Croen Foundation Inc.

Croen Foundation Inc. is a small, closely-held family foundation — legally domiciled in Palm Beach Gardens, FL but giving almost entirely to Wisconsin nonprofits, with Milwaukee as its clear center of gravity (112 of 127 tracked grants, or 88%, went to WI-based organizations, versus just 5 to Illinois, 6 to Massachusetts, 3 to Minnesota, and 1 to Arizona). The board is a four-person family unit — Frederick R. Croen (President/Treasurer), Amy S. Croen (VP/Secretary), Evan M. Croen (Director), and Alyson S. Prater (Director) — none of whom draw compensation, which is typical of a lean, personally-directed vehicle rather than a professionally staffed institution. Critically, the foundation has checked the IRS Form 990-PF box indicating it 'only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations' — it does not run an open application process, LOI cycle, or public RFP. There is no evidence of a functioning grants portal: its listed website, croen.org, currently resolves to a generic placeholder page rather than a foundation site. For grant seekers, this means the standard cold-outreach playbook does not apply here. The realistic approach is relationship-based: the foundation's grantee roster reads like a checklist of established Milwaukee Jewish-community, arts, and human-services institutions (Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Jewish Museum Milwaukee, Milwaukee Jewish Free Loan Association) alongside broader civic and social-service organizations (Acts Housing, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha, Coa Youth and Family Centers, Sojourner Family Peace Center, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin). This pattern strongly suggests personal or family ties — likely through Milwaukee Jewish-community networks — drive selection more than merit-based competition. First-time applicants with no board-level connection or shared network in Milwaukee's Jewish philanthropic or civic-nonprofit circles should treat this as a low-probability, long-horizon relationship-building target rather than a near-term proposal opportunity, and should focus energy on introductions through current grantees rather than direct outreach to the foundation.

Croen Foundation's typical grant size, per its own 990-PF data, ranges from $1,000 to $53,000, with a median of $5,000 and an average of $7,776 across 29 recently tracked awards — external 990 aggregators put the ceiling slightly higher, at $50,000-$60,000, with a comparable $7,200 average. Annual charitable disbursements have run: FY2019 $213,900, FY2020 $225,500, FY2021 $224,250, FY2022 $244,750, FY2023 $214,090, FY2024 $271,190 (37 grants), and FY2025 $253,766 (32 grants) — a steady mid-$200K annual output with no dramatic swings, funded off a stable ~$4.1-4.5M asset base (FY2023: $4,165,498; FY2025: $4,118,046) rather than new contributions (the foundation received $0 in outside contributions in FY2019-2023). Multi-year cumulative grantee data (127 total grants, $929,090 total, $7,316 average) shows heavy repeat-funding: Milwaukee Jewish Federation topped the list at $161,000 across 4 grants (~$40,250/year), Milwaukee Repertory Theatre received $146,750 across 4 grants (a mix of a $25,000 capital-campaign gift plus recurring general support), Acts Housing Inc received $65,000 across 4 grants ($16,250/year), and United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha and Coa Youth and Family Centers each received $40,000 across 4 grants ($10,000/year). By program area, the portfolio skews toward Jewish-community institutions and the arts at the largest dollar tier ($20,000-$40,000+ multi-year totals), with human services, housing, education, and health/reproductive-rights organizations clustered in the $5,000-$20,000 multi-year range, and a long tail of one-time or small recurring gifts ($1,000-$8,500) to civic, literacy, and neighborhood organizations. Geographically, 88% of grant volume stays in Wisconsin, with the remainder split among an Illinois children's hospital, Massachusetts-based Health Resources in Action, a Minnesota-linked reading program, and one Arizona grant — a footprint that reads as a Milwaukee-rooted family foundation with a small set of out-of-state institutional loyalties rather than a national program.

All five peer foundations sit within roughly $1,000-$2,500 of Croen's $4,118,046 in assets and share its NTEE classification of Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking (T20) — this is a tier of small, single-family, closely-held foundations rather than professionally staffed institutions, and none of the peers have a public website or disclosed application process on record, mirroring Croen's own closed, relationship-driven model. What differentiates Croen within this peer set is a documented, geographically concentrated grantee base (Milwaukee, WI) and a transparent multi-year giving history via its 990-PF filings — most same-tier family foundations at this asset level give sporadically or to a narrow, undocumented circle, so seekers should not expect any of these peers to offer a more accessible on-ramp than Croen itself; all five are best treated as reference points for typical small-foundation payout behavior (roughly 5-6% of assets annually) rather than as alternative funding targets to pursue directly.

No independent news coverage, press releases, or leadership announcements referencing Croen Foundation Inc. were found for 2025-2026 — consistent with a closed family foundation with no public communications function. The most current verifiable activity comes from its own IRS filings: the FY2025 Form 990-PF (filed May 7, 2026) reports total assets of $4,118,046 and charitable disbursements of $253,766, a decrease from the FY2024 filing's $271,190 (filed May 5, 2025) and a rebound in grant count relative to FY2023's $214,090. Notably, the number of grants funded dropped from 37 in FY2024 to 32 in FY2025, even as total assets held roughly flat — suggesting the board trimmed its recipient list rather than proportionally reducing every award. Board composition (Frederick R. Croen, Amy S. Croen, Evan M. Croen, Alyson S. Prater) shows no changes across the years of data reviewed, and officer compensation has remained $0 in every filing year on record (2014-2023), reinforcing that this is an unstaffed, purely family-directed vehicle. The foundation's listed website, croen.org, does not currently host any foundation content — it resolves to an unrelated placeholder page — so there is no digital record of program announcements, grantee spotlights, or strategy shifts to draw on beyond the tax-filing data itself.

Because Croen Foundation Inc. has formally elected 'preselected organizations only' status with the IRS, the single most important tip is: do not submit a cold application, LOI, or proposal — there is no portal, email address, or form to receive it, and the foundation's own listed website is non-functional. Grant seekers should instead treat this as a network-access problem. First, map the existing grantee roster for warm-introduction paths: organizations like Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Acts Housing, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha, and Coa Youth and Family Centers have received funding in 4 consecutive tracked years, meaning their board members, executive directors, or development staff likely have a direct relationship with Frederick or Amy Croen and could make an introduction. Second, note the clear thematic lean toward Milwaukee's Jewish-community infrastructure (federation, free loan association, museum) alongside civic arts institutions and human-services/anti-violence organizations (Sojourner Family Peace Center, Safe & Sound Inc) — an organization whose mission naturally intersects with one of these categories, and that already has some Milwaukee Jewish-community visibility, is a far more plausible fit than an unrelated national nonprofit. Third, size expectations correctly: the median award is just $5,000 and the average $7,776-$7,200 depending on the data source, with only a handful of anchor relationships (Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre) receiving five-figure annual support — a first-time relationship is far more likely to start in the $1,000-$5,000 range than at the $20,000+ tier. Fourth, timing: 990-PF filings post in April-May each year (FY2023 filed April 2024, FY2024 filed May 2025, FY2025 filed May 2026), so there is no announced application deadline or cycle to target — funding decisions appear to happen on the family's own internal timeline, most consistent with calendar-year or fiscal-year-end giving. Common mistake to avoid: assuming the T20/Philanthropy NTEE code or the FL address means this is a pass-through or donor-advised intermediary that accepts pooled requests — it is a standalone 501(c)(3) private foundation with its own board, not a community foundation or fiscal sponsor.