Pablo's Business Directed Giving Grant

Pablo's Business Directed Giving Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Pablo Foundation Inc
Amount: Up to US $2,000
Last Updated: January 16, 2026

Summary

Pablo's Business Directed Giving (BDG) is an initiative by Pablo Foundation to support local 501(c)(3) nonprofits in the Eau Claire area. With contributions capped at $2,000 per quarter, the program empowers a diverse Care Committee from Pablo Group to identify organizations that align with the Foundation's mission of promoting sustainability in housing, health, education, and the arts, while emphasizing equity and inclusion in community development.

Overview

Pablo Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Pablo Group. The Pablo Group owns and oversees a collection of businesses including hotels, restaurants, commercial buildings, and apartment complexes. Pablo Group's founders—Zach Halmstad, Julia Johnson, and Jason Wudi—wish to contribute to a financially, culturally, and environmentally healthy Eau Claire community. To support this vision, Zach, Julia, and Wudi founded Pablo Foundation in 2017 to bolster a revitalized, diverse, and sustainable Eau Claire. Its first significant contribution to this effort began with funding the Pablo Center at the Confluence, a state-of-the-art performing arts venue located downtown where the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers meet. Since then, Pablo Foundation has expanded its funding beyond the arts to housing, health, and education, with a focus on projects bound to build a financially and environmentally healthy, robust, and vibrant Eau Claire for all our neighbors, including—and especially—the most vulnerable among us. Our mission to create a model for a healthy and sustainable community by funding toward our vision and the four pillars of housing, health, education, and arts is unified by our commitments to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and our commitment to Environmental Sustainability. We seek to be partners with organizations that value and prioritize their work culture and projects around human equity and environmental sustainability. While our focus is on the Eau Claire area, our overall goal is to create a philanthropic model that can be replicated in other communities. Pablo’s Business Directed Giving Pablo’s Business Directed Giving (BDG) is a program through which Pablo Foundation sponsors or makes donations that are capped at $2,000 per quarter, to local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations but at the request and recommendation of Pablo Group’s Care Committee. The Care Committee consists of a diverse group of employees representing the various Pablo businesses. The Committee is encouraged and empowered to select local nonprofit organizations whose requets align with the Foundation’s: mission to create a model for a healthy and sustainable community,vision to empower organizations to inclusively transform Eau Claire by ensuring sustainability in the areas of health, housing, education, and the arts,commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and commitment to Environmental Sustainability.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. To be eligible, an organization must:Serve the greater Eau Claire area,Meet the Foundation’s vision, mission, and anti-discrimination policy,Meet the Foundation's commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and its commitment to organizational and project-specific environmental sustainability,Have an active 501(c)(3) designation, AND Be currently registered as a Charitable Organization with the WI Department of Financial Institutions (and therefore authorized to solicit funding in the State of Wisconsin). For religious organizations:Faith-based organizations likely meet eligibility requirements for Pablo Foundation’s grant consideration under the following conditions:The organization is not a house of worship (such as a mosque, synagogue, or church) where a congregation regularly attends religious services;The organization provides nonreligious services that align with Pablo Foundation’s mission and vision as well as our commitments; andThe organization’s services are provided to community members with no faith or religious participation requirements.

Ineligibility

Pablo Foundation will not fund any charitable organizations who violate the Foundation’s anti-discrimination statement. Further, Pablo Foundation does not fund individuals, businesses, political organizations, or organizations opposed to religious freedom.No Pablo Foundation funds may be used to participate or intervene in political campaigns or to support or attempt to influence legislation except to the extent that such activities are permissible under IRS rules pertaining to recognized 501(c)(3) organizations.A grant request to cover general operating costs to sustain the organization and its current activities will likely be denied.