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Indiana · Private foundation

W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$15k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
5
Grants FY2025
4
Organizations funded FY2024
25%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$2,750
Largest grant, FY2025
$5,000
Organizations funded a year
1 to 4
FY2017 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
1
Total assets, FY2025
$168k
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 25% of the organizations W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 9% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving5$15k20%
FY20244$11k25%
FY20233$10k33%
FY20221$1k0%
FY20214$9k50%
FY20194$10k75%
FY20172$2kn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$39kEmployment$9kPhilanthropy$4kHousing & Shelter$2kFood & Nutrition$2kEducation$1kHuman Services$500

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Plus 1 recipient with no EIN on record ($4k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Center for the Performing Arts Inc: $21,250 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetThe Great American Songbook Foundation Inc: $15,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetGoodwill Legacy Group Inc: $9,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetGleaners Food Bank of Indiana Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWheeler Mission Ministries Inc: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetConner Prairie Museum Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIndianapolis Art Center Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIndiana University Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSt Mary's Child Center Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 9.

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.

Lilly Endowment IncIN17.4× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lilly Endowment Inc · Nicholas H Noyes Jr Memorial Foundation · Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc · Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation Inc · The Indianapolis Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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.

Compare W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc with peer funders

About W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc

How much does W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc give?
W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc reported 5 grants totaling $14,500 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 4 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2024.
What does W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (68%), Employment (16%), Philanthropy (6%).
Who are W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: The Center for the Performing Arts Inc ($21k), The Great American Songbook Foundation Inc ($15k), Goodwill Legacy Group Inc ($9k).
Does W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 25% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Lilly Endowment Inc, Nicholas H Noyes Jr Memorial Foundation, Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc.
Where is W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc based?
W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc is based in IN.

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 10 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

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