FundersWisconsin

Marjorie L Christiansen Foundation

Milwaukee, WI · EIN 39-6037585. Reported 111 grants totalling $579,418 to 62 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$579,418granted, 2021-2024
62organizations funded
64%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,368,552assets, 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. Marjorie L Christiansen 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $6,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $25,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
54 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
49 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
4 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
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
Friends of Camp Anokijig IncPlymouth, WI$100,000442024
Vision ForwardMilwaukee, WI$30,263332023
Hunger Task Force IncMilwaukee, WI$30,000442024
Maccanon Brown Homeless SanctuaryMilwaukee, WI$27,763442024
Project Angel HugsPlymouth, WI$23,000442024
Sixteenth Street Community Health CenterMilwaukee, WI$20,263332023
Schlitz AudubonMilwaukee, WI$18,096332023
Prevent Blindness WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$15,000442024
St Ann Center for Intergenerational CareMilwaukee, WI$14,500222023
Hope CenterWaukesha, WI$14,263222022
Hear WisconsinWest Allis, WI$12,096332023
Able Audio and Braile Literacy EnhancementMilwaukee, WI$12,000222023
Florentine OperaMilwaukee, WI$11,596332024
Above and Beyond Childrens CorporationSheboygan, WI$11,263332024
Medical College of WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$10,263222022
Racine Symphony Orchestra AssociationRacine, WI$10,000332024
Silver Spring Neighborhood Center IncMilwaukee, WI$10,000332024
Wisconsin Adaptive Sports AssnBrookfield, WI$10,000222022
Down Syndrome Association of WisconsinWest Allis, WI$9,000332024
Feeding America Eastern WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$8,263112021
Racine Zoological Society IncRacine, WI$8,263222023
Civic Music AssociationDes Moines, IA$8,000112024
Milwaukee Downtown IncMilwaukee, WI$7,500332024
Shepherds College Foundation IncUnion Grove, WI$7,500222023
Variety - the Children's Charity of WiscElm Grove, WI$7,500222022
Audio & Braille Literacy EnhancementMilwaukee, WI$6,263112021
Friends of Boerner Botanical GardensHales Corners, WI$6,263222022
Able IncLa Crescent, MN$6,000112024
Civic Music Association of MilwaukeeMilwaukee, WI$6,000222023
Schlitz Audubon Nature CenterBayside, WI$6,000112024
Volunteer Center of Racine County IncMt Pleasant, WI$6,000112021
American Red Cross of WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$5,000112022
Autism Society of Se WisconsinWauwatosa, WI$5,000112023
Milwaukee Area Technical College FoundationMilwaukee, WI$5,000112021
New Life ChurchConway, AR$5,000112024
Serving Older Adults of Se WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$5,000112021
Sixteenth StreetMilwaukee, WI$5,000112024
St Ann CenterMilwaukee, WI$5,000112024
St Coletta of WisconsinJefferson, WI$5,000222023
St Marcus Foundation IncMilwaukee, WI$5,000222023
Teens Grow Greens IncMilwaukee, WI$5,000222024
VarietyElm Grove, WI$5,000222024
Rotary InternationalPlymouth, WI$4,000112023
Big Brothers Big SistersSheboygan, WI$3,000112024
Boerner Botanical GardensHales Corners, WI$3,000112023
Council of the BlindAlexandria, VA$3,000112024
Racine ZooRacine, WI$3,000112024
American Red CrossWashington, DC$2,500112023
Bridge to Brighter IncMadison, WI$2,500112023
Chix 4 a Cause LtdWest Bend, WI$2,500112023
Core El CentroMilwaukee, WI$2,500112024
Family Sharing of Ozaukee CountyGrafton, WI$2,500112024
FhnbMadison, WI$2,500112024
Fishing Has No Boundaries IncHayward, WI$2,500112023
Milwaukee Center for Independence IncMilwaukee, WI$2,500112022
Nativity Jesuit Academy IncMilwaukee, WI$2,500112023
Racine Symphony Orchestra Association inRacine, WI$2,500112023
St Coletta of WiJefferson, WI$2,500112024
Wellpoint Care Network IncMilwaukee, WI$2,500112023
Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association inBrookfield, WI$2,500112023
ImpactMilwaukee, WI$2,000112024
Hope StrapsMequon, WI$1,000112024

29 of 62 (47%) 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 64%, across 3 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 62 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
23 grants
Arts & Culture
6 grants
Diseases & Disorders
5 grants
Education
5 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
4 grants
Youth Development
3 grants
Community Improvement
3 grants
Animal Welfare
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$153,918$5,263
202228$149,000$5,000
202332$144,000$2,750
202428$132,500$3,000

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. 96% 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
$555K
Iowa
$8K
Minnesota
$6K
Arkansas
$5K
Virginia
$3K
District of Columbia
$2K

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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.

Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc23 shared recipientsGreen Bay Packers Foundation21 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc19 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund18 shared recipientsUnited Way of Greater Milwaukee &18 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program16 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 Marjorie L Christiansen 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 39-6037585 · 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.