Your gift supports our mission

Your gifts help preserve Holy Wisdom Monastery as a place where all are welcome to experience the beauty of nature and find a spiritual home. To make the biggest impact, we encourage you to consider a gift to the Wisdom Fund, our unrestricted fund. Gifts of any size are welcome, appreciated and 100% tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. The Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc. accepts donations for purposes that will assist Holy Wisdom Monastery and Benedictine Women of Madison fulfill and further the mission. Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity as defined by the IRS (EIN # 39-1830847).

Donate online

We use our internal merchant service system to securely process online donations using credit cards.

Mail a check

Download our donation form and mail us a check or credit card information to Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc., 4200 County Road M, Middleton WI 53562. Checks should be made out to Benedictine Life Foundation.

ACH checking account transfers

Download a form to set up an automatic monthly withdrawal from your checking account. We can process these on the 1st or 15th of the month and you can designate how you would like the gift to be used.

Gifts of stock

Many choose to direct a gift of appreciated stock to the work of the monastery. Donations of appreciated stock allow you to not pay interest on the gains!

We have an account with Merrill Lynch (DTCC #8862, A/C #670-07A30 in the name of Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin Inc., EIN 39-1830847) to facilitate the transfer of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other securities. If you are making a gift of stock, please notify Nick Traxler at ntraxler@holywisdommonastery.org or 608-836-1631, x124.

Planned gifts and bequests

Consider making a gift to Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc. part of your estate plan.  Estate gifts will be used to help liquidate the sisters’ mortgage financing on the new monastery building.  If you prefer, you may designate some or all of your estate gift to other areas of need. Learn more about planned giving and sustained giving at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

  • Will: Bequests can be a fixed amount or a percentage or the remaining value of your estate after loved ones are cared for.
  • Charitable Gift Annuity: Strengthen your own financial future while supporting the work of the monastery by purchasing a gift annuity.  An annuity is an investment that pays a constant rate of return.  A portion of the interest income may be tax free and a portion of the principal gift can be deducted the year of establishing the annuity.
  • Life Insurance: Your gift of a new or existing life insurance policy is a gift that can give you a current deduction for the premium amount as well as provide a future benefit to the monastery.
  • Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT): The purpose of a trust is to set aside money to provide an income for yourself or another person.  These trusts offer the additional advantage of establishing a tax-deductible gift to qualified nonprofit organizations.
  • Living Trust: A living trust is a flexible legal document through which you control the administration of your assets.

Sample Language

A bequest, through your will or living trust, is the simplest form of estate planning. If you are interested, here is sample bequest language you can take to your attorney:

I give, devise, and bequeath (insert amount of gift or percentage of estate, or residuary of estate) to the Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc. (EIN 39-1830847), or its successor organization, located in Middleton, Wisconsin, to support its activities in Wisconsin.

Donor bill of rights

Donors are invaluable to Holy Wisdom Monastery. We promise to be good stewards of the resources you are sharing with us and be transparent in how we are doing this. Below is a donor bill of rights that we uphold at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Donor Bill of Rights

Need more information or ideas?

For more information on supporting the work of Holy Wisdom Monastery, contact Lara Dulin Perez at ldulin@holywisdommonastery.org, 608-836-1631, x120.

Give Today


“I was attracted to the Wisdom Prairie Project because of its significant ecological impact. The prairie will improve the quality of the lake and watershed, provide food and habitat for insects, reptiles, mammals, and nesting and migrating birds. The work of volunteers removing invasive species, clearing old hedge rows, collecting, processing and planting seeds, and establishing a fire regimen will bring about the reconstruction of a vanishing ecosystem. I want to be a part of that.”

Ron Endres
Grounds volunteer and member of Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council



“Now, with what I have learned of St. Benedict’s focus on God with us in the everyday and the mundane, I am oriented toward activities differently and they are opportunities to be in God’s presence. That’s what occupational therapists do: the mundane things when something has interrupted a person’s ability to do. I’m excited to become an occupational therapist in order to analyze these activities, but it’s also a way of practicing my faith every day in my job.”

Sarah Wilkin
Former Benedictine Sojourner and current occupational therapy graduate student at University of Wisconsin-Madison