Wieser Brothers Family Foundation Inc.

Wieser Brothers Family Foundation Inc. is a closely held, family-run private foundation (EIN 87-4133631, 501(c)(3) since April 2022) based in La Crescent, Minnesota, and it explicitly states it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations" — it does not solicit or review unsolicited proposals. Its IRS-990 record lists `preselected_only: true` and no application form, deadline, or public RFP exists. The 14-person board is entirely family: Brian Wieser (President), Neil Wieser (Vice President), Max Wieser (Treasurer), Olivia Lamke (Secretary), plus Jeffrey, Andrea, Kathy, Adam, Jenna, Tom, and Hannah Wieser, and Abby and Kyle Voss — all serving without compensation. This is a governance model built for personal relationships, not competitive review; there is no program officer, no staff, and no intake process to navigate. For grant seekers, this means the funder is functionally invitation-only, and the realistic path in is a warm introduction through someone already connected to the Wieser family or their La Crescent-based construction business, not a cold LOI. Organizations should look for a personal connection — a board seat, a shared church, school, or civic group, or a mutual acquaintance in the La Crescent, La Crosse, or Onalaska community — before attempting outreach. The foundation's four recorded grants (Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse at $40,863, Hope's Door at $5,000, and two $1,000 grants to La Crescent Food Shelf) were all coded "GENERAL OPERATIONS" or "GENERAL SUPPORT," suggesting the family favors flexible, unrestricted gifts to organizations whose work it already trusts rather than funding discrete programs or capital projects. First-time applicants should not expect a site visit or multi-stage review cycle; given the volunteer, unstaffed structure, the realistic progression is a short relationship-building conversation followed by a modest first gift, with larger support following in subsequent years as trust builds — consistent with the jump from a single $40,863 grant to Catholic Charities to over $400,000 in total disbursements in the most recent filing year.

The foundation's giving has scaled dramatically since its 2021 founding. Total charitable disbursements were $0 in FY2021 (its first, asset-building year), $8,950 in FY2022 (only $1,000 of which was grants paid), and $45,863 in FY2023 (out of $56,478 in total qualifying distributions). Its most recent Form 990-PF (filed May 8, 2026) shows charitable disbursements of $401,596 against total expenses of $424,889 — roughly a 9x increase over the FY2023 level. Total assets grew in step, from $1,000,001 (2021) to $1,927,518 (2022) to $3,070,915 (2023) to $6,594,771 in the latest filing, fueled by steady contributions of roughly $1 million per year (990,800 in 2023, 1,000,000 in 2022, and 1,003,192 in the most recent year), almost certainly from the Wieser family's business interests. Of the four individually recorded grants in Granted's database (all from the 2023 filing year), amounts ranged from $1,000 to $40,863 with an average of $11,966: Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse Inc. received the largest single grant ($40,863, general operations), Hope's Door received $5,000 (general operations), and La Crescent Food Shelf received two $1,000 grants (general support), totaling $47,863 across 4 grants. Geographically, giving split evenly at the state level — 2 grants to Minnesota recipients and 2 to Wisconsin recipients — reflecting the foundation's dual-state La Crescent, MN/La Crosse-Onalaska, WI service footprint. Third-party aggregator Instrumentl reports a much wider typical award range of $5,000–$400,000 for the most recent cycle, with only a single award recorded in 2025 (versus two apiece in 2023 and 2024) — consistent with a foundation consolidating its now-larger giving capacity into fewer, bigger checks to trusted grantees rather than spreading it across many new organizations. No breakdown by program area beyond "Human Services" (NTEE code P20) is available; nursing home programs, special education, poverty alleviation, and reproductive health are cited by aggregators as secondary areas of interest.

Wieser Brothers sits squarely in the middle of this asset-matched peer group ($6.5M-$6.6M), all classified under the same Human Services NTEE category, which suggests it was grouped by Granted's peer-matching on asset size and sector rather than shared geography — none of the five peers (spread across NY, TX, DE, PA, and OR) overlap with Wieser Brothers' Upper Midwest footprint. None of the peer foundations have a public website on file either, reinforcing that this asset tier ($5M-$7M family/independent foundations) tends to operate quietly and locally rather than through formal grant portals. Grant seekers outside the La Crescent/La Crosse/Onalaska corridor should treat all six of these organizations as low-visibility, relationship-driven funders and prioritize local network research over cold outreach.

The most significant recent development is financial rather than programmatic: the foundation's latest Form 990-PF (filed May 8, 2026, presumably for tax year 2025) shows charitable disbursements of $401,596, up from $45,863 in the FY2023 filing that anchors Granted's grantee-level data — roughly a 9x increase in a single reporting period. Net assets crossed $6.59 million, up from $3.07 million in FY2023, while revenue for the period was $1,299,815, driven by $1,003,192 in contributions (77% of revenue) plus $178,197 in dividend income and $118,426 from asset sales. No press releases, news coverage, or foundation-specific announcements were found for 2025 or 2026 — this remains a low-visibility, unstaffed family foundation with no independent web presence; the domain associated with the family name (wieserbrothers.com) belongs to the Wieser family's commercial construction company, not the foundation, and returns no grant-related content. Leadership has been stable since the foundation's April 2022 IRS recognition: Brian Wieser (President), Neil Wieser (Vice President), Max Wieser (Treasurer), and Olivia Lamke (Secretary), with no compensation reported for any of the 14 listed officers or board members. Given the unstaffed structure and lack of public communications, the FY2025 giving jump is best read as the family increasing distributions now that the foundation has built a larger asset base, rather than the result of any new program launch or public initiative.

There is no formal application process to optimize for — Granted's database lists `application_instructions` as none and `preselected_only` as true, and third-party trackers (Instrumentl, GrantExec) confirm zero live, published grant opportunities. The single most important tip is to not treat this like a typical funder: skip the cold LOI or online form (none exists) and instead invest in relationship-building within the foundation's actual service area — La Crescent, MN and the La Crosse/Onalaska, WI corridor just across the Mississippi River. Because the entire board is Wieser, Lamke, and Voss family members serving as unpaid volunteers, a personal introduction carries far more weight than a polished proposal; look for shared board memberships, church affiliations, school connections, or civic involvement with any of the 14 named officers/directors (Brian, Neil, Max, Jeffrey, Andrea, Kathy, Adam, Jenna, Tom, Hannah Wieser; Olivia and Chandler Lamke; Abby and Kyle Voss). When an introduction is made, keep the ask simple and direct — a one-to-two-page letter or a phone conversation describing the organization's mission and community impact, not a formal grant application. All three known grantees (Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse, Hope's Door, and La Crescent Food Shelf) are established, locally rooted human-services organizations that received unrestricted general-operating gifts, so lead with general operating need rather than a project-specific ask, and be prepared to receive a modest first gift (the smallest recorded grants were $1,000) that could grow substantially in later years, as the jump from roughly $46,000 in total disbursements in FY2023 to over $400,000 in the most recent filing shows the foundation is both willing and increasingly able to scale support for organizations it trusts. The mailing address and phone number on file — 200 Twilite St, La Crescent, MN 55947, (507) 895-8903, attention Jeffrey M. Wieser — are the only documented contact points; a respectful, low-pressure letter of introduction to that address is a reasonable first step if no personal connection can be found, but expect a long relationship-building runway rather than a fast yes.