FundersWisconsin

Lynn S Nicholas Family Foundation Inc

Mequon, WI · EIN 87-1448491. Reported 39 grants totalling $6,560,000 to 25 organizations across tax years 2022-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$100,000median grant
$6,560,000granted, 2022-2024
25organizations funded
50%of grantees funded again the next year
$58.8Massets, 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. Lynn S Nicholas Family Foundation Inc 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 $100,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $25,000 and $300,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $500,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$10,000 - $25,000
8 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
5 grants
$100,000 and Up
22 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
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin FoundationMilwaukee, WI$1,500,000332024
Rogers Behavioral Health FoundationOconomowoc, WI$1,200,000332024
Uwm FoundationMilwaukee, WI$1,200,000332024
Macc FundMilwaukee, WI$900,000332024
Medical College of WisconsinMilwaukee, WI$600,000332024
Watertown Humane SocietyWatertown, WI$300,000332024
Aurora Health Care FoundationWauwatosa, WI$200,000222023
Delta Gamma FoundationColumbus, GA$100,000112022
Uw FoundationMadison, WI$100,000112023
Wags and WalksLos Angeles, CA$100,000222023
La Belle FoundationLos Angeles, CA$50,000112022
Love Leo RescueSanta Monica, CA$50,000112022
St Jude's Children's Research HospitalMemphis, TN$50,000112022
Haws of Waukesha County IncWaukesha, WI$25,000112022
Oshkosh Area Humane SocietyOshkosh, WI$25,000112022
Ronald Mcdonald HouseWauwatosa, WI$25,000112022
The Ridges SanctuaryBaileys Harbor, WI$25,000112022
Elmbrook Humane SocietyBrookfield, WI$15,000112022
Hunger Task ForceWest Milwaukee, WI$15,000112022
Milwaukee Center for IndependenceMilwaukee, WI$15,000112022
Milwaukee Institute of Art and DesignMilwaukee, WI$15,000112022
Occupaws Guide Dog AssociationMadison, WI$15,000112022
Waunakee Hoops ClubWaunakee, WI$15,000112022
Center for Deaf Blind Persons IncWest Allis, WI$10,000112022
St Marcus Lutheran SchoolMilwaukee, WI$10,000112022

8 of 25 (32%) 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 50%, 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 25 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Animal Welfare
9 grants
Education
7 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Diseases & Disorders
1 grant
Recreation & Sports
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202224$2,510,000$37,500
20239$2,150,000$200,000
20246$1,900,000$350,000

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. 95% of this one's giving went to organizations in Wisconsin. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Wisconsin
$6.2M
California
$200K
Georgia
$100K
Tennessee
$50K

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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 Fund12 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc11 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program11 shared recipientsGreater Milwaukee Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $100,000. 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 Wisconsin.
  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 Lynn S Nicholas Family Foundation Inc'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: 10309 N River Rd, Mequon, WI, 53092. 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 87-1448491 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.