· Private foundation
The Wessel 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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
65% of The Wessel Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Abilene Christian University, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year The Wessel Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $203k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2018
- Under $10k2 grants · $8k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $58k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $137k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| RWANDA CHILDREN | $137,006 |
| ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY | $25,000 |
| CHILDRENS VISION INTERNATIONAL INC | $22,000 |
| TEEN LIFELINE INC | $11,000 |
| CHRISTS HAVEN FOR CHILDREN | $4,585 |
| COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT CENTER INC | $3,500 |
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 (FY17–21, $90k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 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
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2018, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call). Read against FY2018, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
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, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- RCRwanda Children8× · 2017–2024 · $531k · revenue +107%
- LELiberty Educational Ministries Inc6× · 2019–2024 · $499k · revenue +39%
- FCFAITH CHRISTIAN SCHOOL INC5× · 2020–2024 · $100k · revenue +26%
Funded once
- GSGlobal Samaritan Resources Incgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $17k · revenue +30%
- OFOUR FATHER'S CHILDREN INCgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +69%
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.
The mission of Abilene Christian School, Inc. is to equip students to excel academically, serve meaningfully, and walk faithfully with God.
Covenant Christian School (CCS) is committed to the academic, spiritual, physical, and social growth of our children in a Christ-centered environment. Continued on Schedule O Covenant Christian School cultivates a distinctive generation…
To provide quality educational services to students in grades kindergarten through twelve, in a Christ-centered environment.
Childcare Worldwide (CW) transforms children's lives by exposing them to the gospel of Jesus Christ, providing for their physical needs, and sponsoring their education. We connect sponsors with children through Christ-based life centers.…
As part of the body of Christ, to see that every young person in every people group in every nation has the opportunity to make an informed decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ and become a part of the local church.
In dependence upon Almighty God, for His glory alone, and together with family and church, the mission of Providence Christian Academy is to provide exemplary education for the vulnerable in the light of God's Word for time and eternity.
To create transformative and globally connected learning experiences, preparing orphaned and vulnerable children for a lifetime of influence.
Crossing Cultures International, Inc. exists to glorify God by equipping Christ followers globally with comprehensive training for effective ministry.
The mission is to provide a biblically based classical college preparatory education that inspires a passion for excellence a heart of grace and the character of Christ.
We minister to orphans and widows in their distress by transitioning children from orphanages into loving families. We do this through Christ- centered care, training and social work.
Oconee Christian Academy exists to glorify God by nurturing students and equipping them to fulfill God's unique purpose for their lives.
Christianity Today is a global community inspired by evangelical conviction to advance the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God. Our mission is to elevate the storytellers and sages of the global church.
How this is measured
10 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. 10 of the 12 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 ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds Rwanda Children ↗
- Who funds Liberty Educational Ministries Inc ↗
- Who funds FAITH CHRISTIAN SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S VISION INTERNATIONAL ↗
- Who funds TEEN LIFELINE INC ↗
- Who funds Christ's Haven for Children Inc ↗
- Who funds Global Samaritan Resources Inc ↗
- Who funds OUR FATHER'S CHILDREN 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: Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · Community Foundation of North Texas (Tax · Textron Charitable Trust Dtd 122353 · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Wessel Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Wessel Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Wessel’s filings →