· Private foundation
Hess Family Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k5 grants · $26k
- $10k–50k15 grants · $367k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE LIFE HUB INC | $50,000 |
| HOUSE OF HAGAR - SHARE INC | $50,000 |
| THE OGLEBAY FOUNDATION | $49,000 |
| COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE OHIO VALLEY | $47,734 |
| YOUTH SERVICES SYSTEM INC | $43,671 |
| CATHOLIC CHARITIES | $30,000 |
| GROW OHIO VALLEY | $25,000 |
| CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY | $25,000 |
| TRIADELPHIA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH | $25,000 |
| VALLEY HOSPICE FOUNDATION | $25,000 |
| YWCA WHEELING | $22,000 |
| ST ALPHONSUS CATHOLIC CHURCH | $20,000 |
| WHEELING UNIVERSITY | $15,000 |
| WHEELING YMCA | $10,000 |
| WHEELING NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $611k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against -7% for those funded once.
31 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- OFOGLEBAY FOUNDATION INC9× · 2017–2025 · $296k · revenue +284%
- GOGROW OHIO VALLEY INC8× · 2017–2025 · $292k · revenue +425%
- WNWHEELING NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA CORPORATION9× · 2017–2025 · $267k · revenue +69%
Funded once
- OCOHIO COUNTY SCHOOLSone grant, 2022 · $20k
- WLWEST LIBERTY ELEMENTARY PTOone grant, 2017 · $20k
- LCLAUGHLIN COMMUNITY CENTERone grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +2%
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.
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.
Administer and maintain mt zion cemetery as a place of internment or burial in ohio county, wv as well as to promote and protect its historic character and educational value.
To provide care to childen and their families through a range of services that promote healthy growth and improve the quality of family life
To provide charitable, free medical care and pharmaceuticals to residents who fall below federal poverty guidelines and live in ohio, marshall, wetzel and southern brooke counties in west virginia and belmont county in ohio.
The organization's mission is to provide guidance and resources to disabled individuals with a focus on educational attainment, employment procurement, health and wellness, community integration, recreation, housing acquisition, and…
Alcohol and drug rehabilitation
Wmm is a non-denominational, christian, social services organization, which provides christ-centered programs and services for individuals experiencing homelessness and those in need. our vision is to see every individual we serve equipped…
Establish, conduct, implement, operate, coordinate and finance programs for the benefit of the low-income, minority, elderly, disadvantaged and handicapped citizens of wayne county, wv
To advance housing and human services to the homeless and to educate the community on the plight of homelessness in the area.
The mission of ohio valley goodwill industries rehabilitation center, inc. is to provide vocational rehabilitation, training, and employment services to individuals with either disabilities or social and economic barriers to full employment
The mission of the welty home for the aged, inc. is to own, operate and maintain within the city of wheeling and elsewhere in ohio county, west virginia, facilities having the capacity to provide a full range of secondary healthcare…
To serve the homeless and the impoverished population with nourishing meals, warm showers, and a compassionate environment.
How this is measured
27 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. 27 of the 49 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 OGLEBAY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds GROW OHIO VALLEY INC ↗
- Who funds WHEELING NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds YOUTH SERVICES SYSTEM INC ↗
- Who funds OGLEBAY INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF WHEELING INC ↗
- Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES WEST VIRGINIA INC ↗
- Who funds YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WHEELING WV ↗
- Who funds WHEELING COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds LIFE HUB INC ↗
- Who funds Cornerstone Christian Academy Inc ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE OHIO VALLEY INC ↗
- Who funds SEEING HAND ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds LAZARUS HOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds NAMI OF GREATER WHEELING INC ↗
- Who funds WHEELING JESUIT UNIVERSITY INC ↗
- Who funds NEW CITY INC ↗
- Who funds YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WHEELING ↗
- Who funds FAMILY SERVICE - UPPER OHIO VALLEY INC ↗
- Who funds PHILANTHROPY WEST VIRGINIA INC ↗
- Who funds BETHANY COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds LAUGHLIN COMMUNITY CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM OF THE OHIO VALLEY INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley Inc · Elizabeth Stifel Kline Foundation · Albert Schenk III & Kathleen H Schenk Charitable Trust · August J & Thelma S Hoffmann Foundation · Raymond A & Gertrude D Hyer Foundation · James B Chambers Memorial · Stamp 2001 Charitable Fund · United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley Inc · Eqt Foundation · W E Stone Foundation · Vna Home Support Services Inc · Francis J and Edith Jackson Founda Security National Trust Company
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Hess Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Hess Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
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