Northwestern Mutual Foundation

The people of Northwestern Mutual have a long history of community involvement. To carry out its corporate contributions program, Northwestern Mutual created a private foundation, The Northwestern Mutual Foundation.

The Northwestern Mutual Foundation focuses its funding in Milwaukee, where the company is headquartered. Therefore, applying for a grant from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation is limited to Milwaukee-area nonprofit organizations with programs centered on Education, Health & Human Services or Arts & Culture. (They define the Milwaukee area as Milwaukee County, with limited programmatic grants in Waukesha, Racine and Ozaukee Counties)

Northwestern Mutual Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant requests. Groups new to the Foundation are asked to submit a written letter of intent. They ask that you describe your organization, your funding request, and provide information about the program for which you are seeking support. Their team will review your letter of intent and, if the Foundation is interested in learning more about your project, you will receive an application form. Please be patient. They will contact you as soon as they have reviewed your materials. Please submit your letter of intent to:

Northwestern Mutual Foundation
720 E. Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Once an organization submits an application, the review process takes about 90 days. There are no application deadlines because they review and approve Milwaukee-area grants on a monthly basis.