FundersWisconsin

Paul & Mary Collins Trust

Milwaukee, WI · EIN 42-6120024. Reported 61 grants totalling $120,575 to 33 organizations across tax years 2021-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,400median grant
$120,575granted, 2021-2023
33organizations funded
73%of grantees funded again the next year
$997,831assets, 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. Paul & Mary Collins 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 $1,400. Half of everything it gave fell between $650 and $2,800; the smallest was $350 and the largest $6,700. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
21 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
33 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
7 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
Iowa State UniversityAmes, IA$14,000332023
Dordt CollegeSioux Center, IA$11,325222022
South Dakota State UniversityBrookings, SD$10,775332023
University of IowaIowa City, IA$9,625332023
Northwestern College Financial AidOrange City, IA$8,100222022
Univ of Sioux FallsSioux Falls, SD$6,150222022
University of Northern Iowa Office of Finacial AidCedar Falls, IA$4,900222022
Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenix, AZ$4,500222022
University of Sioux FallsSioux Falls, SD$4,400112023
University of South DakotaVermillion, SD$4,325332023
Chamberlain UniversityChicago, IL$3,650332023
Dordt UniversitySioux Center, IA$3,300112023
Northwest Iowa Community CollegeSheldon, IA$3,300332023
Southeast Technical InstituteSioux Falls, SD$3,250332023
South Dakota School of Mines & TechRapid City, SD$3,225332023
Minnesota State University - MankatoMankato, MN$2,900222022
Illinois College of OptometryChicago, IL$2,700222023
Colorado Christian UniversityLakewood, CO$2,400112023
University of South Dakota Sioux FallsSioux Falls, SD$2,400112023
St Ambrose UniversityDavenport, IA$2,050222022
Northwestern CollegeOrange City, IA$2,000112023
Augustana UniversitySioux Falls, SD$1,850222023
University of KansasLawrence, KS$1,850222023
Buena Vista UniversityStorm Lake, IA$1,400222023
Bethel UniversitySt Paul, IA$1,225222022
University of Northern IowaCedar Falls, IA$1,200112023
Northern State UniversityAberdeen, SD$600112023
University of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN$600112023
Concordia St Paul UniversitySt Paul, MN$550112021
Pacific UniversityForest Grove, OR$550112021
Upper Iowa UniversityFayette, IA$525112022
Dakota State UniversityMadison, SD$500112023
Bethel UniversitySt Paul, MN$450112023

20 of 33 (61%) 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 73%, across 2 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 28 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
25 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202118$43,200$1,400
202221$42,625$1,500
202322$34,750$1,200

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. 52% 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
$63K
South Dakota
$37K
Illinois
$6K
Minnesota
$4K
Arizona
$4K
Colorado
$2K
Kansas
$2K
Oregon
$550

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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 Fund19 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund13 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America12 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program12 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,400. 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 Paul & Mary Collins Trust's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2021-2023). 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 42-6120024 · 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.