GrantmakersWisconsin

Colony Brands Foundation Inc

Monroe, WI · EIN 20-1344988. Reported 93 grants totalling $6,918,841 to 38 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

38organizations funded
$12,592median reported grant
$6,918,841granted, 2021-2024
74%of grantees funded again the next year
59%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Colony Brands Foundation Inc, the IRS classifies it as a private independent foundation (NTEE T22).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 38 distinct organizations, with 59% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
  3. How much its list changes. 74% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $12,592. Half of what it reported fell between $7,232 and $25,000; the smallest was $5,003 and the largest $4,002,372. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
31 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
37 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
11 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
7 grants
$250,000 Or More
3 grants

1 of those grants was non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $7,075 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Green County Family YMCA IncMonroe, WI$4,109,939332024
University of Wisconsin FoundationMadison, WI$919,816742024
School District of Monroe WiMonroe, WI$814,5871042024
Rubin for Kids IncMadison, WI$120,000442024
Monroe Arts Center IncMonroe, WI$97,309442024
Madison Community FoundationMadison, WI$93,467442024
Main Street Monroe IncMonroe, WI$59,739222024
Green County Humane Society IncMonroe, WI$59,416442024
Roar FoundationActon, CA$50,000222022
Monroe Clinic and HospitalfoundationMonroe, WI$47,034332023
Jacobs Swag Foundation IncMonroe, WI$43,717442024
Edgewood University IncMadison, WI$40,000442024
The Charles E Kubly Foundation IncMequon, WI$40,000222024
Green County Food Pantry IncMonroe, WI$35,192442024
American Cancer Society IncAtlanta, GA$30,596332024
Green County Cheese Days IncMonroe, WI$29,000112024
Family Promise of Green County IncMonroe, WI$28,638442024
Everyoneneedsahome IncSouth Wayne, WI$25,810442024
Henry Vilas Park Zoological SocMadison, WI$25,000112021
Green Haven Family Advocates IncMonroe, WI$24,927442024
Friends of PBS Wisconsin IncMadison, WI$24,875112023
School District of New GlarusNew Glarus, WI$23,100112024
Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin IncJanesville, WI$21,000112023
City of Monroe - Parks & RecMonroe, WI$20,000112021
Friends of New Glarus Woods State Park IncNew Glarus, WI$20,000112024
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Green County IncMonroe, WI$18,317222023
United Way of Dane County IncMadison, WI$15,000112021
Forum-Monroe Youth Hockey Association IncMonroe, WI$11,274112021
Eau Claire Community Humane Association IncEau Claire, WI$10,000112021
Madison Public Schools Foundation IncMadison, WI$10,000112021
Society of St Vincent De Paul of Monroe IncMonroe, WI$7,500112021
Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program IncDodgeville, WI$7,500112021
Green County Emergency Medical Service IncMonroe, WI$7,232112021
Green County 4-HMonroe, WI$6,548112021
Medecins Sans Frontieres USA IncNew York, NY$6,055112021
River Cities Information Referral and Assistance ServicesClinton, IA$6,000112021
Aly Wolff Foundation IncCottage Grove, WI$5,250112023
Dane County Humane SocietyMadison, WI$5,003112021

19 of 38 (50%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

It also reported 5 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 28 of 38 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Human Services
5 orgs
Animal Welfare
4 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 orgs
Youth Development
2 orgs
Arts & Culture
2 orgs
Health Care
2 orgs
Community Improvement
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202131$692,000$12,592
202220$978,780$12,952
202321$717,554$10,541
202421$4,530,507$15,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

99% of its giving went to organizations in Wisconsin. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Wisconsin
$6.8M
California
$50K
Georgia
$31K
New York
$6K
Iowa
$6K

Down to the city

Monroe, WI
$5.4M
Madison, WI
$1.3M
Acton, CA
$50K
New Glarus, WI
$43K
Mequon, WI
$40K
Atlanta, GA
$31K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund16 shared recipientsAlliant Energy Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of Southern10 shared recipientsOnly in Wisconsin Giving Inc10 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation10 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $12,592 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Wisconsin.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Colony Brands Foundation Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 20 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 1112 7TH Avenue, Monroe, WI, 53566.

EIN 20-1344988 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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