Skip to content
The Wendys Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Wendys Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$313k
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$175k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Human Services$1.6MCivil Rights$353kPublic Safety & Disaster$281kFood & Nutrition$183kYouth Development$135kHousing & Shelter$58kHealth$53kPhilanthropy$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k18 grants · $78k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $175k
$5,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$462k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption$175,000
MidOhio Food Collective$25,000
Columbus Urban League Empowerment$15,000
Columbus Urban League HerStory$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Northern Illinois Foodbank$7,500
Central Community House$5,000
Proyecto Mariposas$5,000
Harvest to Hope$5,000
Star House Foundation$5,000
Kaleidoscope Youth Center$5,000
Honor Flight Columbus$5,000
MY Project USA$5,000
The Ohio State University Foundation$5,000
ForKids Inc$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $335k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Urban League Twin Cities: $3k → 11%Caterina's Club: $10k → 10%Northwest Arkansas Childrens Shelter: $3k → 8%American Red Cross Disaster Relief: $25k → 14%Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency: $5k → 10%Evangelical Childrens Home: $3k → 11%Youth Villages Inc: $3k → 17%Always Believe Inc: $3k → 10%Foster Source: $8k → 10%Raise the Future: $10k → 12%Licking County Coalition of Care: $3k → 10%Project Woman of Springfield & Clark County: $10k → 15%Golden Girl Group Home: $5k → 18%Mississippi Families for Kids: $10k → 23%Louisville Urban League: $5k → 15%Wounded Warrior Project: $3k → 14%Raise the Future: $5k → 12%Common Ground Free Store Ministries: $8k → 5%Mississippi Families for Kids: $5k → 23%Raise the Future: $3k → 12%Childrens Home Society of Florida: $5k → 13%YWCA Columbus: $125k → 15%YWCA Columbus: $25k → 15%YWCA Columbus: $25k → 15%Alvis Inc: $8k → 15%Alvis: $5k → 15%Bridgeway Academy: $3k → 15%Families Flourish: $3k → 15%One Dublin: $5k → 15%One Dublin: $5k → 15%One Dublin: $3k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
AZ
AR
TN
NC
DC
OK
LA
MS
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 11% of The Wendys Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 78% of the giving stays in OH; by stated purpose, 69%.

The Wendys Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.8M · 16 repeat orgs$961k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
84

Total granted

$1.8M
$883k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+23%

Still filing today

100%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $78k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentHealthArts & CultureEducationOther
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

  • DT
    DAVE THOMAS FOUNDATION FOR ADOPTION
    5× · 2020–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +118%
  • CU
    COLUMBUS URBAN LEAGUE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $300k · revenue +83%
  • YW
    YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
    3× · 2020–2024 · $175k · revenue +78%

Funded once

  • WW
    Wendys We Care Fund
    one grant, 2020 · $200k
  • TD
    The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adop
    one grant, 2021 · $175k
  • W
    WeCare
    one grant, 2024 · $56k
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.

04Its 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
Choices Coordinated Care Solutions Inc

To strengthen youth and families while enhancing systems and communities.

Human Services
2
Nourishing Hope

Nourishing hope provides food, mental health support, and social services to help all our neighbors thrive.

—
3
Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health

We are the premier childrens mental health agency that reduces the suffering experienced by children who have emotional problems related to depression, anxiety, and behavior like adhd. untreated, these problems can lead to failure in…

—
4
Cornerhouse

The mission of cornerhouse is to partner with families, communities, and systems - entrusted with the safety of children, youth and vulnerable adults - to reduce trauma and end abuse.

Crime & Legal
5
Columbus House Inc

Columbus house serves people experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk by providing life-saving outreach, shelter, and housing and by fostering their personal growth and independence. we advocate for and create affordable housing to…

Housing & Shelter
6
The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri

The food bank for central & northeast missouri is a regional disaster and hunger relief network that acquires and distributes millions of meals each year to help neighbors get the food they need to thrive. (continued on schedule o)the…

Food & Nutrition
7
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

Our mission is to solve hunger in central pennsylvania by ensuring that everyone struggling with hunger has access to enough wholesome food every day. we will achieve this bold goal with the help of our generous donors, volunteers and…

Food & Nutrition
8
Youthbuild Global Inc

With love and respect, we partner with opportunity youth to build the skillsets and mindsets that lead to lifelong learning, livelihood, and leadership. youthbuild strives to create a world where all young people are seen for their…

Employment
9
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless

The mission of the colorado coalition for the homeless is to work collaboratively toward the prevention of homelessness and the creation of lasting solutions for families, children, and individuals who are experiencing or at-risk of…

Human Services
10
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
11
Compass Family Services

Compass family services helps homeless families and those at imminent risk to achieve housing stability, economic self-sufficiency, and well-being.

Human Services
12
Choices for Victims of Domestic Violence

To create a better world by serving people in need by operating food pantries, homeless shelters, a domestic violence shelter, affordable housing communities, senior living, assisted living and skilled care facilities, a home health care…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Zebra Youth Inc; the most unlike its peers is Proyecto Mariposas. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

85 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. 85 of the 115 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
82/85
Grantees still filing
56/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DAVE THOMAS FOUNDATION FOR ADOPTION: $1,075,000 · OtherDAVE THOMAS FOUNDATION FOR ADOPTIONCOLUMBUS URBAN LEAGUE: $300,000 · OtherCOLUMBUS URBAN LEAGUEWendys We Care Fund: $200,000 · OtherWendys We Care FundThe Dave Thomas Foundation for Adop: $175,000 · OtherThe Dave Thomas Foundation for AdopMid-Ohio Foodbank: $100,000 · Other+56 more: $388,300 · Other+56 moreYOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $175,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG WOMEN'S…American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $25,000 · Human ServicesAmerican Nati…RAISE THE FUTURE: $17,500 · Human ServicesMISSISSIPPI FAMILIES FOR KIDS: $15,000 · Human ServicesWELCOME WAREHOUSE INC: $12,500 · Human ServicesALVIS INC: $12,500 · Human Services+18 more: $82,500 · Human Services+18 moreMY PROJECT USA: $22,500 · Youth DevelopmentDREAMS ON HORSEBACK: $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentKaleidoscope Youth Center Inc: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE BAY AND LAKES REGION INC: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentSON OF A SAINT: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentGIRL SCOUTS OF OHIO'S HEARTLAND COUNCIL INC: $2,500 · Youth DevelopmentZEBRA YOUTH INC: $2,500 · Youth DevelopmentCHILDREN'S HUNGER ALLIANCE: $15,000 · Food & NutritionNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $7,500 · Food & NutritionNorthern RI Food Pantry: $5,000 · Food & NutritionFEED THE KIDS COLUMBUS INC: $5,000 · Food & NutritionOPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC: $5,000 · Food & NutritionDUBLIN FOOD PANTRY: $5,000 · Food & NutritionCOMPASSION PLANET: $2,500 · Food & NutritionSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TN INC: $2,500 · Food & NutritionGO PANTRY CORPORATION: $2,500 · Food & NutritionHEALTH IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS: $15,000 · HealthROC SOLID FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 · HealthCRISIS TEXT LINE INC: $5,000 · HealthThe Kids Mental Health Foundation: $5,000 · HealthBUDDY UP FOR LIFE INC: $2,500 · HealthPROYECTO MARIPOSAS: $10,000 · Arts & CultureTREE HOUSE ENT CULTURAL ARTS MOVEMENT INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureHONOR FLIGHT COLUMBUS INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureNIA CULTURAL CENTER: $5,000 · Arts & CultureZORA'S HOUSE INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureDUBLIN ARTS COUNCIL: $2,500 · Arts & CultureCASA VALENTINA INC: $30,000 · Housing & ShelterFORKIDS INC: $5,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$2,238,300Human Services$340,000Youth Development$60,000Food & Nutrition$50,000Health$42,500Arts & Culture$37,500Housing & Shelter$35,000

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 budgetDAVE THOMAS FOUNDATION FOR ADOPTION: $1,075,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetCOLUMBUS URBAN LEAGUE: $300,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetYOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $175,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetMid-Ohio Foodbank: $100,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCASA VALENTINA INC: $30,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMY PROJECT USA: $22,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetCENTRAL COMMUNITY HOUSE: $20,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetRAISE THE FUTURE: $17,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMISSISSIPPI FAMILIES FOR KIDS: $15,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetHEALTH IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS: $15,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetSTAR HOUSE: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S HUNGER ALLIANCE: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWELCOME WAREHOUSE INC: $12,500 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetALVIS INC: $12,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDREAMS ON HORSEBACK: $12,500 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetPROJECT WOMAN OF SPRINGFIELD & CLARK COUNTY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetROC SOLID FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKaleidoscope Youth Center Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPROYECTO MARIPOSAS: $10,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetCATERINAS CLUB: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WYMAN CENTER: $7,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFOSTER SOURCE: $7,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTREE HOUSE ENT CULTURAL ARTS MOVEMENT INC: $7,500 over 1y, 18% of budgetCOMMON GROUND FREE STORE: $7,500 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetHONOR FLIGHT COLUMBUS INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL OHIO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN GIRL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE BAY AND LAKES REGION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE LOUISVILLE URBAN LEAGUE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFLYING HORSE FARMS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKEEP OHIO BEAUTIFUL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetNIA CULTURAL CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNorthern RI Food Pantry: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetZORA'S HOUSE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFEED THE KIDS COLUMBUS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetOPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLAAD INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSON OF A SAINT: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDUBLIN FOOD PANTRY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTHWEST MICHIGAN COMMUNITY ACTION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAMP SUNSHINE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCRISIS TEXT LINE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMentoring Positives Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% 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.

Columbus FoundationHarry C Moores Founda…Ingram-White Castle F…Cardinal Health Found…American Electric Pow…United Way of Central…Encova Foundation of …Nisource Charitable F…Safelite FoundationJpmorgan Chase Founda…Women's Fund of Centr…L Brands Foundation
Columbus FoundationOH36.2× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Columbus Foundation · Harry C Moores Foundation · Ingram-White Castle Foundation · Cardinal Health Foundation · American Electric Power Foundation · United Way of Central Ohio Inc · Encova Foundation of Ohio · Nisource Charitable Foundation · Safelite Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Women's Fund of Central Ohio · L Brands 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Wendys Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Wendys Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • The Children's Home Society of Florida: 6% of income from government
  • Connecticut Foodshare Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Greater Worcester Community Foundation Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
34report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Wendys Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Wendys 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 115 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Wendys’ 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