In 2004, the Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee commissioned the UWM Center for Urban Initiatives and Research to conduct a study of the nonprofit arts and culture sector in Southeastern Wisconsin.

The data for this study were gathered through telephone interviews with 473 randomly selected respondents located in the seven-county Southeastern Wisconsin region, including the four counties of metro Milwaukee (Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha) plus Racine, Kenosha, and Walworth Counties).