Stackner Family Foundation Inc.

Stackner Family Foundation is a lean, family-governed private foundation (established 1966, EIN 39-6097597) with no program staff — it is run entirely by its board: President John A. Treiber ($96,000 compensation), VP Phillip Treiber and Treasurer Paul J. Tilleman/Kristin Occhetti (each $6,000-$7,000). There is no program office to build a relationship with beyond the application itself, so the written LOI-style request carries the full weight of the case. The mission is narrow and consistent: organizations serving people with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, or chronic mental health diagnoses, almost entirely within Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties — 166 of 174 tracked grants (95%) went to Wisconsin organizations. The process is open, not invite-only: applicants submit through the foundation's online portal (grantinterface.com, key "stackner"), and every submission is acknowledged by email. There is no formal two-stage LOI-then-full-proposal structure; it functions as a single-stage application reviewed at one of four quarterly board meetings (January, April, July, October), with the foundation sometimes requesting more information or a site visit before the vote. First-time applicants should note they may apply only once every 12 months, so timing the submission to a specific quarterly deadline (Dec 15, Mar 15, Jun 15, or Sep 15) matters more than usual. Both capital campaigns and general operating support are funded at similar rates among the top 50 grantees — Milwaukee Repertory Theater received $100,000 across two capital-campaign grants, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin $70,000 for its Go Baby Go program and capital campaign, while dozens of smaller direct-service nonprofits (Grand Avenue Club, St. Coletta of Wisconsin, Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin) received $15,000-$30,000 in general operating support. Notably, two-thirds of the top 50 grantees received funding across two or three separate years, marking this as a renewal-oriented funder that sticks with organizations once a fit is established, rather than one that continuously rotates in new grantees. Best-fit applicants are small-to-midsize Wisconsin nonprofits delivering direct disability or mental-health services; a handful of large institutions (UWM Foundation, Medical College of Wisconsin) also appear, suggesting board relationships or legacy ties help secure the largest awards.

Stackner's own reported typical grant size is a median of $5,000 and average of $10,067 across 67 tracked awards, ranging from $3,000 to $50,000 — closely matched by the underlying grantee data, which shows 174 grants totaling $1,679,000 at an average of $9,649 per grant. Third-party trackers cite occasional awards up to $65,000, likely reflecting larger capital-campaign commitments outside the typical band. Annual giving has trended downward: total giving was $974,003 in 2010 and $962,289 in 2014, versus $722,222 in 2022, $772,506 in 2021, and $806,219 in 2020 — roughly a 20-25% decline in real annual output over a decade. Grants paid followed the same arc: $703,500 (2010) down to $528,000 (2022). This tracks a broader asset decline: total assets were $12,834,204 in 2010 and $12,289,821 in 2012, falling to $9,565,516 by 2019 and $8,698,097 by 2022 (current record: $8,375,525) — a roughly 35% erosion over 12+ years. Critically, contributions received were $0 in every year on record, meaning this is a pure spend-down endowment funded solely by investment returns (net investment income ranged from $207,056 in 2022 to $842,431 in 2013) with no new family gifts replenishing the corpus — a signal that the payout pool will likely keep shrinking modestly year over year. Officer compensation has held steady near $110,000-$116,000 annually, concentrated in the board president's role. By purpose, capital campaigns and general operating support dominate the top 50 grantee list, with disability- and mental-health-specific programs (Go Baby Go, Chatter Matters Communication Camp, Shepherds College, respite care) layered across both categories. Geographically, giving is almost entirely Wisconsin-based (166 of 174 grants, 95.4%), with small legacy exceptions in Florida (3), Illinois (3), and New York (2) — likely connected to family or alumni ties rather than open geographic expansion. Applicants should size requests in the $5,000-$30,000 range for a realistic first ask, reserving $50,000+ requests for capital campaigns at established, board-known institutions.

Stackner operates at the small end of Milwaukee-area private foundations, both in assets and in the granularity of its giving (median grant just $5,000). It sits in a niche alongside a small number of other Milwaukee funders with disability or mental-health focus, though most comparable data is thin because these are unstaffed family foundations with minimal public reporting.

Stackner is meaningfully smaller and more narrowly focused than Kellben or the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, both of which spread dollars across broader causes and larger single gifts. For a disability- or mental-health-focused nonprofit seeking a first Milwaukee-area funder, Stackner's low minimum grant size and open (non-invited) application make it one of the more accessible entry points in this peer set, even though its total pool is smaller and shrinking.

Public reporting on Stackner in 2025-2026 is sparse, consistent with an unstaffed family foundation that does not issue press releases. The most concrete recent data point is a $10,000 grant to Life Navigators in 2026 for its Family Support Program — Life Navigators is a repeat Stackner grantee (three grants, $50,000 total in the tracked history) supporting aging-family and guardianship programs, so this appears to be a continuation of an existing relationship rather than a new initiative. The foundation's most recent Form 990-PF was filed January 18, 2025, per ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, with no accompanying announcement. One operational change worth flagging for applicants: the foundation's public-facing contact information has shifted from a downtown Milwaukee address and (414) area-code phone number (still listed in some directories and older IRS records, associated with treasurer Paul J. Tilleman's office at 411 E Wisconsin Ave) to a Hartland, WI P.O. Box and a (262) area-code phone number on the current stackner.com site. No leadership changes were found — John A. Treiber continues to appear as director and president across all available records. Given the multi-year decline in both assets and total giving documented in the financial history, applicants should not assume award sizes will grow; recent-cycle awards (like the $10,000 Life Navigators grant) sit near the foundation's own reported average ($10,067), suggesting funding levels have stabilized around historical norms rather than continuing to shrink further in the most recent cycles.

Submit only through the foundation's official online portal (grantinterface.com, organization key "stackner") — third-party grant databases sometimes list outdated mailing addresses or PDF forms that the foundation no longer uses. Time your submission to one specific quarterly deadline (December 15, March 15, June 15, or September 15) since the foundation only accepts one application per organization per 12-month period; missing a deadline means waiting a full quarter, not just resubmitting later. Assemble the complete packet before submitting: a clear letter of request describing the program or project, supporting brochures or materials, a project or organizational budget, your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, and a current list of your board of directors — the foundation's own instructions name these as required, and incomplete submissions are a common reason for delay. Frame the request explicitly around intellectual disability, physical disability, or chronic mental health services — grantee purposes across the top 50 awards (respite care, guardianship, communication/accessibility programs, special-needs classrooms, aging-family support) show the board rewards precise, populations-specific language over generic "community benefit" framing. Confirm your organization serves Milwaukee or Waukesha County directly; the foundation explicitly restricts funding to "Greater Milwaukee, WI" and does not make grants to individuals or scholarships, so statewide or national programs without a clear local service footprint are a mismatch. Right-size the ask: request $5,000-$15,000 for general operating or program support (the median and most common band), and reserve requests near $50,000 for capital campaigns at institutions with an existing track record with the foundation — smaller, newer organizations asking for $50,000+ on a first submission are outside the typical pattern seen in the data. Expect and prepare for a possible site visit; the foundation's process explicitly allows for one before the board vote, so have a program contact ready to host a walkthrough. Because roughly two-thirds of top grantees are repeat recipients across 2-3 cycles, treat a first grant as the start of an ongoing relationship — send a brief post-grant impact update even though it isn't formally required, since renewal (not new-grantee turnover) is clearly how this foundation operates. Avoid submitting during a compressed timeline; because the board only meets quarterly and there's a one-application-per-year cap, a rejected or incomplete application costs a full grant cycle.