Funders › Washington

Winona Foundation the

Seattle, WA · EIN 91-1184043. Reported 73 grants totalling $442,500 to 24 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$442,500granted, 2021-2025
24recipients, as named on its returns
82%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,192,972assets, 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. Winona Foundation the 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 $3,500 and $6,500; the smallest was $1,500 and the largest $27,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
34 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
29 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Winona County Historical SocietyWinona, MN$58,500442024
Winona Community Foundation Covid-19 Emergency Response FundWinona, MN$57,500442024
Winona Arts CenterWinona, MN$32,500552025
Great River Shakespeare FestivalWinona, MN$30,000552025
Minnesota Marine Art Museum Attn Nicole Chamberlain-DupreeWinona, MN$30,000552025
Pickwick MillWinona, MN$29,500552025
Winona Dakota Unity AllianceWinona, MN$27,000552025
Winona Symphony OrchestraWinona, MN$26,500552025
Theatre Du MississippiWinona, MN$24,000552025
First Congregational ChurchWinona, MN$22,000552025
Polish Cultural InstituteWinona, MN$21,500442025
Frozen River Film FestivalWinona, MN$14,000552025
River Arts AllianceWinona, MN$11,000222025
Foundation for Winona Area Public ScWinona, MN$10,000112025
River Arts Alliance Winona Poets Laureate AnthologyWinona, MN$10,000222022
Buffalo County Land & Trails Trust Flyway TrailAlma, WI$7,500222022
Friends of Winona Public LibraryWinona, MN$5,000112023
Mid West Music FestWinona, MN$5,000222025
Project FineWinona, MN$5,000112025
Winona State Univ Foundation Attn Roger BoulayWinona, MN$5,000112022
Cstea House IncWinona, MN$4,000112024
Hiawatha Valley Mental Health CenterWinona, MN$2,500112021
Sandbar Storytelling FestivalWinona, MN$2,500112025
Habitat for Humanity Attn Amanda HedlundWinona, MN$2,000112021

16 of 24 (67%) 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 82%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 36 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Arts & Culture
30 grants
Education
5 grants
Community Improvement
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202116$91,000$5,000
202215$93,500$4,500
202313$84,000$6,000
202414$83,000$4,500
202515$91,000$5,000

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

98% of its giving went to organizations in Minnesota. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Minnesota
$435K
Wisconsin
$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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Elizabeth Callender King Foundation10 shared recipientsWinona Community Foundation8 shared recipientsSoutheastern Minnesota Arts6 shared recipientsSlaggie Family Foundation4 shared recipientsMinnesota Historical Society3 shared recipientsMinnesota Humanities Center2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Minnesota.
  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 Winona Foundation the's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 801 Second Avenue Suite 1600, Seattle, WA, 98104. 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 91-1184043 · 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.

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