Green Bay Packers Foundation gives $1.6 million to 402 Wisconsin groups in the first year of a new grant cycle
The foundation said on Sept. 2 that this year's grants went to animal welfare, homelessness and human services programs. Its 2027 round, for arts and culture, the environment and hunger, takes applications from Feb. 1 to April 1.
Green Bay. The Green Bay Packers Foundation said on Sept. 2 that it had distributed $1.6 million in annual grants to 402 civic and charitable groups across Wisconsin, for programs in animal welfare, homelessness and human services. It was the first round of a four-year cycle in which each year funds different work.
By the foundation's count, 243 grants went to human services, 101 to homelessness and 58 to animal welfare. Groups in Brown County, the team's home, received 42 grants totaling $170,000, and 360 elsewhere shared $1.43 million, about $4,000 a grant on average. The recipients are based in 53 of the state's 72 counties; the foundation says many serve several counties, so the grants reach all of them.
Its list of recipients names what each grant pays for, from a thermal imaging drone for the lost dog searches of Get Toby Home, in Brown County, to a 90-day shelter at Benjamin's House Emergency Shelter in Rice Lake and a summer camp for burn-injured youth run by the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation. The grants do not recur and must go to the program applied for.
One application in four years
Until last year the foundation took applications in the spring and awarded grants in late fall; its 2025 grants, $1.5 million to 395 groups, were announced Dec. 17. It said in February that applications keep rising and its volunteer trustees, 10 members of the Packers' board of directors, need time to review each one. Applications now close April 1, and grants are announced in August or September.
Each year has its own focus areas: arts and culture, the environment and hunger in 2027; athletics and education in 2028; and the elderly and health and wellness in 2029. An organization may apply only once in the four years, win or lose, so the foundation asks groups to pick the year that fits their most urgent need.
Applying in 2027
The 2027 round takes applications online from Feb. 1 to April 1. Applicants must be physically located in Wisconsin and have been tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) for at least two years. Requests run from $3,000 to $8,000, and a recipient may get less. The application asks for program and organization budgets, a board list, financial statements and a Form 990 or 990-EZ.
The foundation does not fund capital campaigns, endowments, debt, annual appeals, fundraising event sponsorships, individuals, lobbying, scholarships or programs that directly reach fewer than 25 people.
Established in 1986 by Judge Robert J. Parins, then president of the Packers, the foundation says it has distributed more than $33 million since. Counting $1.66 million in impact grants and other grants, it has awarded more than $3.5 million this year.
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