Oscar Rennebohm Foundation Grant

The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation Grant aims to enhance education, health care, research, and human services in the Madison area. This foundation supports innovative projects and initiatives that positively impact the community, particularly focusing on senior support services and K-12 mental health programs. Organizations eligible for funding must be recognized as public charities under IRS regulations. The foundation encourages applicants to verify their proposals with the President before submission, ensuring alignment with grant requirements.

NOTE:  Letters of Inquiry may be submitted at any time throughout the year. It is strongly recommended that your organization contacts the President prior to submission of a Letter of Inquiry to verify that the request meets grant requirements.
The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation provides grants to enhance education, health care, research and human services, improving the quality of life in the Madison area.
ORF Funding Focus
The primary mission of the ORF is to provide funding to organizations for both programs or building projects that will positively impact lives with primary focus on:

• Health Care- Access Community Health Center's Beyond Smiles dental program
• Education- Odyssey Project Beyond Bars higher education in prison program
• Human Services- Nutritious food from Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
• Research- Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery on the UW–Madison campus

The foundation is currently most interested in funding senior support services and K–12 mental health projects but will consider any request that falls into the focus areas.
The foundation strives to be responsive to the Madison community’s emerging needs is here to help applicants in securing grants for projects that will have an immediate positive impact on local residents’ quality of life, as well as enrich and improve lives into the future.
Established by business leader and former Governor Oscar Rennebohm as a way to thank the community that made his success possible, the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation has issued hundreds of grants for projects that are visible in landmarks throughout the Madison landscape and across Dane County: the UW-Madison, Edgewood College and Madison College campuses; health care facilities; and neighborhood and community centers, among many others.

Eligibility

The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation (ORF) accepts grant applications only from Madison, Wisconsin area/Dane County public charitable organizations recognized as such by the Internal Revenue Service under IRC section 501(c)(3), and under sections 509(a)(1) or 509(a)(2).

Ineligibility

ORF generally does not provide funding for:Organizations not granted 501(c)(3) tax-exempt statusGrants to individualsEvent sponsorships or ticket purchasesYouth/adult sports programs, school teams, and extracurricular activitiesEndowmentsPolitical action committees or lobbying effortsOrganizations supporting arts and culture, except on a case-by-case basis