Wieboldt Foundation

The Wieboldt Foundation is a 100+ year-old, Chicago-based private independent foundation with a sharply defined strategy: fund community organizing in low-income neighborhoods of metropolitan Chicago. Founded in 1921 by William A. and Anna K. Wieboldt, the foundation has a public mission tagline ("100 Years of Supporting Community Change") rooted in founder William Wieboldt's original charge that grants should support "charities designed to put an end to the need for charity." Its value statement is unusually ideological and explicit: "Our recognition of community organizing or community action as the foundation's prime concern is promoted by our conviction that a sense of powerlessness and the apathy and alienation bred of this sense are at the root of many of the ills of our time. We believe that funding those efforts that give people hope that they can exercise a degree of control over their lives and that involve them working together toward jointly defined ends is an important contribution to the resolution of social ills." Strategy centers on multi-issue, resident-led community organizing rather than direct-service charity, with a stated preference for organizations "accountable to neighborhood residents." The foundation also operates two non-grantmaking programs: a Community Organizing Internship and the Wieboldt Organizing Workshop (WOW), which surface talent for the broader field.

ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer shows assets of $22,154,217 at FY2024 year-end (Dec 2024), up from $17.3M in FY2011, with FY2016–FY2018 filings missing from the dataset (a common ProPublica gap). Revenue in FY2024 jumped to $3.39M (from $999K in 2023 and $1.07M in 2022), while expenses rose to $1,528,660 — the foundation's highest expense year since 2022 ($1.57M). Three-year expense trend: $1.40M (2023), $1.57M (2022), $1.01M (2021). FY2024 expense-to-asset ratio of 6.9% is above the federal 5% minimum payout, consistent with a genuinely active grantmaker. Unlike many peer foundations, Wieboldt carries meaningful liabilities ($133,061 in FY2024, up from $69K in 2014) — not large in absolute terms, but indicative of an operationally engaged foundation (likely accrued program expenses or pension/benefit liabilities for staff). Individual grant size is not published on the website, but based on total annual disbursements around $1.3M–$1.5M spread across a Grantee Partners list that profiles roughly 20–30 organizations at a time, typical grants likely run $20K–$75K for one-year general operating support.

Wieboldt Foundation is one of Chicago's most ideologically distinctive grantmakers, funding an unusual concentration of community-organizing nonprofits that many broader funders treat as too "political" or too upstream. Peer comparison against Chicago-area foundations that fund community organizing or social justice work:

Within this set, Wieboldt's closest strategic peers are Woods Fund Chicago and Crossroads Fund — all three explicitly prioritize community organizing and grassroots action. Wieboldt's distinctive asset is its century-long institutional memory and its WOW/internship pipeline, which builds organizing capacity rather than just funding it.

Wieboldt published its 2023 Impact Report on the website (linked from the top navigation), confirming ongoing reporting discipline. The Grantees list on the homepage includes a current crop of partners with dated grants — Access Living (Dec 2022), Working Family Solidarity (Feb 2022), Hana Center, Waukegan to College (Feb 2022), The People's Lobby Education Institute (Feb 2022), and Action Now Institute — showing the foundation's commitment to multi-issue, resident-led organizations across Chicago and the collar counties. The foundation's two non-grantmaking programs (Community Organizing Internship and the Wieboldt Organizing Workshop / WOW) appear to be active recruitment pipelines per the homepage menu. Financially, FY2024 (Dec 2024) was a strong year: revenue tripled to $3.39M (likely from realized investment gains), expenses rose to $1.53M, and assets increased to $22.2M — a healthy position from which to sustain the foundation's steady grantmaking pace into 2026. No public press reports of a leadership change or program pivot have surfaced through April 2026.

1) Strategy fit is the single most important filter: Wieboldt funds multi-issue community organizing groups that are accountable to neighborhood residents and operate in low-income Chicago-area neighborhoods. Direct-service charities, national advocacy shops without Chicago ground game, and single-issue organizations are unlikely to be competitive, even if they describe themselves as "organizing." 2) Before applying, read the 2023 Impact Report (linked from the top navigation on wieboldt.org) and study the Grantee Partners list — you should be able to name three to five current grantees whose work resembles yours, and explain how your organization complements rather than duplicates them. 3) Craft your narrative around "power-building" rather than "service delivery." The foundation's value statement explicitly frames its theory of change as addressing "a sense of powerlessness" by helping people "exercise a degree of control over their lives." Align your language with this frame. 4) Evidence of resident accountability — board composition, decision-making processes, membership structure — should appear early in your proposal; this is a hard criterion. 5) Consider feeder programs: if you are an emerging organizer or your organization needs staff capacity, the Wieboldt Organizing Workshop (WOW) and Community Organizing Internship are non-grant pathways that build relationships with foundation staff before you ever submit a grant. 6) Use the Contact Us page to request current grant guidelines and the application form; the website does not embed them directly, so a preliminary outreach is both expected and welcome. 7) Expect modest, renewable general operating support ($20K–$75K range) rather than large project grants; structure your budget and ask accordingly.