112024
Foundation for Black Womens WellnessMadison, WI$6,000222023
Atwood PantryMadison, WI$5,000112023
Bsp Free Clinic IncChicago, IL$5,000112021
First Tee of South Central WisconsinMadison, WI$5,000112023
Specialty Free Care Clinic IncMadison, WI$5,000112022

14 of 41 (34%) 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 31%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 31 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
8 grants
Education
5 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Religion
4 grants
Employment
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
Crime & Legal
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202116$370,500$27,500
202215$323,250$25,000
202318$320,750$13,250
202414$334,060$22,500

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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 86% of this one's giving went to organizations in Wisconsin. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Wisconsin
$1.2M
Illinois
$105K
District of Columbia
$55K
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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund17 shared recipientsMadison Community Foundation16 shared recipientsMadison Gas and Electric15 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc12 shared recipientsThe Evjue Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsUnited Way of Dane County Inc11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $20,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  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 Cremer Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 0634, Milwaukee, WI, 53201. 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 39-6086822 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.