Winners announced for 2025 Nonprofit Excellence Awards

BizTimes Media recognized the Milwaukee area’s leading nonprofit organizations, corporate citizens, volunteers and philanthropists on Thursday at its 12th annual Nonprofit Excellence Awards program.

The finalists for each category were announced last month.

The 2025 winners, named Thursday, include:

Innovation in Education: Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, Marshall High School, Bay View High School (see video)

Nonprofit Collaboration of the Year: Harambee Homeownership Initiative, led by Community Development Alliance and allies (see video)

Nonprofit Executive of the Year: Patrick Landry, Notre Dame School of Milwaukee (see video)

Large Nonprofit Organization of the Year: Meta House (see video)

Small Nonprofit Organization of the Year: Bay View Community Center (see video)

Social Enterprise: Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (see video)

Corporate Citizen of the Year – Legacy Leader: Northwestern Mutual (see video)

Corporate Citizen of the Year – Community Catalyst: Lannon Stone (see video)

Corporate Volunteer of the Year: Phyllis King, Waukesha County Technical College (see video)

In-Kind Supporter: Mueller Communications (see video)

Next Generation Leadership: Paige Radke, UMB Bank (see video)

Geri Fotsch received the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award (see video). Fotsch is the president of the Fotsch Family Foundation, which focuses on supporting Catholic institutions and education. The foundation has made numerous contributions to organizations, including Marquette University, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Nativity Jesuit Academy, Notre Dame School of Milwaukee and the Women’s Care Center.

In 2022, the foundation provided a $7 million gift to Marquette University to support a new leadership center within MU’s Opus College of Engineering. With that gift, the foundation exceeded $14 million in contributions to Marquette’s Time to Rise campaign.

In 2021, the foundation pledged up to $1 million in matching donations for the United for Waukesha Community Fund, to support families affected by the Waukesha Christmas Parade massacre in November of that year.

In 2015 the foundation provided a $1 million gift to Waukesha County Technical College’s capital fund. The donation was used to help build the Integrated Manufacturing Center on the WCTC campus.

Many Fotsch family members were in attendance when Fotsch was recognized with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. As Fotsch made her way to the podium, she received a standing ovation from those in attendance.

“Thank you so much for this award,” Fotsch said. “And just to tell you something else, you’re looking at the luckiest old broad you’ve ever seen.”

Nonprofit Winners

Junior Achievement of Wisconsin was recognized as the inaugural winner of the Innovation in Education Award. Junior Achievement’s 3DE program, piloted at Marshall High School and Bay View High School, serves 600 students and uses authentic business scenarios to pose real-life questions.

The schools have seen improved attendance, lower suspension rates and more students say what they’re learning can be applied to the real world.

“This award affirms what we believe, that education can and must be reimagined to better prepare students for success in work, in life and in our community,” said Betsy McGinnity, director of senior leadership for Junior Achievement’s 3DE program, who accepted the award. “We believe education must evolve to meet the challenges and the opportunities of today’s world.”

The Harambee Homeownership Initiative received the Nonprofit Collaboration of the Year award, which recognizes the importance of collaboration and honors those organizations that have developed collaborative relationships with additional stakeholders in order to better achieve results to benefit the community.

Community Development Alliance, LISC Milwaukee, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Zilber Family Foundation, American Family Institute, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the City of Milwaukee are some of the allies involved with the Harambee Homeownership Initiative.

Working to address the need for affordable housing and to support early childhood educators, they will build 40 new single-family homes for early childhood educators in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood. The homes will be sold for about $105,000 each.

Six homes have been built so far as part of the initiative, said Oby Nwabuzor, founder and principal of Envision Growth, another ally of the project.

“This took more than just myself and those up here,” Nwabuzor said. “It took a lot of collaborators and those who saw the vision. The Harambee Housing Initiative is focused on building affordable homes for early childhood educators and these educators are fundamental to the quality of life of the children that they serve and the community in which they operate.”

Patrick Landry, president of Notre Dame School of Milwaukee, a K3-8 Catholic school, received the Nonprofit Executive of the Year Award. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated vision, innovation and leadership in advancing the mission of their nonprofit organization.

Under Landry’s leadership the school recently expanded to three campuses on the south side of Milwaukee following the purchase of the St. Florian campus, the former site of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. Most recently, Notre Dame School of Milwaukee broke ground in May on an expansion project at its St. Florian boys middle school campus.

“My journey as a Milwaukee native — I’ve been in schools in Milwaukee, my entire life to now president of Notre Dame School of Milwaukee — has always been rooted in the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to a great education, and to reach his or her full potential,” Landry said.

Meta House was named the Large Nonprofit Organization of the Year. Meta House provides substance use disorder treatment for women in the Milwaukee area.

The organization is building a new $30 million campus in Milwaukee’s Piggsville neighborhood. Opening next year, there will be space for 100 beds at the new location. About 80 beds will be for adult women while the other 20 will be for their children. Its current in-patient facility only has space for about 35 women.

Construction for the project is about 40% complete, said Valerie Vidal, president and CEO of Meta House, who accepted the award.

The demand for Meta House’s services has outpaced capacity “for far too long,” she said.

“It is our promise that every person who walks through our doors will be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve, and they will be provided with the tools and the opportunity to build a brighter future,” Vidal said.

Bay View Community Center of Milwaukee received the Small Nonprofit Organization of the Year Award. The organization works to bring people together to bring a strong, more inclusive community. It serves nearly 12,000 families through its family resource center, food pantry, senior center, mobile clinic and modern commercial kitchen.

About 60% of those served are children, said Diana Billstrom, executive director of Bay View Community Center.

“We might have different missions, but at the end of the day, we share the same story and the same goals,” Billstrom said of her organization and the nonprofits nominated for the category.

Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation received the Social Enterprise of the Year Award, which recognizes a nonprofit organization that demonstrates creative and effective application of the principles of social enterprise in the operation and funding of the organization. In 2022, the foundation purchased the former Bethesda corporate office building and 80 adjacent acres, and through a $22 million redevelopment project transformed it into The Collective, which includes a child care and early education center, a YMCA, Jefferson County Head Start and coworking spaces utilized by several businesses and nonprofits. A second campus building was repurposed into a crisis stabilization facility. A housing development will also be added to the campus.

Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation serves residents of Dodge and Jefferson counties. This year, it has created 200 new housing units and access to 500 new child care slots, chief transformation officer Tina Crave said.

“In communities where resources are limited, progress only happens when we put our personal agendas aside and focus on shared outcomes,” Crave said. “That spirit, the humility, generosity of our partners is what makes this work not just possible, but powerful.”

Corporate Winners

Northwestern Mutual was recognized as the Corporate Citizen of the Year – Legacy Leader, which recognizes companies with a long-standing, sustained history of philanthropic excellence and deep partnerships with nonprofits.

Northwestern Mutual recently celebrated $500 million in donations through the Northwestern Mutual Foundation since its inception in 1992 supporting focus areas of education, neighborhood revitalization, lifting up Milwaukee as a vibrant destination and the search for better treatment for childhood cancer.

“Each of these areas is an investment in our tomorrow, whether it’s a student who will eventually enter our workforce, a community member seeking a home and opportunity to grow their generational wealth, or a child who seeks to have a long life symptom-free of childhood cancer,” said Steve Radke, Northwestern Mutual Foundation president.

Lannon Stone Products was recognized as the Corporate Citizen of the Year – Community Catalyst, which honors companies that have made significant impact through grassroots efforts, volunteerism and creative community involvement.

Lannon Stone tithes 10% of its annual profits to charitable causes. The Lannon Stone Foundation has been a significant financial supporter of St. Augustine Preparatory Academy in Milwaukee and has supported numerous nonprofit organizations as well as community parks, fire departments and police departments.

“The reality about working with these organizations is that they understand that if you stand up and you look around and there’s still a problem, it means you have to solve the problem,” said Lannon Stone owner and president Hans Dawson, who accepted the award.

Phyllis King, chief strategist for AI advancement at Waukesha County Technical College received the Corporate Volunteer of the Year Award. King has served on a large number of boards including Penfield Children’s Center, the Red Cross, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County campaign cabinet, MKE United task force, Best Buddies Wisconsin and United Performing Arts Fund. She is past president of Milwaukee Women Inc., STEM Forward and the UWM Alumni Association.

“What really drives me deeply is the belief in developing human potential,” King said. Investments in education are investments in human potential, she said.

Mueller Communications, a public relations firm, was recognized with the In-Kind Supporter of the Year award, which is given to a professional or company that provides in-kind support to single or multiple nonprofit organizations through any type of non-financial contributions.

Mueller Communications has allowed each of its employees to provide 12 hours of donated professional services time to a nonprofit. In recent years the firm allowed employees to donate an additional 12 hours to participate in activities that promote social justice and equality in the community.

Since 2019, this has resulted in more than 7,250 hours of in-kind service donated to local organizations such as Sherman Phoenix, Discovery World, King Drive Business Improvement District and Teens Grow Greens. Last year alone, Mueller Communications donated more than 1,250 hours of civic time worth more than $325,000.

James Madlom, Mueller Communications CEO, accepted the award.

“We feel so fortunate as a group to be in a position to be able to help support those organizations,” Madlom said.

Paige Radke, a wealth investment strategist at UMB Bank, received the Next Generation Leadership Award, which recognizes business professionals under the age of 40 who demonstrate significant contributions to the nonprofit community.

Radke has been a key leader in the Milwaukee Rotaract Club, serving as president and now as a Rotary advisor. On a Rotary service trip to Guatemala she began fundraising for Rotary-led infrastructure projects and partnering with Engineers Without Borders to engage student leaders in international development.

She also serves as vice president of the board for the River Revitalization foundation, where she helped guide its merger with Ozaukee and Washington County Land Trust, and is president of the UWM Lubar School of Business Alumni Association.

“I think it’s important to remember that this award isn’t about me,” Radke said. “It’s about all of us. It’s about the work that we do. It reflects this immense collaboration, and shared belief that we can make a difference when we all bring our time, talent and heart to the table.”