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What are grantmakers/ foundations?
Grantmakers are people and organizations that give grants. The organizations vary in size and type from large regional and national corporate funders, to community and public foundations serving one cause or community, to small local family foundations. Individual contributors also vary in size of gifts and level of activity in the field of philanthropy. Each has a specific organizational structure and operates in a different manner with respect to grantseekers.
Private Foundations are the most common type of foundations. They are generally endowed, usually from a single individual or family. Private foundations frequently are also considered family foundations if relatives of the original donor are still active on the board of trustees or in the operation of the foundation. Grant decisions may be made by the original donor, by members of the donor's family, by an appointed board of directors or by a bank trust officer acting on the donor's behalf. The geographic and interest areas of these foundations are often limited by trustee decision or the will of the donor. Private foundations with no connection to the donor family are informally known as independent foundations.
Corporate Foundations are also private foundations. They are independent grantmaking organizations whose originating donor is a corporation rather than a family or individual. They may have an actual endowment, or they may receive annual funding from the corporation. A board of directors consisting of top corporate management, local corporate officers, employee committees and sometimes outside community members usually makes Grantmaking decisions. Geographical range is often limited to areas where there is a corporate presence.
Corporate Giving Programs are similar to corporate foundations, except that they are not legally foundations and therefore are not required by law to grant a certain percentage of assets or to publicly disclose their grantmaking activities. Many corporations run both a foundation and a giving program, coordinating the grantmaking activities of the two. A corporate grantmaking budget is usually determined by the company's economic health and is sometimes set by a formula related to profits. Often the giving program works closely with their company's marketing and public relations departments.
Community Foundations are public foundations made up of a considerable number of individual endowments managed by a single administrative body with all the funds pooled for greater investment return. As their name implies, community foundations usually have a very distinct and limited geographical area. Some of the individual funds are general purpose and discretionary; others are quite narrowly focused and may offer funds only for a scholarships or a certain group of organizations. The trustees are chosen from the public for a specific term. The board typically has full discretionary responsibility over some funds while some funds may be donor-advised and others directed to a particular agency or organization.
Public Foundations are publicly supported charitable organizations that receive much of their financial support in the form of contributions from the general public. There are many types of public foundations including community foundations. Public foundations support a variety of interest areas with or without geographic limitations as defined in their organizing charter and/or by their governing boards. The public foundations included in this directory primarily make grants to multiple beneficiaries and derive the majority of their funding revenues from a single source, usually an endowment built from charitable gifts.
Public Funders are government agencies or departments that re-grant funds they have received from the federal, state and local governments through a competitive process to local nonprofit service providers. Examples include: City Development Bock Grants, Milwaukee County Health Department, and Wisconsin Arts Board.
Federated Funds are funds such as the United Way, UPAF where their financial support is in the form of contributions from the community, but their primary purpose is the distribution of grants to nonprofit service providers.
Individuals are those people who prefer not to establish a foundation, donor advised fund or supporting organization and give directly to non-profit organizations via cash contributions, stock, real estate, bequests and inkind services.
Other Giving Vehicles
There are many other types of philanthropic entities, such as, giving circles (these can be formal or informal), and organizations that don't fit into any of these other categories, but make grants (Junior League and Rotary).
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How many foundations are there?
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What do foundations do?
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