FundersWisconsin

John H Witte JR Foundation Trust

Milwaukee, WI · EIN 42-6297940. Reported 88 grants totalling $1,909,000 to 38 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$15,000median grant
$1,909,000granted, 2020-2024
38organizations funded
72%of grantees funded again the next year
$10.5Massets, 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. John H Witte JR Foundation Trust 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 $2,500 and the largest $84,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
6 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
16 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
41 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
14 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
11 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
Southeastern Community College FdnWest Burlington, IA$257,000442023
United Way-Burlington AreaBurlington, IA$240,000442023
Burlington Area Development FdnBurlington, IA$150,000552024
Burlington Capitol TheatreBurlington, IA$130,000552024
Burlington Area Homeless ShelterBurlington, IA$88,500552024
Scc FoundationWest Burlington, IA$84,000112020
Southeastern Community College FndWest Burlington, IA$84,000112024
Burlington Civic MusicBurlington, IA$80,000442023
Burlington STEM Foundation IncW Burlington, IA$70,000222024
City Hope FoundationBurlington, IA$70,000332022
Transitions Dmc IncBurlington, IA$63,500442024
Art Center of BurlingtonBurlington, IA$60,000552024
Des Moines Cty Historical Society C/O Austin SchwartzBurlington, IA$60,000332022
Friends of Burlington ParksBurlington, IA$60,000332024
United Way WorldwideAlexandria, VA$60,000112024
Burlington Area YMCA IncBurlington, IA$40,000332022
Junior Achievement of the HeartlandMoline, IL$35,000332022
Partners for Conservation a Des Moines County FoundationBurlington, IA$30,000222022
Southeast Iowa Symphony AssociationMt Pleasant, IA$30,000442024
Heart Song IncWhite Plains, NY$25,000112020
Burlington Riverfront EntertainmentBurlington, IA$20,500112022
Burlington Civic Music AssociationBurlington, IA$20,000112024
Heart Song IncWest Burlington, IA$20,000112024
Heartsong IncBurlington, IA$20,000112023
Bart Howard Foundation IncBurlington, IA$15,000332024
Young House Family ServicesBurlington, IA$15,000222021
Bel Canto ChoraleBurlington, IA$12,500332024
Burlington Municipal Band FndBurlington, IA$10,000332023
Junior AchievementMoline, IL$10,000112023
Mississippi Valley Council Boy Scouts of AmericaQuincy, IL$10,000112021
St Vincent De PaulCincinnati, OH$7,500112024
The Salvation ArmyAlexandria, VA$7,500112024
Hetta Gilbert AssociationBurlington, IA$5,000112020
Homestead 1839W Burlington, IA$5,000112024
Mississippi Valley CouncilQuincy, IL$5,000112020
St Vincent De PaulBurlington, IA$3,000112021
The Nest of Des Moines CountyBurlington, IA$3,000112021
The Salvation ArmyBurlington, IA$3,000112021

20 of 38 (53%) 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 72%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 31 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Housing & Shelter
9 grants
Education
5 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Human Services
3 grants
International Affairs
3 grants
Religion
3 grants
Science & Technology
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202016$334,000$10,000
202120$403,000$15,000
202219$427,000$20,000
202316$344,000$17,500
202417$401,000$20,000

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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 92% of this one's giving went to organizations in Iowa. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Iowa
$1.7M
Virginia
$68K
Illinois
$60K
New York
$25K
Ohio
$8K

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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.

Harry & Virginia Murray Foundation11 shared recipientsAlliant Energy Foundation Inc5 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund4 shared recipientsFirst Interstate Bancsystem Foundation3 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation2 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. 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 Iowa.
  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 John H Witte JR Foundation Trust's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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 42-6297940 · 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.