Grantmakers › Wisconsin

Wisconsin VFW Foundation Inc

Camp Douglas, WI · EIN 61-6376840. Reported 40 grants totalling $1,524,807 to 25 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

25organizations funded
$13,505median reported grant
$1,524,807granted, 2020-2024
42%of grantees funded again the next year
43%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 Wisconsin VFW Foundation Inc, the IRS classifies it under public & societal benefit rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE W30) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 25 distinct organizations, with 43% 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. 42% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $13,505. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $33,073; the smallest was $5,430 and the largest $600,125. 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
9 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
16 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
9 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
1 grant
$250,000 Or More
1 grant

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
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinMerrill, WI$662,775552024
Lt Marion C Cranefield Post No 1318Fitchburg, WI$139,176442024
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinKimberly, WI$124,609112020
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinMadison, WI$92,131332024
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinTomah, WI$79,600112022
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinMiddleton, WI$65,000442024
New Richmond Memorial Post No 10818 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars ofNew Richmond, WI$50,725112022
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinOconomowoc, WI$50,000112024
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinBlue Mounds, WI$36,000332024
Milwaukee MemorialsMilwaukee, WI$30,952222022
University of Wisconsin FoundationMadison, WI$30,363112021
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinElkhorn, WI$25,000112023
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinStoughton, WI$25,000112024
Sierra Delta IncReedsburg, WI$18,179112023
Center for Veterans Issues IncMilwaukee, WI$15,000112021
Department of Wisconsin of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United StateMadison, WI$12,010112021
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinGreen Bay, WI$10,000112024
Wisconsin Veterans Network IncWest Allis, WI$10,000112024
Flag CenterWauwatosa, WI$9,550112021
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Dept of WisconsinKiel, WI$7,000112024
Horse Power Healing Center IncEagle, WI$6,719112022
Stable Hands IncRib Mountain, WI$6,719112022
Trinity Equestrian Center Kids Kamp IncEau Claire, WI$6,719112022
Walkin in My Shoes IncKenosha, WI$6,150112022
Mcguire ContractorsPewaukee, WI$5,430112023

6 of 25 (24%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 2 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 the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 7 of 25 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Human Services
3 orgs
Education
1 org
Housing & Shelter
1 org
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org
Recreation & Sports
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20203$775,723$124,609
20219$150,096$12,010
202212$289,640$11,012
20236$101,707$14,102
202410$207,641$13,000

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

Merrill, WI
$663K
Fitchburg, WI
$139K
Madison, WI
$135K
Kimberly, WI
$125K
Tomah, WI
$80K
Middleton, WI
$65K
New Richmond, WI
$51K
Oconomowoc, WI
$50K

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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 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.

Enterprise Holdings Foundation3 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc2 shared recipientsGreater Milwaukee Foundation Inc2 shared recipientsThe Ros Foundation2 shared recipientsWaukesha County Community Foundation2 shared recipientsGenerac Foundation Inc2 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 $13,505 -- 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 Wisconsin VFW Foundation Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 1 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 10 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: Po Box 242, Camp Douglas, WI, 54618.

EIN 61-6376840 · 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.

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