FundersWisconsin

Smith Russell & Vera Private Fdn 1035004172

La Crosse, WI · EIN 39-1744162. Reported 126 grants totalling $1,100,750 to 51 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$1,100,750granted, 2021-2024
51organizations funded
81%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,836,428assets, 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. Smith Russell & Vera Private Fdn 1035004172 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 $3,000 and $13,500; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $28,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
44 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
34 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
38 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
10 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
Viterbo UniversityLa Crosse, WI$104,000442024
Catholic CharitiesLa Crosse, WI$73,500442024
La Crosse Area Family YMCALa Crosse, WI$64,000442024
Uw-La Crosse Foundation IncLa Crosse, WI$61,250332023
First Presbyterian ChurchLa Crosse, WI$60,000442024
Great Rivers United WayOnalaska, WI$60,000442024
Salvation ArmyLa Crosse, WI$55,500542024
La Crosse Community TheatreLa Crosse, WI$45,000442024
Samaritan's PurseBoone, NC$40,000332024
Boys & Girls Club of La CrosseLa Crosse, WI$34,000442024
Wtc FoundationLa Crosse, WI$30,000222024
Aquinas Catholic Schools FoundationLa Crosse, WI$25,000112024
St Joseph's CathedralLa Crosse, WI$25,000112021
La Crosse Valley View Rotary ClubLa Crosse, WI$22,500442024
Big Brothers Big SistersLa Crosse, WI$21,000442024
Family & Children's CenterLa Crosse, WI$20,000442024
Good Fight Community CenterLa Crosse, WI$20,000442024
Gateway Area Boy ScoutsLa Crosse, WI$20,000112022
Habitat for Humanity La Crosse AreaLa Crosse, WI$20,000442024
Junior Achievement C/O Altra Federal Credit UnionLa Crosse, WI$20,000222024
St Clare Health MissionLa Crosse, WI$20,000442024
Western Technical College FoundationLa Crosse, WI$20,000222022
Junior AchievementLa Crosse, WI$16,000222022
Coulee Recovery CenterLa Crosse, WI$15,000442024
Coulee Region Humane SocietyLa Crosse, WI$15,000112023
Friends of Riverside Park IncHolmen, WI$15,000112022
United Fund for the Arts and Humanities IncLa Crosse, WI$15,000222023
YMCA Attn Nikki WestLa Crosse, WI$13,000112023
Uwl Alumni & Friends FoundationLa Crosse, WI$12,500112024
Gundersen Lutheran Medical FoundationLa Crosse, WI$12,000112021
Catholic Relief ServicesHarlan, IA$10,000112023
La Crosse County Historical SocietyLa Crosse, WI$10,000642024
Lutheran Disaster ResponseChicago, IL$10,000112022
Native Hawaiian AdvancementKapolei, HI$10,000112023
Adult & Teen ChallengeLa Crosse, WI$9,000332024
Children's Museum of La Crosse IncLa Crosse, WI$9,000332024
La Crosse Symphony OrchestraLa Crosse, WI$8,000442024
Rotary Works FoundationLa Crosse, WI$8,000442024
Blue Stars D&bcLa Crosse, WI$7,500332023
United Fund for Arts & HumanitiesLa Crosse, WI$7,500112021
The Parenting PlaceLa Crosse, WI$5,000112024
UfahLa Crosse, WI$5,000112024
Alliance Family ServicesLa Crosse, WI$4,000112024
Hunger Task Force of La CrosseLa Crosse, WI$4,000112024
WaferLa Crosse, WI$4,000112024
Friends of Snowflake Ski JumpingWestby, WI$3,000112023
Hopes DoorOnalaska, WI$3,000112023
Mobile Meals of La Crosse IncLa Crosse, WI$3,000332024
Blue StarsLa Crosse, WI$2,500112024
Jazz in the ParkLa Crosse, WI$2,000222022
NorskedalenCoon Valley, WI$2,000112024

30 of 51 (59%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 81%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 36 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
8 grants
Arts & Culture
7 grants
Health Care
6 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Education
3 grants
Religion
2 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Recreation & Sports
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202127$290,250$7,500
202231$275,500$5,000
202335$271,500$5,000
202433$263,500$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 94% 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
$1.0M
North Carolina
$40K
Iowa
$10K
Hawaii
$10K
Illinois
$10K

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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.

La Crosse Community Foundation23 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund19 shared recipientsCleary-Kumm Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsXcel Energy Foundation12 shared recipientsAlm Charities Inc11 shared recipientsMayo Clinic Group Return11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 Smith Russell & Vera Private Fdn 1035004172'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: 230 Front Street North, La Crosse, WI, 54601. 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 39-1744162 · 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.