Basic Needs Giving Partnership announces Single-Year & Technical Assistance Grants totaling $1.8 million
(APPLETON, WI) — October 19, 2026 — The Basic Needs Giving Partnership recently announced two rounds of grants for 2026 totaling $1.8 million. We have invested more than $1 million in one-year grants to 18 organizations that as planning and capacity building efforts to address the root causes of poverty through innovation and collaboration. These awards focus on one or more of the priority areas for this cycle: Early Care and Education (ages birth to 5), Housing Access, Mental Health, and Substance Use.
Organizations across our region are eager to address the root causes of the most pressing needs in our community by transforming policies, practices, mindsets, and decision-making processes. The single year grants provide funding support to dive deeper into understanding the root cause of an issue, develop relationships and foster collaboration, engage community, and/or explore the feasibility of a solution with potential partners.
We have also granted additional technical assistance grants totaling $750,050 to 47 nonprofits. These grants are designed to support capacity‑building efforts that strengthen the operational, strategic, and programmatic foundations of nonprofits across our region. This year’s awards reflect a diverse group of organizations working in housing, youth development, health, family support, disability services, veteran support, and community well‑being.
“The organizations receiving these grants are doing the important groundwork that lasting change requires,” said Natalie Bomstad, executive director of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership. “By supporting planning, collaboration, and capacity building, we are helping partners move from ideas to action in ways that can strengthen families and communities for the long term.”
The grants are part of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership’s commitment to advancing equity and economic well-being across Northeast Wisconsin. Grants are focused on efforts that are addressing the root causes of poverty in communities across the ten-county region. Funding is generated by the annual U.S. Venture Open, the nation’s single largest one-day charitable event dedicated to ending poverty. The 2026 event raised $5.4 million for the Basic Needs Giving Partnership and 100% of every dollar donated goes to end poverty. In the 41-year history of the U.S. Venture Open, more than $65 million has been granted to regional nonprofits.
“Ending poverty takes more than one organization or one solution. It takes partnership, persistence, and a willingness to invest in long-term change,” said Greg Vandenberg, director of giving and community engagement for U.S. Venture. “We are grateful to every donor, sponsor, and nonprofit partner helping make this work possible.”
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 2026 Single Year Grants are:
2026 Basic Needs Giving Partnership Grants
$1,074,340 in New One-Year Grant Commitments
Community Early Learning Center – $60,000
The Kindness Project is convening Navigate Early Childhood, a five-county cross-sector coalition working to advance systems change in early-childhood educator well-being and children’s social-emotional learning. Through action groups focused on public education, data collection, and advocacy, the initiative aims to shift decision-making power to educators and families, with paid participation stipends built into the model. Navigate Early Childhood aims to create the conditions for healthier, more sustainable early-learning systems where children, families, and educators can thrive.
Day by Day Warming Shelter Inc – $47,000
Day By Day Shelter is building “Pathways to Stability,” a coordinated reentry system linking street outreach with the Oshkosh Police Department, corrections, in-shelter mental health and substance use counseling, sex-offender treatment, and an employment program. The initiative aims to interrupt the cycle between homelessness and incarceration in Winnebago County by connecting people to services at every stage of that cycle. Pathways to Stability aims to establish shared protocols and case coordination with the Oshkosh Police Department and Department of Corrections.
Domestic Abuse Support Center of Shawano County – $38,000
Safe Haven, in partnership with Sweetgrass Behavioral Health, is expanding advocate staffing, flexible housing stabilization assistance, and trauma-informed counseling, delivered both onsite and via telehealth, for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors across a multi-county rural region. The initiative aims to reduce the barriers that keep survivors trapped in unsafe situations and create long-term pathways toward safety, healing, and housing stability.
Habitat for Humanity of Oshkosh – $75,000
Habitat for Humanity of Oshkosh is leading a multi-partner planning process, together with the City of Oshkosh, Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods, and Rebuilding Together Fox Valley, to design a coordinated continuum of affordable, multigenerational-friendly housing options in Oshkosh. The initiative aims to align homeownership, rental, and home-modification pathways to create a more inclusive housing system that supports residents across generations.
Howe Community Resource Center Inc – $75,000
Howe Community Resource Center is piloting a tiered mental health support model that connects with families prenatally through age four by integrating the existing Parents as Teachers home-visiting program with mental health counseling supports, providing both foundational and targeted strategies as trusted relationships develop over time. This initiative also strengthens the continuum of care by supporting connections to school-based mental health services as children and families transition into the school setting.
NEW Mental Health Connection – $15,000
NEW Mental Health Connection is continuing its Connected Fox Valley initiative, which addresses social isolation and belonging as part of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership’s Mental Health priority area across a three-county region. This request represents a continuation of work funded by a prior BNGP SY2025 award and includes a dedicated Connected Fox Valley Project Coordinator for the remainder of the calendar year. It will also compensate community experts closest to the issue of social isolation for their role in developing and advancing regional policy strategies to increase social connection.
Northeast Wisconsin Rainbow Collective Inc – $69,000
Northeast Wisconsin Rainbow Collective, a nonprofit formed after a university LGBTQ+ center’s closure, is building organizational capacity, including a new NAMI-led mental health support group, a student intern supporting a regional needs assessment, and a stipend to formalize its currently volunteer Executive Director role. The initiative aims to establish sustainable infrastructure so the organization can continue providing safe, inclusive community spaces for LGBTQIA+ people in Northeast Wisconsin.
Oshkosh Community YMCA – $30,000
The Oshkosh Community YMCA is convening a multi-sector steering committee of providers, parents, employers, and educators to research, plan, and design the Early Childhood Collaborative of Oshkosh (ECCO), including a shared float-pool staffing model to address childcare workforce shortages. The initiative aims to replace a fragmented, competitive local childcare system with a coordinated, sustainable one that better serves families and providers alike.
Outagamie County Conflict Resolution Center – $50,000
Outagamie County Conflict Resolution Center is building referral infrastructure, training bilingual mediators, and developing a sustainability plan to expand free pre-litigation housing mediation across Outagamie, Calumet, and northern Winnebago Counties. The initiative aims to give landlords and tenants a neutral alternative to the courtroom, helping tenants avoid the lasting harm of an eviction record and closing a gap that has long left Outagamie County without this kind of community-based resource.
Pillars, Inc – $75,000
Pillars, in partnership with the City of Appleton and the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development, is constructing the first accessory dwelling unit built under Appleton’s ADU ordinance. Designed as a proof of concept, the project aims to generate a case study and lessons learned that can help spur broader adoption of ADUs as an affordable housing solution in other Wisconsin communities.
Rawhide Inc – $75,000
Rawhide Youth Services is launching a Community-Based Alternative Education initiative that integrates licensed mental health counseling, individualized education, occupational and equine-assisted therapy, and family engagement for elementary- and middle-school youth. Developed in partnership with several area school districts, the program aims to serve students whose mental health needs exceed what traditional classrooms can support. The initiative aims to create a coordinated continuum of care for youth experiencing significant mental health challenges that prevent success in the classroom, reduce educational disengagement, and support reintegration.
SEPO – $75,000
SEPO is seeking a second year of funding to sustain its first full-time Executive Director role, which has enabled housing placements, relationship-building with landlords to address discriminatory practices, and coordinated policy responses for BBAIR—Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, and Refugee—families in Oshkosh. The continued investment aims to move the organization from piloting this leadership capacity to fully stabilizing it for the long term.
Share-Accept-Grow-Encourage (SAGE) – $46,000
SAGE, in partnership with the Neville Public Museum Foundation, is training and paying ten local artists from four Brown County-area communities, including the Oneida Nation, to become certified “arts in health” practitioners. The initiative aims to build a new field of practice in the region that uses the arts as a tool to address social isolation and support mental health and well-being.
Shawano Area United Way – $62,500
Shawano Area United Way is hiring a Coalition Coordinator to lead a newly formed Shawano-Menominee Housing Coalition, convening government, nonprofit, and community partners in the wake of a local shelter closure crisis. The initiative aims to develop a three-to-five-year strategy to address affordable housing access across Shawano and Menominee Counties.
Solutions Recovery, Inc – $75,000
Solutions Recovery is conducting a rigorous, participant-centered evaluation of its eight-year, two-stage recovery housing model, examining its own policies for equity and disaggregating outcomes by gender, parental status, housing history, and justice involvement. The findings will be shared with systems partners and published as a best-practices report, with the goal of strengthening recovery housing design across Wisconsin. The project includes a facilitated convening of key systems partners and focuses on generating transferable findings about how recovery housing functions as a pathway from homelessness and housing instability to permanent housing.
UW Oshkosh Head Start – $56,840
UW Oshkosh Head Start is continuing to fund on-site mental health therapy for Head Start children and families, along with reflective-practice sessions for educators, delivered through partnerships with Us 2 Behavioral Health and When Life is a Puzzle. By embedding services directly within a trusted early-childhood setting, the program aims to remove common barriers to mental health care, such as cost and scheduling, for low-income families across four counties.
Violence Intervention Project Inc – $75,000
Violence Intervention Project is conducting a bilingual community readiness assessment and survivor-informed needs assessment concerning housing insecurity and homelessness among domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Kewaunee County. The findings will inform a planned scattered-shelter pilot and a future capital campaign, building the community’s readiness to address a housing crisis that has often gone unrecognized by local decision-makers. The project aims to build community readiness and multi-sector support for future housing initiatives and a potential capital campaign to expand housing access.
World Relief Fox Valley – $75,000
World Relief Wisconsin is piloting a community-facilitator-led psychosocial support model—Hope Groups for adults and Amal for Children—for refugee and immigrant families in Outagamie and Winnebago Counties. Grant funds will support facilitator training, recruitment, and implementation, with the goal of building culturally responsive mental health support sustained by trained members of the community itself.
$750,050 in New Technical Assistance Grants
Achieve Brown County – $20,000
Utilizes data to rally the community to co-create equitable conditions so every young person can thrive.
ADVOCAP – $20,000
Creates opportunities for people and communities to reduce poverty and increase self-sufficiency.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Central Wisconsin — $10,000
Provides one-to-one youth mentoring relationships that support social-emotional development, confidence, and long-term success for children facing adversity.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Wisconsin — $11,700
Creates and supports mentoring relationships that empower youth to achieve their full potential through consistent, caring adult guidance.
Boys and Girls Club Fox Valley— $16,000
Provides youth development programs that promote academic achievement, leadership, and healthy decision-making for children and teens across the Fox Valley.
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Bay & Lakes Region Inc — $20,000
Delivers safe, supportive after-school and summer programs that help youth build academic success, healthy lifestyles, and strong character.
Casa ALBA Melanie — $20,000
Serves as a cultural and resource hub for Hispanic families, offering education, health access, and community support services.
Child Care Resource and Referral — $20,000
Supports families, child care providers, and communities by improving access to high-quality early childhood education and care.
Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services— $7,000
Provides safety, shelter, and advocacy for individuals and families experiencing domestic abuse, while promoting community education and prevention.
Chuters Amateur Youth Boxing— $10,000
Offers structured boxing and fitness programs that build discipline, confidence, and positive youth development.
COMSA— $20,000
Delivers community-based support services that strengthen families, promote stability, and improve access to essential resources.
Ebb & Flow Connections Cooperative — $20,000
Supports community well-being through peer-based mental health support, wellness programming, and trauma-informed community connection.
Ecumenical Partnership for Housing — $13,500
Provides transitional and long-term housing solutions for families experiencing homelessness, paired with case management to achieve stability.
Greater Fox Cities Housing Alliance — $20,000
Coordinates regional housing and homelessness services, strengthening collaboration among agencies to improve housing stability outcomes.
Fox Valley Veterans Council Incorporated — $20,000
Assists veterans and their families with emergency financial support, resource navigation, and connections to essential services.
Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity — $15,000
Builds and repairs affordable homes in partnership with families, volunteers, and donors to create long-term housing stability.
Greater Green Bay YMCA Inc— $20,000
Provides youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility programs that strengthen individuals and families.
Habitat for Humanity of Oshkosh — $2,350
Partners with families to build and repair affordable homes, fostering stability and self-reliance through homeownership.
HeadsUp Fox Cities — $20,000
Empowers former foster youth through transitional housing, personalized mentorship, and community-driven support.
Hmong Autism Neurodiverse Disability Support — $20,000
Provides culturally responsive support, advocacy, and education for Hmong families navigating autism and neurodiversity.
HOPE Clinic & Care Center Inc — $20,000
Offers free medical care, health education, and compassionate support to uninsured and underinsured individuals.
Hope Starts Here, Inc.— $10,000
Helping unaccompanied homeless youth in Northeast Wisconsin find safety, support, and a future.
House of Hope Green Bay, Inc. — $20,000
Provides shelter, supportive services, and long-term stability programs for young parents and youth experiencing homelessness.
Howe Community Resource Center – $15,000
Ensures that children in Brown County are safe, healthy, and ready for both life and academic success.
Impact Wisconsin — $10,000
Building healthy and resilient communities through systems change, behavioral health, wellness, and recovery-informed practice.
Lovin The Skin I’m In — $20,000
Empowers Black and Brown girls through mentorship, leadership development, and programs that build confidence and belonging.
Mission of Hope House — $20,000
Provides emergency shelter, case management, and supportive services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Neighborhood Housing Services of Green Bay – $20,000
Solving housing challenges and building stronger communities.
Nurturing Little Seeds Family Resource Center — $10,000
Supports families with young children through parent education, early childhood programming, and community-based resources.
Partnership Community Health Center — $20,000
Delivers accessible, affordable medical, dental, and behavioral health care to underserved individuals and families.
People of Progression — $20,000
Provides culturally responsive youth and family programs that promote leadership, empowerment, and community connection.
Pillars Inc— $20,000
Offers shelter, housing, and supportive services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
Project Thrive Fox Cities — $11,000
Regional initiative focused on advancing inclusive, affordable housing options for adults with autism, intellectual, and developmental disabilities across Northeast Wisconsin
Rawhide – $20,000
Inspiring and equipping at-risk youth and their families to lead healthy and responsible lives.
Safety Group Green Lake – $3,000
Supports LGBTQ+ youth and families through education, advocacy, and community-building initiatives.
Samaritan Counseling Center of the Fox Valley— $12,000
Provides mental health counseling, wellness programs, and school-based services to support emotional well-being.
SOAR Fox Cities — $20,000
Serves individuals with developmental disabilities through social, educational, and independent-living programs.
Solutions Recovery Inc — $20,000
Provides peer-based recovery support, sober living, and community programs for individuals overcoming substance use.
Third Space — $6,000
Creates inclusive community spaces and programs that foster belonging, creativity, and social connection.
Thompson Center on Lourdes — $7,500
Offers programs, social connection, and wellness activities that support healthy aging for older adults.
Unity Recovery Services – $20,000
Creating opportunities for individuals in or seeking recovery from addiction.
Valley Packaging Industries, Inc. (VPI) — $20,000
Provides employment, training, and support services for individuals with disabilities and barriers to employment.
Veterans 1st of NEW, Inc. — $10,000
Supports veterans through emergency assistance, resource navigation, and programs that promote stability and well-being.
We All Rise: African American Resource Center – $20,000
Creating and helping restore a vibrant African American community by uplifting, building skills, and intentionally targeting the root causes of system oppression.
Wisconsin Early Childhood Association Inc (WECA)— $20,000
Advances early childhood education through professional development, advocacy, and support for child care providers statewide.
Young Women’s Christian Association of Green Bay – $10,000
Dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.
Youth Go – $20,000
Offering youth opportunities to learn, grow, and feel comfortable with themselves and others.
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About the Basic Needs Giving Partnership
The Basic Needs Giving Partnership envisions thriving, equitable communities across Northeast Wisconsin. Investments are made for local and regional solutions that address the root causes of poverty in alignment with shared values of trust and collaboration, curiosity and learning, and equity with a systems-based approach. Through grantmaking, organizations are funded across a 10-county footprint in ways that not only meet current needs in our communities, but also actively work to disrupt the policies, practices, and systems that hold poverty in place.
In addition to grantmaking, we also co-create networks that can collectively solve problems, take action, and learn from each other. By working together and centering community voices, solutions are built that work for everyone. Learn more on the Basic Needs Giving Partnership website.
U.S. Venture Open
The U.S. Venture Open is the nation’s single largest one-day charitable event dedicated to ending poverty. Funds from the event support the Basic Needs Giving Partnership with a vision to build thriving, equitable communities across Northeast Wisconsin through regional collaborative grants and advocacy. The U.S. Venture Open started in 1986 with 100 golfers and has grown to more than 1,300 attendees representing hundreds of partners who golf at regional courses to raise money for programs that help end poverty. Follow the event on Facebook, Twitter, or visit the U.S. Venture Open website.
About U.S. Venture, Inc.
For 75 years, U.S. Venture, Inc. has been recognized as an innovative leader in the distribution of renewable and traditional energy products, lubricants, tires, parts, and using data-driven insights to manage energy and information in the global movement of goods.
U.S. Venture delivers creative, sustainable solutions that give their customers a competitive edge, and enable the company to support the communities in which they live, work, and play. Through the values lived by their family of brands, U.S. Energy®, U.S. AutoForce, Breakthrough®, U.S. Lubricants, and IGEN®, U.S. Venture seeks new ways to drive business success while being steadfast in its commitment to making the world a better place.
Contact Information:
Dawn Ruchala
Senior Manager, Community Engagement
[email protected]
920-243-2529
Natalie Bomstad
Executive Director, Basic Needs Giving Partnership
[email protected]
920-963-5322