The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation
New Orleans, LA · EIN 72-6123208. Reported 58 grants totalling $699,000 to 34 organizations 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. 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.
| 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. 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.
- 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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 40 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
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
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 82% of this one's giving went to organizations in Louisiana. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $6,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- 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). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
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
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