Corporations & Foundations
Corporations and foundations are important partners in the education, research and outreach that takes place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. UW Foundation’s Corporate & Foundation Relations (CFR) team serves all of UW-Madison’s schools and colleges and works to advance campus-wide initiatives.
The University of Wisconsin Foundation raises, invests and distributes funds for the benefit of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Foundation is not a grant-making organization. We are unable to accept requests for assistance from individuals or organizations not directly affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
To strengthen Wisconsin’s learning and research environment, CFR identifies appropriate corporate and foundation grant-makers and presents opportunities for them to achieve their philanthropic objectives by supporting University projects and programs relevant to these funding sources.
Campus Priorities
Reflecting the fact that many companies and grant-making foundations may have interests in multiple units or activities across the campus, CFR works with representatives of these partner organizations (such as program officers in foundations or university relations directors at companies) to coordinate and facilitate interactions with University of Wisconsin-Madison academic departments, centers, and offices.CFR brings a specific set of skills and an in-depth understanding of decision making processes in corporations and foundations, organizational motivations for providing private support, and the complexity of institutional structures and linkages with the University community to help foster the most effective and productive relationships for all participants in CFR activities.
Campus Collaboration
As a “central staff” function of the UW Foundation, CFR supports the efforts of development directors and UW-Madison faculty and personnel by offering a range of services to successfully seek and secure gifts and grants from foundations, business, and industry, including:
- Managing the entire grant-seeking process, including the development and submission of written Letters of Inquiry and Proposals and the preparation of post-award stewardship and progress reports.
- Organizing and monitoring the grant-seeking efforts of faculty member-development director teams and helping integrate proposal components into a compelling case for support.
- Consulting to provide advice and assistance, proposal review and editing, etc.
