Pablo Foundation Inc.

Pablo Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Pablo Group, an Eau Claire-based hospitality and real estate enterprise co-founded by Zach Halmstad, Julia Johnson, and Jason Wudi. Launched in 2017 with a flagship investment in the Pablo Center at the Confluence performing arts complex, the foundation has since disbursed over $20 million to area nonprofits — making it one of the most active locally-rooted private grantmakers in the Chippewa Valley.

The giving philosophy centers on four pillars — housing, health, education, and arts — unified by non-negotiable cross-cutting commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and environmental sustainability. Applicants must demonstrate alignment with all of these values, not merely the program pillar most relevant to their work. Faith-based organizations can qualify if they operate as non-worship service providers with no religious participation requirements.

The foundation strongly emphasizes innovation and gap-filling over sustaining existing activities. Their FAQ states plainly: "We do not fund general operating costs to sustain current activities." They want to see how your project addresses an unmet community need, expands a proven model in a new direction, or brings a new service to an underserved population. The $150,000 awarded to Powers of Perception for a South Africa Cultural Immersion Trip and the $422,000 committed in May 2025 to the New Day Resource Center both reflect a preference for bold, community-transforming investments that leverage multiple funders.

Multi-year relationships are common and rewarded. Confluence Council Inc. has received $2,052,100 across 4 grants; the Children's Museum carries a 5-year JEDI pledge totaling $410,000; Eau Claire Community Foundation holds a 7-year ECASD Mini-Grants pledge. First-time applicants should recognize that the foundation builds its portfolio incrementally — a well-executed smaller grant often precedes significantly larger commitments.

Pre-application outreach is strongly encouraged and distinguishes Pablo Foundation from most private foundations of similar asset scale. Executive Director MaiVue Xiong (maivue@pablofoundation.org) and Grants Administrator Zach Schultz-Bates welcome conversations before submission. These conversations function as a soft screen — staff will tell you candidly whether a project aligns with current board priorities, saving applicants from investing time in a mismatch.

All applications are submitted through the Submittable portal (pablofoundation.submittable.com). No LOI is required. Two standard cycles — Spring (February–March, decisions in May) and Fall (August–September, decisions in November) — plus a Multi-Year Cycle (June–August, decisions in January) for requests above $250,000 give organizations three application entry points per year.

Pablo Foundation has paid out between $1.55M and $2.69M in grants annually across fiscal years 2019–2023, with total giving (including BDG gifts and other disbursements) ranging from $1.72M to $2.91M. In 2024, giving nearly reached $4 million — the foundation's highest single-year total since its 2017 founding. Assets settled at $30.9M in FY2023 (down from a peak of $38.0M in FY2021), with net investment income of $856,921 in FY2023 serving as the primary grantmaking fuel. The five-year total from FY2019–FY2023 equals approximately $11.2M in total giving.

From the grantee dataset (168 grants), the median grant is $18,000 and the average is $40,874, though the average is significantly skewed by large multi-year commitments. The floor for the standard cycle is $10,000; the ceiling is $250,000 for single-cycle grants; multi-year disbursements have reached $522,200 in a single payment. The BDG program handles requests up to $2,000.

Annual giving by fiscal year: - FY2019: $1.72M total giving, $1.65M grants paid - FY2020: $2.91M total giving, $2.69M grants paid (elevated — likely pandemic-era response) - FY2021: $1.98M total giving, $1.55M grants paid - FY2022: $2.30M total giving, $1.92M grants paid - FY2023: $2.33M total giving, $1.93M grants paid

By focus area, housing commands the largest cumulative share of identified grantmaking: Confluence Council ($2.05M), Hope Village Tiny Housing ($500K), Chippewa Valley Habitat for Humanity ($405K), and Embrace Services domestic abuse shelter ($400K) together account for roughly $3.4M. Education follows through the Children's Museum ($410K 5-year JEDI pledge), Eau Claire Community Foundation ($266K 7-year ECASD pledge), and UW-Eau Claire Foundation ($220.9K). Health recipients — Vivent Health ($150K), Feed My People ($252K combined), Chippewa Valley Health Clinic ($85K) — receive consistent multi-cycle support. Arts and community organizations including Boys & Girls Club ($250K combined), Friends of Le Phillips Memorial Library ($257K), and LGBTQ Community Center ($81K) round out the portfolio.

Geographic concentration is near-total: 163 of 168 recorded grants (97%) went to Wisconsin organizations; only 5 crossed state lines, all to organizations with demonstrated Eau Claire ties. Multi-year pledges are a signature vehicle for large, sustained commitments across all four pillars.

Pablo Foundation's asset-size peers in the database are matched at approximately $30.7M in assets, but share very little else in common: none of the five peers have public websites or published application processes, making meaningful comparison on grantmaking approach limited beyond financial scale.

Among Wisconsin-based private foundations of similar scale, Pablo Foundation is genuinely distinctive in maintaining a fully open, structured grantmaking process with two formal annual cycles, a public Submittable portal, published eligibility criteria, named staff contacts, and explicit application guidance. Most private foundations at this asset level operate by invitation only and publish no application information.

The foundation's annual payout of approximately 7.5% of assets in FY2023 exceeds the standard 5% private foundation minimum, reflecting supplemental contributions from the Pablo Group's business revenues. This gives Pablo Foundation more consistent grantmaking capacity than pure endowment-driven peers and positions it as one of the most accessible and transparent locally-rooted major funders available to Chippewa Valley nonprofits.

May 2026 — Spring Grant Cycle: $577,425 disbursed. Pablo Foundation announced awards to roughly a dozen organizations, with individual grants ranging from $14,000 to over $100,000. Named recipients include Eau Claire Sober Living (Men's Recovery Housing Programs), the Sherman Steering Committee (Sherman Elementary School playground revamp), Powers of Perception (program expansion), and the Fall Creek Public Library building project. Concurrently, the Business Directed Giving program awarded over $19,000 to ten organizations in Q1–Q2 2026, including Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes, Good Shepherd Senior Apartments, Fierce Freedom, and Power Up Eau Claire at $1,400–$2,000 per award.

May 2025 — $422,000 commitment to New Day Resource Center. Pablo Foundation committed $422,000 to Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council for the New Day Resource Center at 610 Gibson Street in downtown Eau Claire, which opened January 2026. The facility provides daytime shelter, shower and laundry access, and mental health and addiction recovery counseling, operated by Hope Gospel Mission as Community Haven House. Total project financing exceeded $1.8 million, including $500,000 from the City of Eau Claire. Executive Director MaiVue Xiong stated: "This project creates lasting infrastructure for those experiencing homelessness — offering safety, resources, and a path forward."

2024 — Record giving year and NEW Series launch. Annual giving reached nearly $4 million, the highest since the foundation's 2017 founding. Pablo Foundation also introduced the Nonprofit Empowerment Workshop (NEW) Series, a formal capacity-building program of workshops, cohorts, and certificate offerings for area nonprofits — a significant expansion beyond direct grantmaking. No leadership changes have been announced; MaiVue Xiong continues as Executive Director.

Start with a phone call, not a form. Pablo Foundation explicitly encourages pre-application conversations and staff actively welcome them. Contact Executive Director MaiVue Xiong (maivue@pablofoundation.org) or Grants Administrator Zach Schultz-Bates before investing time in a full application. This step is not a formality: staff will tell you candidly whether your project fits current board priorities. Organizations that skip this step frequently submit proposals that do not match what the foundation is funding in a given cycle.

Time your submission to the cycle. The Spring Cycle opens early February and closes mid-March (decisions in May). The Fall Cycle opens early August and closes mid-September (decisions in November). Exact dates shift slightly each year — subscribe to Pablo Foundation's email list at pablofoundation.org. For requests above $250,000, you must submit during the June–August Multi-Year Cycle only; board decisions come in January.

Frame innovation, not operations. The FAQ states plainly: Pablo Foundation does not fund "general operating costs to sustain current activities." Lead with what is new — a new service line, an underserved population segment, a capital expansion, or a gap-filling initiative. Identify the specific Eau Claire community need your project addresses and demonstrate why existing resources fall short. Projects that read as sustaining the status quo will not advance.

Build and show your funding stack. The board evaluates financial viability rigorously. Your budget must show the total project cost, the Pablo Foundation portion requested, and how other funders — government contracts, other foundations, individual contributions — fill the remainder. Projects relying entirely on this grant will not advance. The $422,000 New Day Resource Center grant succeeded in part because $1.4M from other sources was already committed when the application was submitted.

Use the foundation's evaluation language. The board's framework uses specific terms: "transformative," "innovative," "equity, diversity, and inclusion," "environmental sustainability," "greater Eau Claire area." These are not buzzwords — they are the literal criteria against which proposals are evaluated. Apply them to your project design, not merely your organizational values statement.

Keep grant reports current. Organizations with outstanding grant reports from prior awards must submit those reports at least 90 days before the next cycle deadline. This is a hard eligibility rule — not a guideline. Build your reporting calendar backward from cycle opening dates to avoid losing a cycle.