· Private foundation
The Wendell and Celia Ellis Family Foundation
Its FY2024 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, FY2018 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
- $50k–250k5 grants · $440k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION | $200,000 |
| LESTER MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH | $60,000 |
| LESTER MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH | $60,000 |
| LESTER MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH | $60,000 |
| LESTER MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH | $60,000 |
| ONEONTA PUBLIC LIBRARY | $15,000 |
| BLOUNT COUNTY CHILDREN'S CENTER | $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 (FY20–21, $69k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 3% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-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 +41% since the first grant, against +40% for those funded once.
5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- AUAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION4× · 2018–2024 · $206k · revenue +99%
- GGGods Garage Inc2× · 2020–2021 · $67k · revenue +16%
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC2× · 2018–2022 · $3k · revenue +41%
Funded once
- SPSAMARITAN'S PURSEgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +40%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2021 · $5k
- UMUNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOMEone grant, 2021 · $2k · revenue +7%
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.
Children at heart ministries is a family of christian ministries that exists to honor god and build a better world by serving children and strengthening families.
Christian Mission for the United Nations Community is a ministry aimed at leading the head of every nation and other top leaders to faith in Jesus Christ and helping them to walk in dependence upon God as they discharge the…
Methodist childrens homes seeks to bring restoration to children and youth who have been neglected or abused. by the end of their time with us, we hope to see that they find reconciliation with their biological families, love within an…
Empowering children and families to experience the transforming love of christ through evidence-based care and holistic services
To provide a positive and safe living environment for hurting, abused, neglected and at-risk children placed privately and by the north carolina department of social services
Texas baptist children's home embraces children and families in need in order to empower and equip them for a promising future.
Lubbock christian university is a christ-centered, academic community of learners, transforming the hearts, minds, and hands of students for lives of purpose and service.
The mission of christian services for children in alabama is to show the love of christ by providing counseling and other related services to children and their families.
As a ministry of jesus christ, agape's mission is that vulnerable and orphaned children find permanency in safe, nurturing families.
Christian mission offering hope to the forgotten children of africa and training leaders and teachers for african children.
We are a k-12 christian school founded under the following (4) pillars: academics: we provide an amazing accredited academic program utilizing 100% certified teachers. schedule: we provide our students and their families an opportunity on…
Reaching out to children in east africa living in destitute circumstances, both physically and with the gospel of jesus christ, to enable them to grow and develop in a secure environment.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 15 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 AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Gods Garage Inc ↗
- Who funds BLOUNT COUNTY CHILDRENS CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC ↗
- Who funds UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME ↗
- Who funds LEGACY PREPARATORY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds HEART OF CHRIST-CORAZON DE CRISTO 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: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Wendell and Celia Ellis Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Wendell and Celia Ellis Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Wendell and Celia Ellis Family’s filings →