10 Year Anniversary Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 10 Year Anniversary Report.
BrightStar Wisconsin Philanthropy Model
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation was fundamentally created to improve the job creation and economic prosperity of Wisconsin. Whether one grows up in Wisconsin, or adopts the state as their home, Wisconsinites care about the great dairy state. Fortunately, Wisconsinites are incredibly philanthropic, donating both their money and time...lots of it. Historically, most giving goes appropriately towards our schools and universities. However, BrightStar Wisconsin saw a void to be filled in the job creation space. BrightStar’s founders felt that if given a donation vehicle that was singularly dedicated to growing the Wisconsin economy through job creation, Wisconsinites everywhere would step up and contribute. They were right.
Our model is simple, we accept donations into our 501(c)(3), and then use those funds to make equity investments into early-stage companies that create jobs. Once a company has an exit event, we put the funds back into our Foundation to invest in more companies.
We hope you see a compelling case made that early-stage company creation is the fastest pathway to job formation; that the philanthropic model of funding the foundation works best for Wisconsin and that BrightStar has assembled the necessary expertise to competently deploy our donations. Large sums are needed for BrightStar investment activities to really make a difference. The interest in the donating community seems to be there. With this in mind, we look for a suggested minimum contribution of $100,000, with our average contributions trending much higher.
2021 Annual Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 2021 Annual Report.
2020 Annual Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 2020 Annual Report.
2019 Annual Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 2019 Annual Report.
Donor Appreciation Video 2019
BrightStar has been very active investing in early-stage companies that create high quality jobs in Wisconsin. Below is a link to a video that will update you on our progress.
We hope you'll take a few minutes to give it a view.
2018 Annual Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 2018 annual report.
2017 Annual Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 2017 annual report.
2016 Annual Report
Click here to see BrightStar's 2016 annual report.
Donor Appreciation Video
BrightStar has been very active investing in early-stage companies that create high quality jobs in Wisconsin. Below is a link to a video that will update you on our progress, and has comments from nine of the companies in our portfolio.
We hope you'll take a few minutes to give it a view.
BrightStar Advertisement
After two years, we believe that BrightStar Wisconsin has established itself as a significant player in the early-stage angel investment arena, and we decided to better share that story with potential donors throughout the state. In November of 2015, we ran a donor appeal ad that was displayed in the Milwaukee Business Journal and the Wisconsin State Journal. The ad features the 28 companies that BrightStar has invested in through the end of 2015, as well as the names and personal signatures from the 25 individuals and foundations that donated money towards the cause. Check out the link below to view the ad.
Click here to view the BrightStar ad.