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Virginia · Public charity

The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation

THE CLIFF AND NORMA WELLS FOUNDATION mission is to support charitable organizations that are listed separately in schedule a of this tax return. These supported organizations collectively support youth activities, human needs, education, science, health services, social service and relief projects and programs and the promotion of the…

$144k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
5
Grants FY2025
4
Organizations funded FY2024
0%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$25,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$50,000
Organizations funded a year
3 to 5
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
4
Total assets, FY2025
$3.5M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 0% of the organizations The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 0% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving5$144k40%
FY20244$121k0%
FY20234$124k0%
FY20223$127k0%
FY20213$122k33%
FY20205$158k0%
FY20195$155k20%
FY20184$121k0%
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Religion$482kYouth Development$356kPhilanthropy$212kEducation$200kHealth$75kRecreation & Sports$63kAnimals$29k

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Trinity United Methodist Church$472,3509n/a
Berea College$200,0005n/a
Straight Street Roanoke Valley Inc$180,00056%
Young Life$175,64070%
Milligan University$74,5505n/a
Pets-Washington DC$28,5004n/a
Berea College$25,00010%
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University$25,0001n/a
The Bible Mission of Southwest Virginia Inc$10,00021%

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About The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation

How much does The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation give?
The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation reported 5 grants totaling $144,265 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 3 and 5 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Religion (34%), Youth Development (25%), Philanthropy (15%).
Who are The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Trinity United Methodist Church ($472k), Berea College ($200k), Straight Street Roanoke Valley Inc ($180k).
Does The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 0% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Where is The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation based?
The Cliff and Norma Wells Foundation is based in VA.

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 11 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 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

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