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Pleasant T Rowland Foundation

Annual Giving
$3.4M
Grant Range
$1K - $1.0M

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $3.4 million (2024)
  • Success Rate: Not publicly available
  • Decision Time: Not publicly specified
  • Grant Range: Varies widely - from scholarships to $1 million+ major gifts
  • Geographic Focus: Primarily Dane County, Wisconsin, with select national grants

Contact Details

Address: 6120 University Avenue, Middleton, WI 53562

Phone: (608) 729-2811

Website: Not available

Pre-Application Contact: Phone inquiry required before formal application submission

Overview

The Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation was established in 1997 by Pleasant Rowland, the creator of American Girl dolls, and her husband Jerome Frautschi. With assets totaling over $80 million and annual giving of approximately $3.4 million (2024), the foundation supports cultural arts, education, and historic preservation initiatives primarily in Dane County, Wisconsin. Pleasant Rowland founded the foundation following her retirement from American Girl in 2000, inspired by her husband's family tradition of community giving. The foundation has made transformative gifts to Madison-area organizations, with recent major grants including a $1 million gift to the UW Odyssey Project and a $1 million grant to Centro Hispano of Dane County. Beyond the foundation, Rowland established the Rowland Reading Foundation in 2003 and recently gave a $9 million gift to the Reading League to support evidence-based reading instruction nationally. The foundation awarded 80 grants in 2024, with an average grant size of $42,848.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

The foundation supports three primary areas through discretionary grantmaking:

  • Cultural Arts Support: Grants ranging from tens of thousands to $1 million+ for arts organizations, including support for Madison Symphony Orchestra, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison Public Market, and Parks for All Trust ($100,000 in 2024)
  • Education Initiatives: Major education grants including the UW Odyssey Project ($1 million matching grant in 2024), scholarships for Dane County students, and educational programming
  • Historic Preservation: Support for preservation projects and historical activities
  • Application Method: Phone inquiry required, then formal application upon approval; awards made on rolling basis subject to funding availability

Priority Areas

  • Cultural arts organizations and programming in Dane County
  • Evidence-based education programs, particularly literacy and reading initiatives
  • Historic preservation projects
  • Scholarships for students in Dane County
  • Community development projects supporting underserved populations (e.g., Centro Hispano facility construction)
  • Arts access and inclusivity initiatives

What They Don't Fund

The foundation does not explicitly publish exclusions, but grants are strongly focused on Dane County, Wisconsin geography. The majority of awards are limited to Dane County, though select major gifts have been made to national organizations aligned with Rowland's personal priorities (such as the Reading League in Syracuse, NY, and Fountain Valley High School in Colorado Springs, CO).

Governance and Leadership

Pleasant T. Rowland - President and Founder. An educator, writer, and entrepreneur who created American Girl dolls and sold the company to Mattel in 1998. Rowland has said, "Reading is at the heart of all achievement. Without it, the American dream is out of reach." On the arts, she has stated: "The arts are for everybody," emphasizing their role in bridging community divides.

Walter Jerome Frautschi - Director. Pleasant Rowland's husband, a major philanthropist in his own right whose family has a long tradition of community giving in Madison. His $205 million gift established the Overture Center for the Arts, one of the largest single gifts to the arts in U.S. history.

Rhona E. Vogel - Secretary

Barbara Thiele Carr - Director

Catharine B. Waller - Director

All directors serve without compensation. An associate has noted that Rowland "doesn't just give a check; she gives herself, her talents as well as her money."

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

The Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation requires a two-step application process:

  1. Phone Inquiry Required: Prospective applicants must first contact the foundation by phone at (608) 729-2811 to discuss their proposal and receive approval to submit a formal application.

  2. Formal Application: Upon approval of the phone inquiry, applicants must submit the foundation's application form including:

    • The requested amount
    • The purpose for the request
    • The timeframe the request covers

For scholarship applications, all requested information on the organization's scholarship application must be included.

Decision Timeline

Specific decision timelines are not publicly disclosed. Awards are made on a rolling basis subject to funding availability.

Success Rates

Success rate data is not publicly available. The foundation awarded 80 grants in 2024 from total assets of $80 million.

Reapplication Policy

The foundation does not publish a specific reapplication policy. Contact the foundation directly to inquire about reapplication timing and guidelines.

Application Success Factors

Based on the foundation's documented giving patterns and leadership quotes, the following factors appear critical for success:

Geographic Focus: The strongest alignment is for organizations serving Dane County, Wisconsin. As stated in their guidelines, "the majority of the awards are limited to Dane County, Wisconsin." Organizations outside this area receive funding rarely and typically only for initiatives of exceptional personal interest to Pleasant Rowland (particularly literacy/reading education).

Mission Alignment: Projects must clearly fit within cultural arts, education, or historic preservation. Recent funded projects demonstrate they seek:

  • Arts organizations that promote accessibility and community connection
  • Education programs with proven, research-based approaches (particularly literacy)
  • Projects serving underserved or underrepresented communities
  • Historic preservation with community benefit

Scale and Impact: The foundation makes grants across a wide spectrum, from scholarships to million-dollar transformative gifts. Recent major grants (Odyssey Project, Centro Hispano) demonstrate support for projects that create lasting infrastructure and sustained community benefit.

Personal Connection: As a family foundation with no public website or extensive guidelines, relationships and personal connections to the founder's values matter. Pleasant Rowland's background as an educator and her passion for literacy and the arts clearly shape funding priorities.

Quality and Excellence: Given Pleasant Rowland's history of creating high-quality educational products (American Girl) and her emphasis that "the arts are for everybody," applications should demonstrate commitment to excellence and accessibility.

Clear, Specific Requests: The application requires specific information about amount, purpose, and timeframe - vague or overly broad requests are unlikely to succeed.

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • Call first: The mandatory phone inquiry is your opportunity to test alignment before investing in a full application. Use it to learn about current priorities and funding availability.

  • Dane County focus is real: Unless your organization aligns with Rowland's specific personal passions (particularly evidence-based reading instruction), focus your efforts here only if you serve Dane County, Wisconsin.

  • Think transformation, not just operations: Recent major grants ($1 million to Odyssey Project, $1 million to Centro Hispano) suggest the foundation is interested in catalytic gifts that create lasting change.

  • Evidence matters for education: Given Rowland's emphasis on research-based reading instruction through her separate Rowland Reading Foundation and gift to Reading League, education proposals should emphasize proven, evidence-based approaches.

  • Arts access is key: Rowland's quote that "the arts are for everybody" and her support for inclusive projects like Parks for All Trust suggests proposals should address how they broaden access and bridge community divides.

  • Literacy opens doors: If your organization works in literacy or reading education with research-based methods, you have a strong thematic alignment with Rowland's core passion, expressed in her statement that "reading is at the heart of all achievement."

  • Be patient and build relationships: As a family foundation without a public web presence, this is relationship-driven philanthropy. Initial smaller grants may lead to larger partnership over time.

References

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