Basic Needs Giving Partnership awards $2.63M

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership awarded $2.63 million awarded to nine organizations across Northeast Wisconsin.

The three-year grants support current and emerging collaborative projects working toward long-lasting, equitable solutions in the areas of early care education, housing access, mental health, and substance use.

Funding is generated by the annual U.S. Venture Open which raised $5.2 million for the Basic Needs Giving Partnership in 2025.

A grantmaking match of $600,000 from the J. J. Keller Foundation, $200,000 from Oshkosh Corporation, ThedaCare and the Thrivent Foundation help lead this effort.

Recipients of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership 2025 Multi-Year Grants are:

• ADVOCAP $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) ADVOCAP’s Childcare Incubator project focuses on improving the delivery of and access to early care and education in Winnebago, Fond du Lac, and Green Lake counties.
• Casa ALBA Melanie: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) Casa ALBA Melanie aims to create long-term, systemic change by addressing the need for language access to services in the areas of early care/education and mental health. 
• CASA of the Fox Cities: $225,000 ($75,000 for 3 years) CASA of the Fox Cities is leading a collaborative initiative to transform how children in foster care are supported in Outagamie County. 
• Community Services Agency: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) COMSA aims to increase access to affordable housing for refugees and immigrants in Brown County by working together with local nonprofits, agencies, and people with lived experience.
• CORE Treatment Services: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) CORE Treatment Services aims to co-develop and pilot residential treatment services where mothers can bring their children, combining trauma-informed substance use care for women alongside educational and behavioral health support for children. 
• Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity: $300,000 ($300,000 total for 3 years) Transforming Housing Access in the Fox Cities is a multiyear systems change initiative led by the Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity. 
• NeighborWorks Green Bay: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) NeighborWorks Green Bay is launching the Green Bay Housing Partnership, a Community Land Trust to create permanently affordable homeownership opportunities in Green Bay and eventually across northeast Wisconsin. 
• The Building for Kids: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) Leveraging the singular opportunity provided by child-directed, play-based learning, the Building for Kids will work to address the root causes of challenges with outcomes for kids, educators, and families in the regulated childcare system.
• Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development: $300,000 ($100,000 for 3 years) Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development aims to improve the ability of those at the lowest income levels to be able to access safe, quality, and affordable housing by developing new tools, new resources, strengthening partnerships, and working with decision-makers.