Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

About Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s largest recent grant went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison, with $111,325,998 awarded in 2025 for program services tied to the university’s research mission. That scale is consistent with a funder built around UW-Madison science: the foundation’s grantmaking centers on research support, faculty support, and the movement of university inventions toward commercialization. Its active programs include annual research support to UW-Madison, faculty fellowships and named professorships, startup support, and translational work in therapeutics. The pattern in the recent grants list shows substantial recurring support rather than isolated awards. University of Wisconsin - Madison received top awards in 2023, 2024, and 2025, while Morgridge Institute for Research also appears repeatedly across those years. Beyond core research funding, WARF uses its programs to back recruitment and retention of faculty, multidisciplinary research, invention disclosure awards, and startup formation tied to UW-Madison technologies. The foundation’s existing focus areas include health care and drug discovery, food and agriculture, clean technology, computer science and engineering, research tools, and chemistry and materials.

What Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Funds

A major strand of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s work is direct research support for UW-Madison. Its annual grant to the university funds research projects, research people, research facilities, and operational support, while the Fall Research Competition supports new areas of research, junior faculty, and multidisciplinary proposals. Faculty investment is another clear theme. The Faculty Fellowships and Endowment for Excellence program supports recruitment and retention through WARF Named Professorships, Kellett Mid-Career Awards, and H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowships. The foundation also backs commercialization. WARF Startup Advantage provides education, acceleration, direct investments, and local partnerships for startups formed to commercialize UW-Madison technologies. WARF Innovation Awards recognize high-potential invention disclosures from UW-Madison, and WARF Therapeutics supports translational research and preclinical development of therapeutic assets.

How Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Gives