· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS | $3,750 |
| GOODWILL OF CENTRAL & SOUTHERN INDIANA | $2,750 |
| GLEANERS FOOD BANK | $2,000 |
| WHEELER MISSION | $1,000 |
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 (FY17–25, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, 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
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 +81% since the first grant, against +68% for those funded once.
5 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TCTHE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC5× · 2019–2025 · $21k · revenue +86%
- TGTHE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK FOUNDATION INC3× · 2023–2025 · $15k · revenue -13%
- GLGOODWILL LEGACY GROUP INC6× · 2017–2025 · $9k · revenue +81%
Funded once
- CPConner Prairie Museum Incgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $2k · revenue +59%
- IAINDIANAPOLIS ART CENTER INCgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue +57%
Indiana University Foundationgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue +93%
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.
Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…
The University of Indianapolis champions lifelong learning through relevant and innovative education that fosters experiential learning, diverse perspectives, service for impact, and a global mindset.
Benefit, perform, and carry out the charitable, educational, and other exempt purposes of indiana university health ball memorial hospital, inc. ("iu health ball memorial hospital") and related organizations, and to support activities…
To provide educational opportunities designed to enable young people and adults to enhance their success in life and work; to develop, own, and operate one or more charter schools.
Goodwill legacy group (glg) and its subsidiaries, gw commercial services, inc. (gwcs) and goodwill education initiatives, inc. (gei), together with goodwill foundation of central and southern indiana, inc. (the foundation) (collectively…
To promote industrial and business development, diversification of indiana's economy, and overall economic growth of indiana; to promote the retention, expansion, growth, and modernization of indiana's businesses; to promote the creation…
The indianapolis private industry council, inc., doing business as employindy, the workforce investment board for marion county, is a not-for-profit corporation responsible for the development of the marion county workforce. employindy…
Lead the transformation of healthcare through quality, innovation & education, and make Indiana one of the nation's healthiest states.
To mobilize people, ideas, and investments to make this a community where all individuals have equitable opportunity to reach their full potential - no matter place, race or identity.
The organization's mission is to create extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. (Continued in Schedule O)
Cicp foundation, inc. (the foundation) operates exclusively for the benefit of and carries out the mission of central indiana corporate partnership, inc. (cicp) by engaging in and supporting activities in furtherance of purposes that are…
Cincinnati museum center inspires people of all ages to learn more about our world through science, regional history, and educational, engaging and meaningful experiences.
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 10 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 THE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC ↗
- Who funds THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds GOODWILL LEGACY GROUP INC ↗
- Who funds GLEANERS FOOD BANK OF INDIANA INC ↗
- Who funds WHEELER MISSION MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds Conner Prairie Museum Inc ↗
- Who funds INDIANAPOLIS ART CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds Indiana University Foundation ↗
- Who funds ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER 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: 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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from W Michael & Susan Wells Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on W Michael & Susan Wells’ filings →