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Garry and Mary Lou Estes Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Garry and Mary Lou Estes Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$77k
Granted FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$17k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2025.

Education$227kScience & Tech$2kRecreation & Sports$2kArts & Culture$876Other$0
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k19 grants · $31k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $46k
$1,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE$17,173
VINCENNES UNIVERSITY$15,000
WYOTECH$14,000
Individual grant recipient$4,760
GROOMING SCHOOL OF INDIANA$4,500
STUDENTS' FUND OF HOPE$4,500
PURDUE UNIVERSITY$3,000
Individual grant recipient$2,250
Individual grant recipient$1,500
FUTURE JETS BIDDY BASKETBALL TRAVEL TEAM$1,500
UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS$1,500
INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY$1,500
FRANKLIN COLLEGE$1,000
HANOVER COLLEGE$500
OAKLAND CITY UNIVERSITY$500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 69% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY: $500 → 20%AMERICAN WELDING ACADEMY: $26k → 9%NORTH AMERICAN LINEMAN TRAINING CENTER: $10k → 13%TREVECCA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY: $2k → 14%SOUTHEAST LINEMAN TRAINING CENTER: $5k → 11%AVEDA INSTITUTE: $5k → 5%GROOMING SCHOOL OF INDIANA: $5k → 8%TRINE UNIVERSITY: $17k → 9%OAKLAND CITY UNIVERSITY: $500 → 10%HANOVER COLLEGE: $500 → 12%ANGEL MARQUIS: $5k → 13%VINCENNES UNIVERSITY: $15k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA: $2k → 15%IU INDIANAPOLIS: $5k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY: $500 → 18%INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY: $2k → 19%BALL STATE UNIVERSITY: $500 → 19%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $7k → 19%TAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $750 → 19%WYOTECH: $14k → 17%FRANKLIN COLLEGE: $1k → 8%TRINE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 9%OAKLAND CITY UNIVERSITY: $500 → 10%HANOVER COLLEGE: $500 → 12%IU COLUMBUS: $4k → 13%VINCENNES UNIVERSITY: $7k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA: $1k → 15%INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY: $2k → 19%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $5k → 19%IU COLUMBUS: $2k → 13%VINCENNES UNIVERSITY: $5k → 15%PAUL MITCHELL THE SCHOOL: $10k → 16%INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY: $2k → 19%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $3k → 19%HOPE ELEMENTARY: $5k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS: $5k → 16%SAINT MARY OF THE WOODS COLLEGE: $750 → 19%STUDENTS' FUND OF HOPE: $5k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS: $2k → 16%HOPE ELEMENTARY: $2k → 13%FUTURE JETS BIDDY BASKETBALL TRAVEL TEAM: $2k → 13%IUPUC: $3k → 16%FUTURE JETS BIDDY BASKETBALL TRAVEL TEAM: $1k → 13%IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $17k → 16%HOPE ELEMENTARY: $876 → 13%IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $6k → 16%IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $3k → 16%IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $2k → 16%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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$146k · 17 repeat orgs$90k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
9

Total granted

$146k
$61k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+6%

Still filing today

35%
11%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $29k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time
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

  • TU
    Trine University
    3× · 2022–2025 · $27k · revenue +70%
  • UO
    University of Indianapolis
    3× · 2023–2025 · $7k · revenue +17%
  • FC
    Franklin College of Indiana
    2× · 2024–2025 · $2k · revenue +5%

Funded once

  • AW
    AMERICAN WELDING ACADEMY
    one grant, 2024 · $26k
  • PM
    PAUL MITCHELL THE SCHOOL
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
  • NA
    NORTH AMERICAN LINEMAN TRAINING CENTER
    one grant, 2024 · $10k
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 University

Trinity university is an independent co-educational university whose mission is excellence in the interrelated areas of teaching, research and services.

Education
2
Otterbein University

Otterbein University is an inclusive community dedicated to educating the whole person in the context of humane values. Our mission is to prepare graduates to think deeply and broadly, to engage locally and globally, and to advance their…

Education
3
Benedictine University

Benedictine University is an inclusive academic community dedicated to teaching and learning, scholarship and service, truth and justice, as inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the social teaching of the Church, and the…

Education
4
Loyola University

Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, welcomes students of diverse backgrounds and prepares them to lead meaningful lives with and for others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and virtue; and to work…

Education
5
Excelsior University

Excelsior University provides educational opportunity to adult learners with an emphasis on those historically underrepresented in higher education. The University meets students where they are - academically and geographically, offering…

Education
6
Trinity College

To expand on the mission statement made on page 1, trinity's core mission values and characteristics emphasize: 1)commitment to the education of women in a particular way through the design and pedagogy of the historic undergraduate…

Education
7
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
8
LaGrange College

Education - lagrange college challenges the minds and inspires the souls of its students. founded in 1831 and committed to its relationship with the united methodist church and its wesleyan and liberal arts traditions, the college supports…

Education
9
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
10
Southwestern Christian University

Scu is a christ-centered liberal arts institution equipping students for a life of learning, leadership, and service; integrating faith, learning, and living; and empowering graduates to excel and to positively impact their world for jesus…

Education
11
Union University

Union university provides christ-centered education that promotes excellence and character development in service to church and society.

Education
12
Union College

Union college is a seventh-day adventist community of higher education, inspired by jesus christ, and dedicated to empowering students to learn, serve, and lead.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hanover College; the most unlike its peers is Students Fund of Hope. 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, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 33 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
5/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $27,228 · OtherIVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGEVINCENNES UNIVERSITY: $26,500 · OtherVINCENNES UNIVERSITYAMERICAN WELDING ACADEMY: $25,500 · OtherAMERICAN WELDING ACADEMYTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $14,000 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITYWYOTECH: $14,000 · OtherWYOTECHPAUL MITCHELL THE SCHOOL: $10,000 · OtherNORTH AMERICAN LINEMAN TRAINING CENTER: $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $9,105 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI: $7,500 · Other+14 more: $46,883 · Other+14 moreTrine University: $27,000 · EducationTrine UniversityUniversity of Indianapolis: $7,000 · EducationUniversity of Indianap…STUDENTS FUND OF HOPE: $4,500 · EducationSTUDENTS FUND OF HOPE+7 more: $8,000 · Education+7 more
Other$190,716Education$46,500

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 budgetTrine University: $27,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Indianapolis: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSTUDENTS FUND OF HOPE: $4,500 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetTREVECCA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFranklin College of Indiana: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTaylor University: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS COLLEGE: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHanover College: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOakland City University: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds Trine University ↗
  • Who funds University of Indianapolis ↗
  • Who funds STUDENTS FUND OF HOPE ↗
  • Who funds TREVECCA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Franklin College of Indiana ↗
  • Who funds Taylor University ↗
  • Who funds SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Hanover College ↗
  • Who funds Oakland City University ↗
  • Who funds INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗

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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Lilly Endowment IncCouncil of Independen…National Collegiate A…Ibm International Fou…Charities Aid Foundat…Natl Christian Charit…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Lilly Endowment IncIN15.3× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lilly Endowment Inc · Council of Independent Colleges · National Collegiate Athletic Association · Ibm International Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Garry and Mary Lou Estes Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Garry and Mary Lou Estes Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 33 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Garry and Mary Lou Estes’ 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