Skip to content
Candis Kenner Wells Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Candis Kenner Wells Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$100k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$65kHealth$15kHuman Services$15kEducation$14kAnimals$10kFood & Nutrition$10kYouth Development$5kPhilanthropy$5k
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k10 grants · $50k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$525k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PALESTINE COMMUNITY THEATER$50,000
TEXAS MASONIC CHARITIES FOUNDATION$5,000
ANDERSON COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY$5,000
COYOTE SQUADRON OF THE AIR FORCE$5,000
SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN$5,000
CRISIS CENTER OF ANDERSON & CHEROKE$5,000
PLEASANT HILLS CHILDRENS HOME OF TH$5,000
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITA$5,000
EAST TEXAS FOOD BANK FOUNDATION$5,000
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY SYSTEM$5,000
KERENS HIGH SCHOOL$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY23–24, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 15%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 15%PLEASANT HILLS CHILDRENS HOME OF TH: $5k → 16%CRISIS CENTER OF ANDERSON & CHEROKE: $5k → 17%CRISIS CENTER OF ANDERSON & CHEROKE: $5k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$95k · 5 repeat orgs$44k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +8% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
3

Total granted

$95k
$14k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+7%

Still filing today

80%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’23’24
Human ServicesHealthArts & CultureAnimalsYouth DevelopmentEducationOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PC
    PALESTINE COMMUNITY THEATRE INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $55k · revenue -18% · 39% of their budget
  • AC
    ANDERSON COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $10k · revenue +8%
  • CC
    CRISIS CENTER OF ANDERSON & CHEROKEE CO
    2× · 2023–2024 · $10k · revenue -11%

Funded once

  • AC
    ANDERSON COUNTY YOUTH LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +7%
  • GT
    GO TEXAN OF HENDERSON COUNTY
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue -28%
  • NC
    NAVARRO COLLEGE
    one grant, 2023 · $4k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Trinity Community Fair Association

Manage and conduct community fair for trinity, texas and promote sale of local students livestock raised for fair

Recreation & Sports
2
Henderson County Humane Society

Provide funds for animal care

—
3
South Texas Advancement Resource

sustain farming ranching and land management in a food desert.

Human Services
4
Central Texas Children's Home

To provide family services and to provide residential child care for dependent children where there is a need to assist children and families disrupted by problems.

Human Services
5
Genetic Resource Association of Texas
Health
6
Denton Community Food Center Inc

Central distribution center used by community churches, organizations, and individuals to distribute food raised in drives and other charitable activities to needy families.

—
7
Texas Foster Care & Adoption Serv

A state of texas licensed foster care and adoption agency that identifies and provides approved healing foster homes for children.

Human Services
8
Garrett County Livestock Association Inc

To provide agriculture experiences and scholarships for the youth in the garrett county community.

—
9
Hays County Livestock Exposition

To provide and assist students involved in 4H and FFA organizations th opportunity to exhibit their projects and receive awards and monetary compensation for these projects.

—
10
Anderson County Humane Society

To administrate spay, neuter, and adoption programs for animals

Animals
11
Texas a&M University-Central Tx Foundati

Operated exclusively for educational purposes specifically including to further educational activities at texas a& m university-central texas within the meaning of 501(c)(3).

Education
12
Hale County Stock Show Inc

Hold annual stock show for the benefit of youth in Hale County, Texas.

Youth Development
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Anderson County Youth Livestock Association Inc; the most unlike its peers is Palestine Community Theatre Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 14 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PALESTINE COMMUNITY THEATRE INC: $55,000 · Arts & CulturePALESTINE COMMUNITY THEATRE INCCOYOTE SQUADRON OF THE AIR FORCE: $10,000 · OtherCOYOTE SQUADRON OF THE AIR …TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: $5,000 · OtherTEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY SYSTE…KERENS HIGH SCHOOL: $5,000 · OtherKERENS HIGH SCHOOLNAVARRO COLLEGE: $4,000 · OtherNAVARRO COLLEGEGO TEXAN OF HENDERSON COUNTY: $5,000 · OtherGO TEXAN OF HENDERSON COUNT…EAST TEXAS FOOD BANK FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · OtherEAST TEXAS FOOD BANK FOUNDA…CRISIS CENTER OF ANDERSON & CHEROKEE CO: $10,000 · Human ServicesCRISIS CENTE…Pleasant Hills Childrens Home of the Assemblies of God: $5,000 · Human ServicesPleasant Hil…ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 · HealthST JUDE CHIL…SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $5,000 · HealthSHRINERS HOS…ANDERSON COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $10,000 · AnimalsANDERSON COUNTY YOUTH LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentTEXAS MASONIC CHARITIES FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Philanthropy
Arts & Culture$55,000Other$34,000Human Services$15,000Health$15,000Animals$10,000Youth Development$5,000Philanthropy$5,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPALESTINE COMMUNITY THEATRE INC: $55,000 over 2y, 39% of budgetANDERSON COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCRISIS CENTER OF ANDERSON & CHEROKEE CO: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANDERSON COUNTY YOUTH LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTEXAS MASONIC CHARITIES FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGO TEXAN OF HENDERSON COUNTY: $5,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetPleasant Hills Childrens Home of the Assemblies of God: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEAST TEXAS FOOD BANK FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Amazonsmile Foundation
Amazonsmile FoundationWA2.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Candis Kenner Wells Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Candis Kenner Wells Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 14 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Candis Kenner Wells’ filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home