Philanthropist
W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation
Middleton
The Overture Center in downtown Madison stands as a testament to Jerome Frautschi’s lasting impact on the city’s art scene. Giving what is cited as one of the largest gifts to the arts from a single donor in the country, Frautschi donated $205 million to build the arts and performance venue in an effort to help revitalize Madison’s downtown.
Frautschi renewed his investment in the Overture Center in 2024 by giving $10 million, through the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, to its current campaign to address capital needs and grow its endowment.
Frautschi also recently gave two $10 million gifts in support of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s new center, slated to open on Madison’s Capitol Square in early 2027.
Frautschi has made numerous donations to other arts and education-related nonprofits, including One City Schools, Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County and the Madison College Foundation. The Jerry Awards, the statewide high school musical awards program, is named after Frautschi in recognition of his support for the arts.
Frautschi ran Webcrafters, a family-owned book manufacturing company, with his brother, John, for 42 years. The company was acquired by Minnesota-based CJK Group in 2017. He is married to Pleasant Rowland, fellow philanthropist and creator of the American Girl brand.
2022 Wisconsin 275 Profile
Nonprofits and Education
President
Jerome Frautschi Foundation | Middleton
In the late 1990s, Jerome Frautschi gave what was recognized then as one of the largest gifts to the arts from a single donor in the U.S. Having watched the decline of Madison’s downtown in preceding decades and building on the momentum from the city’s then-new convention center, Frautschi gave $205 million to build the Overture Center in Madison, replacing the outdated Civic Center. The Overture, which opened in 2004 and takes up a whole city block, includes a 2,100-seat concert hall, 1,000-seat refurbished historic theater, 350-seat theater in the round and 80,000-square-foot Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
Frautschi ran Webcrafters, a family-owned book manufacturing company, with his brother, John, for 42 years. The company was acquired by Minnesota-based CJK Group in 2017.
Another significant donation to the community, Frautschi and his family gifted the Second Point on Lake Mendota, called Frautschi Point, to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the late 1980s, providing a link to the western and eastern ends of the university’s shoreline.
Frautschi has made several donations, through his W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, in recent years to education initiatives, including to One City Schools, Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County and Madison College Foundation. The Jerry Awards, the main high school musical awards program in the state, is named after Frautschi in recognition of his support for the arts.
He previously served as president and campaign chair for the United Way and on the board of the Madison Community Foundation, MMOCA, the Vilas Trust, Ten Chimneys, the Evjue Foundation, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, the Waisman Center Board of Visitors and the Letters and Science Board of Visitors of the University of Wisconsin.
