Southeastern Wisconsin is home to generous individuals and companies supporting a wide range of causes in our community. While gifts of any size can make a big impact, here is a roundup of some of the biggest gifts from the past year, along with progress on major fundraising campaigns like those at the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
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The Rep lands big gifts
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater announced plans in September 2022 to build a new $75 million theater complex to replace its existing one along East Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee. The effort kicked off with Associated Bank signing on for a $10 million, 20-year sponsorship. Since then, the campaign also landed a $5 million donation from the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, a $1.55 million donation from the Lubar family and a “generous gift” from Joe and Ellen Checota that resulted in the Powerhouse Theater at the complex being named in their honor. The exact amount of the Checota’s donation was not disclosed. The Rep also raised $1 million at its Curtain Call Ball, which was co-chaired by Dawne and Ray Manista, Diane and Clark Slipher and Jean and Rich Tennessen.
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UW-Milwaukee’s Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health in The Brewery district.[/caption]
Zilber Family Foundation strengthens public health support
In July, the Zilber Family Foundation announced a $20 million gift to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health to support faculty excellence and student achievement. Joe Zilber, the founder of Milwaukee-based real estate development firm Zilber Ltd., donated $10 million in 2007 to support the development of the UW-Milwaukee Graduate College of Public Health.
The foundation doesn’t just make big gifts. In August, Zilber announced $3.7 million in grants to 21 Milwaukee-area nonprofits, including Capuchin Community Services, Community Warehouse, Community Water Services, Data You Can Use, Ezekiel Community Development Corp., Friendship Inc., Meta House, Milwaukee Christian Center, Northwest Side CDC, Revitalize Milwaukee, Riverworks, The LeadersTrust, United Community Center, UniteWI, VIA CDC, YMCA of Metro Milwaukee and YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin.
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Milwaukee Public Museum makes fundraising progress
The Milwaukee Public Museum continued to make progress in its fundraising for a planned move to a $240 million new building and campus on the northeast corner of 6th Street and McKinley Avenue in downtown Milwaukee. MPM is targeting $150 million in private fundraising to go with $45 million from Milwaukee County and $40 million from the State of Wisconsin. In addition to unveiling renderings of several exhibits throughout the year, major private gifts announced in 2023 included $10 million from the Kellogg Family Foundation, a $2 million commitment from former board member Ross Read and his wife, Mary Read, and a $1 million gift from the Culver family and the Culver’s restaurant chain. As of late October, MPM had raised $64 million from more than 250 philanthropists and organizations.
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre continues after hitting fundraising goal
The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre reached the first benchmark in its ongoing Sustainability Campaign fundraising effort, achieving more than $1.5 million in pledges for new and increased support for its next three fiscal years.
“More than 700 individual donors stepped forward to keep MCT going and affirmed the value of a theater committed to the local community,” said Marina Krejci, president of the MCT board of trustees.
In the face of a projected 35% operating deficit for fiscal year 2023, MCT’s Sustainability Campaign was announced in February and is intended to create a stable financial foundation for the company over the next three seasons. Later that month, MCT announced a $150,000 challenge match as part of the Sustainability Campaign to avoid closure outright.
“We could not have done this without the generous challenge match from Caran and Joel Quadracci, Donna and Donald Baumgartner, and the Herzfeld Foundation, each a visionary philanthropist committed to keeping Milwaukee’s arts and culture ecology rich and vibrant,” said Krejci.Â
Other significant gifts in 2023
- After raising $58.8 million in its 2022 fundraising campaign, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County again set a $57 million goal for 2023. The organization also announced plans to provide 50,000 computers for families without access to technology over the next three years.
- Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin is launching a new program aimed at treating traumatic brain injury in military veterans and first responders, thanks to a $12.5 million gift from national nonprofit Avalon Action Alliance.
- Northwestern Mutual gave $5.7 million to support 40 Milwaukee-based nonprofits and schools to help increase the number of seats at high-performing high schools in Milwaukee and donated $3 million to local efforts to help boost home ownership among Black and Hispanic families in the city. The bulk of the funding, $2.5 million, will be given to the Milwaukee Community Land Trust and $500,000 is going to Acts Housing’s Homeownership Acquisition Fund.
- The Milwaukee Art Museum received a $4.4 million gift from Bader Philanthropies Inc. and has established the Isabel and Alfred Bader European Art Program Endowment Fund.
- Kohl’s Corp. donated $2 million to the American Cancer Society to engage in cancer prevention; $1.5 million to support youth STEM programing with COA Youth & Family Centers, Discovery World and the Milwaukee Public Museum; and $1 million to Employ Milwaukee, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, NAMI Southeast Wisconsin and the Greater Milwaukee Urban League.
- The Johnson Controls Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Johnson Controls, committed $1.2 million to four Milwaukee-based nonprofit organizations as part of its Smart and Healthy Neighborhood grants program. The nonprofits include the Greater Milwaukee Urban League, the Milwaukee Parks Foundation, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee and the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center. The foundation also made a $1.65 million, three-year pledge to the United Performing Arts Fund.
- Marquette University recently received a $2.5 million gift from the Helene Fuld Health Trust to support the university’s plans to renovate and build an addition for the new home of its nursing school in the heart of campus.
- Children’s Wisconsin received a $2.25 million commitment from Panda Cares, the philanthropic arm of Panda Restaurant Group, to support child life services at seven Child Advocacy Centers across the state.
- Milwaukee-based Zurn Elkay Water Solutions donated $2.2 million in Elkay drinking water filters to Milwaukee Public Schools.
- The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment will provide about $1.5 million in seed grant funding to 31 projects aimed at improving the health of Wisconsin residents. Seventeen of the projects are led by Medical College of Wisconsin faculty.
- The Ruth Foundation for the Arts awarded $1.23 million in unrestricted grants to 55 arts and cultural organizations across the nation as part of its second annual Artist Choice program. The three Milwaukee-based recipients were Black Arts MKE, Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, and Woodland Pattern, which was granted $50,000 for receiving the highest number of artist nominations in two categories.
- A $1 million grant from the CNH Industrial Foundation will help Racine Habitat for Humanity finance renovations at a new ReStore building in a long-vacant former Piggly Wiggly store.
- Nativity Jesuit Academy in Milwaukee received a $500,000 donation from Anne Kebisek Dudek to support an endowment for high school tuition assistance.
- Carthage College opened its new varsity softball venue, the Wiers Family Stadium and Barbara Madrigrano Field. Glenn Madrigrano Sr. and Barbara Madrigrano made a $250,000 gift and David Wiers and his family made a $300,000 gift to support the project.
- The Rocket Community Fund and MKE United, an initiative of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, donated $300,000 to its Anti-Displacement Fund to help protect homeowners in downtown-adjacent neighborhoods from displacement caused by increasing property taxes.
