Whitburn Center

The Whitburn Center is funded through a combination of private donations, competitive research grants, and fee-for-service revenues. Below are specifics of our funding sources by year:

2024:

• Contract to conduct listening sessions on the threat of political violence in Wisconsin in partnership with the Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust. The Carter Center: $10,000.

• Competitive National Science Foundation ADVANCED Program Grant. Whitburn Center is a subcontractor for the evaluation piece: $22,024.23.

2023:

• Fee-for-service sub-contract with the Winnebago County Health Department to evaluate GO Transit students busing program: $11,500.
• Competitive research grant from the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership for The Nonprofit Sector in Rural Wisconsin, Moving Towards Collective Impact: $69,455.
• Private donation for general funding of Whitburn Center Operations, donor wishes to remain anonymous: $125.
• Competitive National Science Foundation ADVANCED Program Grant. Whitburn Center is a subcontractor for the evaluation piece: $22,024.23
• Private donation for general funding of Whitburn Center Operations, Scott and Laurie McCallum: $150.

2022:

• Private donation for general funding of Whitburn Center Operations, donor wishes to remain anonymous: $25,000.
• Private donation for general funding of Whitburn Center Operations, donor wishes to remain anonymous: $125.
• Competitive research grant from the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership for Modernizing the Local Government Workforce in Wisconsin: $65,487.
• Competitive research grant from UW Oshkosh Sustainability Institute for Assessing Social Vulnerability, Resilience, and Adaptive Capacities in East Central Wisconsin $19,937.16
• Competitive National Science Foundation ADVANCED Program Grant. Whitburn Center is a subcontractor for the evaluation piece: $22,024.23
• Fee-for-service for Fiscal Evaluation for the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce: $5,000.

2021:

• Founding donation from Gerald Whitburn to be paid out over five years: $500,000

The Whitburn Center engages UWO students and graduates in our work. Since 2021 we have:

• Employed nine different students (undergraduate and graduate).
• Provided tuition scholarships for graduate student employees.
• Funded professional development activities for our students.
• Rewarded funded fellowships to three MPA alumni.
• Took two graduate students to present research at an academic conference.
• Funded professional development activities for MPA students.
• Created a formal MPA alumni board.

The Whitburn Center has produced over a dozen work products on topics like Emergency Planning Resilience, board governance, fire districts, public workforce reform, public budgeting, and state finance.