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· Private foundation

The Wege Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$19M
Granted FY2023
108
Grants FY2023
12
States reached
$281k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02Your edgeRead
03Your fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0198% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Arts & Culture$16MEducation$10MEnvironment$5.6MHealth$2.4MHuman Services$2.2MHousing & Shelter$2.0MCommunity Improvement$1.7MCivil Rights$1.7MOther$0
02FY2023 · 108 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 108 grants below total $6,706,620 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $18,919,488 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $12,212,868 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k9 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k46 grants · $1.1M
  • $50k–250k50 grants · $4.8M
  • $250k+3 grants · $781k
$49,412
Median grant
12
States reached
$268M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Grand Rapids Art Museum$281,250
National Parks Conservation Association$250,000
The Ferris Foundation$250,000
Maharishi International University$225,000
Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest$200,000
Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund$200,000
Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids, Inc.$175,235
Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund$163,500
FLOW (For Love of Water)$150,000
Disability Advocates of Kent County$150,000
Vedanta Institute Of Midwest$140,000
Grand Valley State University$134,078
Project GREEN$131,451
Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest$130,000
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, Inc.$125,000
02Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$40M · 158 repeat orgs$7.7M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +43% since the first grant, against +15% for the ones you funded once.

158 repeat relationships — 76 still active in FY2023, 82 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

158
146

Total granted

$40M
$7.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+15%

Still filing today

84%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $589k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentHealthCommunity ImprovementOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • GR
    GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM
    4× · 2020–2023 · $12M · revenue +69% · 84% of their budget
  • MI
    MAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2020–2023 · $1.3M · revenue +19%
  • AC
    Aquinas College
    3× · 2020–2023 · $1.1M · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • WO
    We Oppose Violence Everywhere Now, Inc.
    one grant, 2021 · $650k · revenue -25% · 79% of their budget
  • GR
    GRAND RAPIDS BALLETgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $460k · revenue +154%
  • FL
    Franciscan Life Center Network, Inc., dba, Franciscan Life Process Center
    one grant, 2020 · $431k

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

03Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
2
Great Lakes Center for the Arts

The Center's mission is to inspire, entertain, educate, and serve all in Northern Michigan year-round by presenting exceptional experiences across the full spectrum of the performing arts and offering impactful educational opportunities.

Arts & Culture
3
Michigan Enviromental Council

Informing and educating the public and decision makers about environmental issues.

Environment
4
Business Leaders for Michigan

Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…

—
5
Great Lakes Community Action Partnership

The mission of great lakes community action partnership is to create partnerships and opportunites to help individuals, families and communities thrive.

Human Services
6
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
7
Michigan Legacy Art Park

Inspire awareness, appreciation and passion for michigan's history and stories, culture and environment through the arts.

Arts & Culture
8
Business Leaders for Michigan Foundation

Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…

Community Improvement
9
Mid Michigan Community Action Agency Inc

Mid michigan community action guides local residents on the path to self-sufficiency through empowerment, education and community enrichment.

—
10
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
11
African Development Center

Grow businesses, build wealth and increase reinvestement in the african communities of minnesota

Human Services
12
Michigan Chamber of Commerce

To promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in michigan.

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Capital Region Community Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Better Wiser Stronger Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyEnvironmental Advocacy and …College Foundation SupportAffordable Housing Developm…Early Childhood Care CentersChild Abuse Advocacy Servic…Christian Outreach Ministri…Youth Development CentersMuslim Community Organizati…Women's Empowerment Organiz…Education Equity InitiativesCommunity Hospital SystemsChristian Youth CampsLgbtqia+ Advocacy and Commu…Developmental Disabilities …Senior Support ServicesFaith-Based Homeless Servic…Public School District Foun…Addiction & Mental Health T…Urban Agriculture EducationDomestic Violence and Sexua…Girls Stem Education Progra…Faith-Based Senior LivingPublic Library SupportYmca Community CentersChildhood Cancer SupportCivil Legal ServicesGovernment Accountability &…Community Literacy TutoringFood Pantries and AssistanceUnited Way AffiliatesCommunity FoundationsClassical Music OrchestrasImmigrant and Latino Integr…Community Theater CompaniesAffordable Housing Construc…Community Arts CentersCharter and Independent Sch…Youth Sports ProgramsProfessional Dance CompaniesFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Local History Museums
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 33 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%1%<5yr13%9%5–10yr20%21%10–20yr15%21%20–35yr14%25%35–55yr18%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%0%<5yr13%5%5–10yr20%16%10–20yr15%13%20–35yr14%18%35–55yr18%48%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 2% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
2%6/278
the rest of the field
12%
6,508/53,578

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

03the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 249 of the 326 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

23
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
69
Early backer (in before they grew)
243/249
Grantees still filing
183/249
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM — $11,931,070 · Arts & CultureGRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM+23 more — $2,782,565 · Arts & Culture+23 moreGRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY — $952,006 · OtherGRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITYKendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University — $546,488 · OtherWEST MICHIGAN HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION — $526,167 · OtherDISABILITY ADVOCATES OF KENT COUNTY — $628,000 · OtherWe Oppose Violence Everywhere Now, Inc. — $650,000 · OtherAL JAZARI INSTITUTE — $745,282 · Other+95 more — $11,676,542 · Other+95 moreMAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY — $1,295,499 · EducationMAHARISHI INTER…Aquinas College — $1,089,583 · EducationAquinas CollegeWilliams College — $585,000 · EducationWilliams Colleg…ST DOMINIC SAVIO ACADEMY INC DBA STORY AUTISM CENTER — $560,000 · EducationST DOMINIC SAVI…GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $375,190 · EducationGRAND RAPIDS CO…THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC — $278,711 · EducationUS GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL WEST MICHIGAN CHAPTER — $261,000 · EducationELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION USA INC — $225,000 · Education+18 more — $1,833,321 · Education+18 moreNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION — $1,025,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL P…GUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERVATION FUND — $791,250 · EnvironmentGUANACASTE…ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST — $727,500 · EnvironmentENVIRONMEN…MICHIGAN LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND — $512,500 · EnvironmentMICHIGAN L…FOR LOVE OF WATER — $250,000 · EnvironmentFOR LOVE O…+11 more — $1,039,716 · Environment+11 moreGRAND RAPIDS URBAN LEAGUE — $320,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT GREEN — $193,851 · Human ServicesNational Cares Mentoring Movement Inc — $185,000 · Human ServicesGRAND RAPIDS NEHEMIAH PROJECT — $165,000 · Human ServicesHISPANIC CENTER OF WESTERN MICHIGAN INC — $151,000 · Human ServicesGIRLS GROWING II WOMEN — $120,500 · Human ServicesUNITED CHURCH OUTREACH MINISTRY — $120,000 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S ASSESSMENT CENTER — $100,000 · Human ServicesAYNI INSTITUTE INC — $83,000 · Human ServicesBETTER WISER STRONGER INC — $70,500 · Human ServicesMOKA CORPORATION — $70,332 · Human Services+6 more — $278,740 · Human ServicesICCF COMMUNITY HOMES — $350,000 · Housing & ShelterAYA YOUTH COLLECTIVE — $300,000 · Housing & ShelterDWELLING PLACE OF GRAND RAPIDS NONPROFIT — $296,485 · Housing & ShelterHEALTHY HOMES COALITION OF WEST MICHIGAN INC — $240,000 · Housing & ShelterFAMILY PROMISE OF GRAND RAPIDS — $171,511 · Housing & ShelterLINC UP NONPROFIT HOUSING CORPORATION — $140,000 · Housing & ShelterMARY FREE BED REHABILITATION HOSPITAL — $583,331 · HealthHEALTH INTERVENTION SERVICES — $175,760 · HealthAFRICAN-AMERICAN HEALTH INSTITUTE — $150,500 · HealthHealth Net of West Michigan — $115,000 · HealthDISART — $100,000 · HealthCATHERINES HEALTH CENTER — $80,000 · HealthGrand Rapids Chapter National Black Nurses Association — $80,000 · HealthTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION — $50,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC — $50,000 · Health+1 more — $46,500 · Health
Arts & Culture$14,713,635Other$15,724,485Education$6,503,304Environment$4,345,966Human Services$1,857,923Housing & Shelter$1,497,996Health$1,431,091

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetGRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM — $11,931,070 over 4y, 84% of budgetMAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY — $1,295,499 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetAquinas College — $1,089,583 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION — $1,025,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetGUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERVATION FUND — $791,250 over 4y, 10% of budgetAL JAZARI INSTITUTE — $745,282 over 3y, 20% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST — $727,500 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetWe Oppose Violence Everywhere Now, Inc. — $650,000 over 1y, 79% of budgetDISABILITY ADVOCATES OF KENT COUNTY — $628,000 over 4y, 6.3% of budgetWilliams College — $585,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMARY FREE BED REHABILITATION HOSPITAL — $583,331 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetST DOMINIC SAVIO ACADEMY INC DBA STORY AUTISM CENTER — $560,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetWEST MICHIGAN HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION — $526,167 over 4y, 34% of budgetMICHIGAN LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND — $512,500 over 4y, 8.6% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS BALLET — $460,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetFERRIS FOUNDATION — $445,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $375,190 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetICCF COMMUNITY HOMES — $350,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS URBAN LEAGUE — $320,000 over 4y, 5.3% of budgetSTART GARDEN INC — $300,000 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetAYA YOUTH COLLECTIVE — $300,000 over 3y, 9.0% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS MICHIGAN INC — $300,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetDWELLING PLACE OF GRAND RAPIDS NONPROFIT — $296,485 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetVedanta Institute of Midwest — $290,000 over 3y, 49% of budgetFAMILY OUTREACH CENTER — $282,970 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetTHE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC — $278,711 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetEarly Learning Neighborhood Collaborative — $275,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $266,667 over 3y, 10% of budgetUS GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL WEST MICHIGAN CHAPTER — $261,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetFRIENDS OF GRAND RAPIDS PARKS — $256,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetFOR LOVE OF WATER — $250,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetGrandville Avenue Arts and Humanities Inc — $243,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetHEALTHY HOMES COALITION OF WEST MICHIGAN INC — $240,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE — $240,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetGROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INC — $231,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetOTTAWA COUNTY PARKS FOUNDATION INC — $225,000 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION USA INC — $225,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetMICHIGAN BLACK EXPO INC — $220,000 over 2y, 26% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION — $219,998 over 4y, 3.5% of budgetWEST MICHIGAN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION COUNCIL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION — $218,750 over 2y, 21% of budgetK-CONNECT — $200,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetMEL TROTTER MINISTRIES — $200,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY — $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAIR FOOD NETWORK INC — $200,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetWEST MICHIGAN SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS FORUM — $197,038 over 3y, 31% of budgetPROJECT GREEN — $193,851 over 3y, 41% of budgetNational Cares Mentoring Movement Inc — $185,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY CIRCLE THEATRE — $185,000 over 3y, 28% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Grand Rapids Communit…Frey FoundationHeart of West Michiga…Douglas & Maria Devos…Corewell Health Group…Steelcase FoundationPeter C & Emajean Coo…The Meijer FoundationCdv5 FoundationThe Mercantile Bank F…Krw FoundationDick and Betsy Devos …
Grand Rapids Community FoundationMI193× affinity118 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Grand Rapids Community Foundation · Frey Foundation · Heart of West Michigan United Way · Douglas & Maria Devos Foundation · Corewell Health Group Return · Steelcase Foundation · Peter C & Emajean Cook Foundation · The Meijer Foundation · Cdv5 Foundation · The Mercantile Bank Foundation · Krw Foundation · Dick and Betsy Devos Family Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Wege Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Wege Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 326 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $22M of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines