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The Wege Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Wege Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$19M
Granted FY2023
110
Grants FY2023
12
States reached
$281k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02Its granteesRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$16MEducation$10MEnvironment$5.6MHealth$2.4MHuman Services$2.2MHousing & Shelter$2.0MCommunity Improvement$1.7MCivil Rights$1.7MOther$0
02FY2023 · 110 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 110 grants below total $7,151,370, the rows itemized in this filing. The $18,919,488 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $11,768,118 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k9 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k46 grants · $1.1M
  • $50k–250k51 grants · $5.0M
  • $250k+4 grants · $1.1M
$50,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$268M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Grand Rapids Art Museum$281,250
Grand Rapids Art Museum$281,250
National Parks Conservation Association$250,000
The Ferris Foundation$250,000
Maharishi International University$225,000
Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund$200,000
Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest$200,000
Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids, Inc.$175,235
Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund$163,500
Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund$163,500
Disability Advocates of Kent County$150,000
FLOW (For Love of Water)$150,000
Vedanta Institute Of Midwest$140,000
Grand Valley State University$134,078
Project GREEN$131,451
02Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$50M · 158 repeat orgs$7.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +43% since the first grant, against +15% for those 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

$50M
$7.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+15%

Still filing today

84%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 92% 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
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

  • GR
    GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM
    4× · 2020–2023 · $15M · revenue +69% · 84% of their budget
  • GD
    GUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERVATION FUND
    4× · 2020–2023 · $4.9M · revenue +67% · 51% of their budget
  • NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2020–2023 · $1.8M · revenue +29%

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
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.

03Its 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
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.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Capital Region Community Foundation; 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.
03the grantee network

249 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. 249 of the 326 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.

24
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
70
Early backer (in before they grew)
243/249
Grantees still filing
185/249
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM: $15,306,070 · Arts & CultureGRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM+23 more: $2,782,565 · Arts & Culture+23 moreKendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University: $1,419,496 · OtherKendall College of Art and Design …GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY: $1,086,084 · OtherGRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITYMARY FREE BED REHABILITATION HOSPITAL: $583,331 · OtherDISABILITY ADVOCATES OF KENT COUNTY: $628,000 · OtherWe Oppose Violence Everywhere Now, Inc.: $650,000 · OtherAL JAZARI INSTITUTE: $745,282 · Other+98 more: $11,788,629 · Other+98 moreGUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERVATION FUND: $4,873,500 · EnvironmentGUANACASTE DRY FORE…NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $1,775,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL PARKS CONS…ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST: $927,500 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL LAW A…MICHIGAN LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $712,500 · EnvironmentMICHIGAN LEAGUE OF …+12 more: $1,339,716 · Environment+12 moreMAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: $1,295,499 · EducationMAHARISHI INT…Aquinas College: $1,089,583 · EducationAquinas Colle…Williams College: $585,000 · EducationWilliams Coll…ST DOMINIC SAVIO ACADEMY INC DBA STORY AUTISM CENTER: $560,000 · EducationST DOMINIC SA…GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $375,190 · EducationGRAND RAPIDS …THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC: $278,711 · EducationUS GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL WEST MICHIGAN CHAPTER: $261,000 · EducationELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION USA INC: $225,000 · Education+17 more: $1,803,071 · Education+17 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 & ShelterWEST MICHIGAN HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION: $526,167 · Community ImprovementSTART GARDEN INC: $300,000 · Community ImprovementNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $240,000 · Community ImprovementLOCAL FIRST EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $150,000 · Community ImprovementSTEEPLETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES INC: $112,642 · Community ImprovementCreston Neighborhood Association: $53,031 · Community Improvement+2 more: $73,125 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$18,088,635Other$16,900,822Environment$9,628,216Education$6,473,054Human Services$1,857,923Housing & Shelter$1,497,996Community Improvement$1,454,965

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM: $15,306,070 over 4y, 84% of budgetGUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERVATION FUND: $4,873,500 over 4y, 51% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $1,775,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetMAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: $1,295,499 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetAquinas College: $1,089,583 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST: $927,500 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetAL JAZARI INSTITUTE: $745,282 over 3y, 20% of budgetMICHIGAN LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $712,500 over 4y, 17% 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 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 budgetEarly Learning Neighborhood Collaborative: $375,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetICCF COMMUNITY HOMES: $350,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS URBAN LEAGUE: $320,000 over 4y, 5.3% of budgetAYA YOUTH COLLECTIVE: $300,000 over 3y, 9.0% of budgetSTART GARDEN INC: $300,000 over 4y, 5.8% 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 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 budgetELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION USA INC: $225,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetOTTAWA COUNTY PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $225,000 over 2y, 8.3% 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 budgetMEL TROTTER MINISTRIES: $200,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetFAIR FOOD NETWORK INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetK-CONNECT: $200,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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
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 tightly interlocked group: 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

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.
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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 326 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 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

Play a game based on Wege’s 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