Thirty years ago Wisconsin Mensa members Dr. Leon Zukrow, Robert Burgermeister, Douglas Bahringer, Hans Frommer, and Michael Pixler saw the need to promote Mensa and financially assist gifted and talented students in their intellectual pursuits.  They founded the Mensa of Wisconsin Foundation, Inc.,---MOWF--- a 501c)(3) non-profit entity, using seed money from Mensa of Wisconsin.  Their purpose of the Foundation was to “foster, support, encourage and offer scholarship and award programs to assist deserving individuals in their pursuit of education, training, research and other activities and projects in any scientific, literary, environmental or other area that the organization deems to be beneficial to society”. 
 
These founding members also indicated they wished MOWF to award achievement rather than need, and to concentrate on giving to individuals rather than to large charities where our awards would not be granted according to our intent, or lost in operational overhead.
 
Over the years, MOWF has held to its purpose of awarding achievement---with some exceptions.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s the Board took on many remedial activities: providing books, materials, and operating costs to under-funded rural libraries; funding reading programs for children; support for the Audubon Raptor Center; scholarships to teachers seeking Master Teacher certification at Alverno College