Krainz Foundation Inc.

Krainz Foundation Inc. is a small, family-run private foundation based in Franklin, Wisconsin (mailing contact via % Cheryl Dordel, with a Greendale, WI address also on file), tax-exempt since November 2000. Its board of seven — Cheryl A. Dordel (President/Treasurer), Dale G. Martin, Deborah L. Shiroda (Secretary), Julie K. Dagam (Vice President), and directors Daniel Dordel, Timothy Shiroda, and Shekhar Dagam — draws from four apparent family units (Dordel, Martin, Shiroda, Dagam), all compensated modestly ($1,000-$9,500/year across filings, totaling roughly $38,000/year in officer pay). This is not an institutional grantmaker with staff, a program office, or a public review process; it is a closely held vehicle that directs roughly $150,000-$175,000 a year almost entirely to Wisconsin nonprofits the board already knows. Third-party grant trackers (Instrumentl, Impala) independently characterize it as invitation-only, non-accepting of unsolicited proposals — consistent with the total absence of a real foundation website (the domain on file, krainz.org, belongs to an unrelated Austrian pest-control company) or any published application form. One grant purpose code in the data — a $20,800 award to Brookfield Academy tagged 'DAGAM' — directly signals family-name-linked giving, reinforcing that personal connection, not competitive merit review, drives allocation. For organizations without an existing tie to a board member, this foundation should be treated as a low-probability cold-outreach target. The realistic path in is relationship-based: identify whether any staff, volunteers, or board members of your organization already have a connection to the Dordel, Martin, Shiroda, or Dagam families, or to institutions they're tied to (Brookfield Academy, St. Luke's Church, St. Martin of Tours Church). Organizations already in the portfolio — churches, food pantries, veteran and rescue-mission services, youth sports/education, and public broadcasting — sit closest to the foundation's demonstrated comfort zone and are the most credible peer set to reference if seeking an introduction.

Total giving has climbed steadily: $134,364 (2019-2020, flat), $142,364 (2021), $165,887 (2022), $175,623 (2023), $155,400 across 21 awards (2024), and $155,250 across 25 awards (2025) — average grant size $6,900 in the most recent year, down from higher per-grant averages earlier in the run as the board spread dollars across more recipients. Cash grants paid (a narrower 990-PF line than total giving) were flat at $40,000/year from 2019-2021 before jumping to $107,400 (2022) and $133,000 (2023), reflecting increased payout discipline as assets grew. Total assets stood at $2,713,734 (FY2023) and reached $2,969,747 in the FY2025 filing (filed July 2026) — a mid-size family foundation, not the $5.6M figure carried in IRS Business Master File records, which appears stale relative to the actual 990-PF asset trend. Individual grant size in the tracked grantee data (19 Wisconsin recipients, $254,800 cumulative, average $13,411) ranges from $4,000 (Soup for the Soul Ministry, 2 grants) to $80,000 (Milwaukee PBS, 2 grants), with a cluster of five organizations receiving exactly $10,000 each (St. Martin of Tours Church, Zachariah's Acres Harvest Dinner, Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation, Peter's Pantry) — a de facto standard grant size for newer or smaller relationships. By program: public broadcasting/media absorbed the largest share ($120,000 combined to Milwaukee PBS and Milwaukee Public TV, roughly 47% of tracked dollars); faith-based operating support followed (St. Luke's Church $60,000 for a technology project, St. Martin of Tours Church $10,000); human services/food security and veterans totaled $34,000 (Peter's Pantry, Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Zachariah's Acres, Soup for the Soul Ministry); youth/education totaled $30,800 (Brookfield Academy $20,800, Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation $10,000). Geography is 100% Wisconsin in the tracked data (by_state: WI = 19 of 19 grantees), though historical filings reaching back to 2010-2017 show occasional out-of-state gifts (FL, GA, NY, TX) that have since disappeared from the pattern. Most top grantees received exactly two grants across the window, indicating renewed, multi-year relationships rather than one-time gifts.

All five peers share Krainz's NTEE classification (Philanthropy & Grantmaking, T-category) and land in a tight $5.6M asset band per IRS Business Master File data — notably larger than Krainz's actual FY2025 990-PF asset figure of ~$2.97M, though that BMF figure may itself be as stale for Krainz as it likely is for the peer set, so true current sizes are uncertain across the board. None of the peers publish grant amounts, application processes, or program details in available records, which is itself the defining trait of this peer group: these are small, low-visibility, largely family-directed foundations without staff or public communications, in contrast to program-driven community or corporate foundations of similar asset size. Grant seekers should expect the same invitation-only dynamic across this entire peer set, not just at Krainz.

No news coverage, leadership changes, or program announcements were found for Krainz Foundation Inc. in 2025 or 2026 — consistent with its profile as a closely held family vehicle with no communications function. The most concrete recent signal is its FY2025 Form 990-PF, filed July 20, 2026, which reports total assets of $2,969,747, essentially flat-to-up from the $2,713,734 recorded for FY2023. Third-party aggregators diverge on the exact FY2025 payout: ProPublica's extraction shows charitable disbursements of $87,283 against total expenses of $239,250 (a net loss year, driven mainly by investment performance rather than a grantmaking cutback), while Instrumentl reports total giving of $155,250 across 25 awards for the same year with a $6,900 average grant. The gap likely reflects different 990-PF line items (cash disbursed during the year vs. total qualifying distributions, which can include set-asides or prior-year commitments actually paid), and should be treated as a range rather than a single confirmed figure pending direct review of the filed return. Board composition — Cheryl A. Dordel, Dale G. Martin, Deborah L. Shiroda, Julie K. Dagam, Daniel Dordel, Timothy Shiroda, and Shekhar Dagam — has remained stable across the filings reviewed, with no reported additions, departures, or officer changes. There is no evidence of a new program, strategic plan, or public grant cycle launch; this remains a quiet, relationship-driven funder operating well below the visibility threshold of most philanthropy media and databases.

There is no formal application channel to advise on: Krainz Foundation Inc. does not maintain a public website (the domain listed in official records, krainz.org, belongs to an unrelated Austrian pest-control company, not the foundation), has no listed grants portal, LOI process, or published funding priorities, and multiple independent grant-tracking services (Instrumentl, Impala) describe it as accepting no unsolicited proposals, funding only preselected organizations. Given that, the realistic strategy is relationship cultivation rather than proposal-writing. First, map any existing connection your organization has to the board's four family surnames — Dordel, Martin, Shiroda, Dagam — through staff, volunteers, congregants, alumni, or board overlaps; a $20,800 grant to Brookfield Academy explicitly tagged with the Dagam name shows the foundation gives where a family member has direct affiliation. Second, note the demonstrated comfort zone if you are trying to position an unsolicited inquiry: Milwaukee-area public broadcasting (Milwaukee PBS, Milwaukee Public TV), Catholic/Christian congregations in the Franklin/Greendale corridor (St. Luke's Church, St. Martin of Tours Church), food security and veteran/rescue services (Peter's Pantry, Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Zachariah's Acres Harvest Dinner, Soup for the Soul Ministry), and youth sports/education (Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation, Brookfield Academy) — organizations outside metro Milwaukee or these categories have essentially no footprint in the giving history. Third, if you do reach out, do it through the only public contact point available — phone (414) 421-7087 or the % Cheryl Dordel mailing address (8666 S 81st St, Franklin, WI 53132) — and frame it as an introduction request, not a grant application, since the foundation's own behavior (no portal, no deadlines, no public criteria) signals it does not want or process cold applications. Common mistake to avoid: do not send a standard LOI or full proposal package unsolicited; without a documented open call, unsolicited paperwork is very unlikely to be reviewed and may simply be discarded, since there is no staff or process built to receive it.