· Private foundation
The Wells Foundation
Its FY2026 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2026
- Under $10k15 grants · $47k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $95k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $175k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SAINT XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL | $75,000 |
| ST AGNES CATHOLIC CHURCH | $50,000 |
| ST VINCENT DE PAUL LOUISVILLE | $50,000 |
| HOLY TRINITY | $40,000 |
| CATHOLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION | $20,000 |
| FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY | $12,500 |
| LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA | $12,070 |
| SACRED HEART ACADEMY ANNUAL FUND | $10,000 |
| LOST TREE FOUNDATION | $8,000 |
| RIVER FIELDS | $6,000 |
| GENERAL SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS | $5,000 |
| WATERFRONT BOTANICAL GARDENS | $5,000 |
| ST PHILLIP THE APOSTLE SCHOOL | $4,000 |
| MAYFIELD SENIOR SCHOOL OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS | $4,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $3,400 |
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 (FY22–24, $21k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 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
Which US states its grants reach
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 +18% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
22 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2026, 9 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (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 FY2026, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $126k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SASPEED ART MUSEUM6× · 2021–2026 · $127k · revenue +67%
- CLCEDAR LAKE FOUNDATION INC3× · 2022–2024 · $21k · revenue +57%
- WBWATERFRONT BOTANICAL GARDENS INC3× · 2022–2026 · $15k · revenue +78%
Funded once
- EKEDCHOICE KENTUCKY INCone grant, 2024 · $200k · revenue -77% · 61% of their budget
- SCSCHOOL CHOICE SCHOLARSHIPS INCone grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue 0%
- EEDCHOICEone grant, 2021 · $25k
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.
Louisville collegiate school inspires academic excellence, extraordinary character and global citizenship.
The jefferson scholars foundation (foundation) provides academic merit-based scholarship, fellowship and professorship support to students and faculty at the university of virginia (uva).
To acquire, maintain, improve, leverage, manage, lease, and convey real and personal property for the benefit of the university of louisville.
Thomas jefferson school engages its students in the education necessary to live as responsible citizens of the world. through the strongest possible college-prepatory program and within a nurturing community, students develop a…
Kentucky country day school challenges its students to achieve their highest level of academic excellence and to grow into honorable men and women of confidence and integrity. we inspire personal growth through a diverse community and…
Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.
The kentucky college of art and design opens the door to a creative and productive life through an undergraduate education in the contemporary arts.
Perform fundraising functions, provide financial support, carryout the purpose and otherwise operating for the benefit of the zoological society of cincinnati.
Broadens the perspectives of current and emerging leaders through experiential education that inspires them to advance kentucky.
To improve the quality of life for all kentuckians through research, education and advocacy on important policy issues facing the commonwealth.
Jefferson rise charter school prepares all scholars in grades 6-12 to succeed in four-year colleges and professional careers.
Lead the transformation of healthcare through quality, innovation & education, and make Indiana one of the nation's healthiest states.
How this is measured
25 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. 25 of the 51 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 EDCHOICE KENTUCKY INC ↗
- Who funds SPEED ART MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds SCHOOL CHOICE SCHOLARSHIPS INC ↗
- Who funds THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC ↗
- Who funds CATHOLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL COUNCIL OF LOUISVILLE INC ↗
- Who funds FUND FOR THE ARTS INC ↗
- Who funds CEDAR LAKE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds WATERFRONT BOTANICAL GARDENS INC ↗
- Who funds RIVER FIELDS INC ↗
- Who funds THE LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA INC ↗
- Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF KENTUCKIANA INC ↗
- Who funds YEW DELL INC ↗
- Who funds GILDA'S CLUB KENTUCKIANA INC ↗
- Who funds VIRGINIA CHANCE SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds THE NICHOLSON PROJECT ↗
- Who funds West End School Inc ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Immaculata Classical Academy Inc ↗
- Who funds BLOOD CANCER UNITED 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: The Community Foundation of Louisville Depository Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Inc · Cralle Foundation Inc · Collier Community Foundation Inc · Paradis Foundation Inc · Ina B Bond Ashbourne Charitable Fund Inc · The Gheens Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Corporate Depository Inc · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · The Lewis and Gladys Bass Family Charitable Foundation · Gardner Foundation Incorporated · Brown-Forman Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Wells Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Wells Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Wells Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Wells 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.
Play a game based on Wells’ filings →