Mielke Family Foundation

Purpose

Through education, the Mielke Family Foundation seeks to encourage innovative ideas that elevate and impact individuals in the Appleton and Shawano areas related to health care, the arts, and care for the young and aging.

Education is not limited merely to schooling, but more broadly defined as follows:

“Education has to do with discovery – that learning of the culture, the meanings assigned, the rarefied techniques that have come out of life experiences of people. They seem to be just as important for human adaptation as these things that we have singled out in school to teach.”
– Edmund Gordon

The Mielke Family Foundation was established in 1963 by Dr. Edward F. Mielke and his wife, Beulah (Bee), together with sisters Ruth and Sarah Mielke. The Mielke Family Foundation existed as a private foundation before becoming a separately governed Supporting Organization within the Community Foundation in 1996. Click here for more information and history on the Mielke Family Foundation.

What We Fund

The Mielke Family Foundation accepts applications through an open Responsive grant cycle once a year, and awards other types of grants proactively throughout the year by invitation only.

A successful Responsive grant proposal will:

Be educational at its core and address one or more of the Mielke Family Foundation focus areas of health, arts, children & youth, or aging.
Focus on individuals residing within the Appleton or Shawano areas, except for school-based grants, which would be limited to the Appleton and Shawano school districts.
Consider collaborative, intergenerational and/or two-generation models (preferred but not required).
Be designed with belonging in mind. The Mielke Family Foundation seeks grant-funded activities to be reflective of the demographics present in the communities we serve.

Range of grantmaking: Responsive grants will be for one year, up to $10,000.

Deadline: Applications due August 15 by 11:59 p.m. Decisions by early November.

What We Don’t Fund

Initiatives that don’t serve a significant number of residents of the Appleton and/or Shawano areas.
Requests from school districts other than the Shawano or Appleton school districts will not be accepted.
Requests for general operating support.
Requests for Bricks & mortar projects. (Capital campaigns aligning with the focus areas may be considered by the Mielke Family Foundation Board. Contact staff directly to inquire.)

To Apply

Eligibility – Please read the Community Foundation’s general grant policies. If you meet these policies and feel you have an idea that fits the Mielke Family Foundation’s Responsive grant guidelines, complete the Mielke Family Foundation eligibility quiz in the online Grant Portal.
Application & Interview – If you pass the eligibility quiz, you may continue to complete your application in the Grant Portal. After your application is complete, an interview will be scheduled virtually or in person with representatives of the Mielke Family Foundation grants committee so they can learn more.
Decision – Within 4-6 weeks of your interview, you will be informed of the Mielke Family Foundation’s decision.