Winona Corporation

Winona Corporation is one of the oldest and most private family foundations in the Greater Chicago / North Shore Illinois area, having operated continuously since receiving its 501(c)(3) status in June 1966. It is based in Glencoe, Illinois — an affluent North Shore suburb of Chicago along Lake Michigan — at the residence of Thomas A. Kelly, the IRS-registered contact, at 543 Woodlawn Ave. The foundation is directed by the Healy family: Laurin Hall Healy Jr. serves as President/Director, John Duncan Healy as Treasurer/Director, and Deirdre Henderson as Vice President/Director, all without compensation. The name "Winona" has historical roots — it is both a Minnesota city and a Native American name meaning "firstborn daughter" — possibly reflecting family history or a named estate. The foundation's grantmaking philosophy is one of almost complete opacity: grantees are listed as "Available Upon Request" on 990-PF filings, the website (winona.org) redirects without providing any content, and there are no public press releases, news mentions, or grant databases with identified recipients. This level of privacy is unusual even among private foundations and suggests the Healy family has a strong preference for anonymous or confidential philanthropy. The IRS activity code 602 (gifts, grants, loans to individuals) combined with the large single-grant pattern suggests the foundation may support a specific institution or set of institutions in a sustained, relationship-based manner.

Winona Corporation is a purely endowed foundation — it receives zero contributions and derives all income from its investment portfolio of dividends and capital gains. Key financial data across recent years: FY2024: Revenue $190,475 (dividends $143,860, asset sales $46,615), expenses $275,976, charitable disbursements $246,175, assets $4,105,831. FY2023: Revenue $191,949, expenses $256,647, disbursements $230,545, assets $4,201,245. FY2022: Revenue $217,623, expenses $250,392, disbursements $214,230, assets $4,244,486. FY2021: Revenue $496,722 (large capital gains year), expenses $340,661, disbursements $306,884, assets $4,274,348. Annual disbursements have been remarkably consistent at $206,000–$307,000 over many years. GrantBay data shows only 9 total grants in its database, all in Illinois, totaling $2,117,671, with individual grants ranging from $206,000 to $304,671 and a median of $215,000. This strongly suggests the foundation makes a single large annual grant to one or two Illinois organizations. Assets have remained stable around $4–4.3M for over a decade, as annual grants roughly offset investment income.

Winona Corporation is distinguished from most peer foundations by its extreme privacy and concentrated large-grant strategy. Comparison:

Winona Corporation is notable for being much larger than its CauseIQ peer set while maintaining complete grantee anonymity. The North Shore Illinois context (Glencoe is adjacent to Winnetka and Highland Park) places it among some of Chicago's oldest wealth concentrations. The Healy family surname suggests possible Irish-American Catholic heritage common in the Chicago North Shore elite.

In FY2024, Winona Corporation made what appears to be a single grant of $246,175 (listed as 1 grant in the latest 990-PF snapshot). Assets declined slightly from $4,201,245 to $4,105,831, reflecting disbursements exceeding investment income by approximately $85,500. The 2024 990-PF was filed May 14, 2025. Leadership structure (Laurin Hall Healy Jr., John Duncan Healy, Deirdre Henderson) has been stable for at least a decade. The website winona.org is non-functional for public use, displaying only "Redirecting..." without any accessible content. The foundation has no documented public-facing grant application process, no press mentions, and no identifiable grantee relationships via public databases. The foundation has been quietly consistent: assets have fluctuated between $3.95M and $4.27M since 2015, with annual disbursements of $200K-$307K each year — a model of long-term private stewardship.

Winona Corporation almost certainly does not accept unsolicited grant applications from the public. Based on all available evidence, it functions as a vehicle for directed family philanthropy to one or more specific Illinois organizations maintained through longstanding relationships. Practical guidance: (1) Do not attempt to contact this foundation through typical grant-seeking channels — there is no application portal, no public program guidelines, and no history of responding to public inquiries. (2) If you are an Illinois-based organization with a genuine connection to the Healy family of Glencoe, or a substantive connection to an organization they have supported, that connection is the only meaningful pathway. (3) The foundation's IRS-registered contact is Thomas A. Kelly at 543 Woodlawn Ave, Glencoe, IL 60022. This may be a family attorney or advisor; letters of inquiry addressed here may or may not receive a response. (4) The annual grant amount of $200K-$307K suggests this is a major, sustained commitment to one institution rather than a general grant program. (5) The extreme privacy of grantee disclosure (unique even among family foundations) indicates the foundation has deliberately chosen not to publicize its giving, and may actively decline public outreach.