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Wattles Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Wattles Family Foundation

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.

$223k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$375kHuman Services$142kHealth$92kArts & Culture$54kEducation$53kEmployment$50kFood & Nutrition$30kInternational$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $45k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $128k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHEFF THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER$50,000
KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$39,000
KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$39,000
KALAMAZOO LOAVES & FISHES$25,000
FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES$15,000
INTL SOCIETY CHILD ABUSE NELGECT$10,000
Individual grant recipient$6,000
STONELEIGH BURHAM SCHOOL$5,000
BRONSON HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$5,000
KVCC FOUNDATION$5,000
PRETTY LAKE CAMP$5,000
KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$4,000
Individual grant recipient$4,000
PIKES PEAK HABITAT HUMANITY$3,000
WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY$2,500
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 (FY17–25, $90k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%YMCA OF METUCHEN: $3k → 8%SHERMAN LAKE YMCA OUTDOOR CTR: $25k → 12%SHERMAN LAKE YMCA OUTDOOR CENTER: $5k → 12%FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES: $30k → 12%FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES: $15k → 12%FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES: $13k → 12%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

MI
MA
IN
NJ
CO
VA
NC
GA
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.
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.
$297k · 18 repeat orgs$152k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
9

Total granted

$297k
$58k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+6%

Still filing today

61%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $94k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesInternationalEducationRecreation & SportsFood & NutritionArts & CultureOther
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

  • FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $58k · revenue +9%
  • Sherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center
    2× · 2020–2023 · $30k · revenue +60%
  • KC
    Kalamazoo Civic Theatre
    2× · 2023–2024 · $26k · revenue +17%

Funded once

  • YO
    YMCA OF GREATER KALAMAZOO
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • KS
    KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +19%
  • HM
    HOWE MILITARY ACADEMY
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
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
Kalamazoo College

The mission of kalamazoo college is to prepare its graduates to better understand, live sucessfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world. as a highly selective, nationally renowened…

Education
2
Kalamazoo County Humane Society

The mission of the kalamazoo humane society is to nuture the wellbeing of animals and people in our communities.

Animals
3
Young Women's Christian Association of Kalamazoo Mi

Ywca kalamazoo is a member of the ywca usa. the ywca is the oldest and largest, autonomous women's membership organization in the world, dedicated to social justice and to raising the economic status of women, locally and globally. ywca is…

—
4
Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence

The mission of the kalamazoo foundation for excellence is to support the goals of the city of kalamazoo, fund aspirational investments in the city, and empower kalamazoo residents to achieve the lives they want for themselves and their…

Public Benefit
5
Kalamazoo Country Day School

An independent school providing a supportive, challenging and creative academic environment for talented and motivated students to prepare them for life long achievement.

Education
6
Business Leaders for Michigan

Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…

—
7
Kansas Children's Service League Foundation

To protect and promote the well-being of children by providing ongoing support of the charitable mission of the kansas children's service league.

Philanthropy
8
Business Leaders for Michigan Foundation

Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…

Community Improvement
9
Kansas Wesleyan University

Kansas wesleyan university is a liberal arts college that promotes and integrates academic excellence, spiritual development, personal well-being, and social responsibility.

Education
10
Kalamazoo Nature Center

Create relationships & experiences that welcome and inspire people to discover, enjoy, value, and care for nature. Kalamazoo Nature Center envisions a resilient community where all people have strong interconnections with the natural world.

Environment
11
Kalamapi'i Play School

At kalamapi'i play school we nurture and heal kids. kalamapi'i is a preschool for kids ages 3-5. learning stems from curiosity. curiosity exists in the presence of physical and emotional safety and from play. of the 70 students we serve,…

Education
12
Michigan Federation for Children and Families

To develop and promote programs, funding, etc. for children and families.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kalamazoo Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is University of Michigan. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

19 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. 19 of the 34 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
13/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $375,000 · PhilanthropyKALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONKVCC FOUNDATION: $55,000 · OtherKVCC FOUNDATIONCHEFF THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $50,000 · OtherCHEFF THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTERWESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY: $26,000 · OtherWESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYKalamazoo Civic Theatre: $26,000 · OtherKalamazoo Civic TheatreYMCA OF GREATER KALAMAZOO: $25,000 · OtherYMCA OF GREATER KALAMAZOOIndividual grant recipient: $18,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientINTL SOCIETY CHILD ABUSE NELGECT: $10,000 · OtherPRETTY LAKE VACATION CAMP INC: $13,000 · OtherKALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $10,000 · Other+14 more: $60,000 · Other+14 moreFAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES INC: $57,500 · Human ServicesFAMILY & CHIL…Sherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center: $30,000 · Human ServicesSherman Lake …DREAM OF KALAMAZOO FOUNDATION: $10,500 · Human ServicesDREAM OF KALA…+1 more: $2,500 · Human ServicesBronson Health Foundation: $25,565 · HealthKALAMAZOO LOAVES & FISHES INC: $25,000 · Food & NutritionSTONELEIGH-BURNHAM SCHOOL: $10,000 · EducationWESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationCHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $10,000 · InternationalEVERY CHILD MINISTRIES: $4,500 · International
Philanthropy$375,000Other$293,000Human Services$100,500Health$25,565Food & Nutrition$25,000Education$15,000International$14,500

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 budgetKALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $375,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES INC: $57,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCHEFF THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetSherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetKalamazoo Civic Theatre: $26,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetBronson Health Foundation: $25,565 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKALAMAZOO LOAVES & FISHES INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPRETTY LAKE VACATION CAMP INC: $13,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetDREAM OF KALAMAZOO FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetSTONELEIGH-BURNHAM SCHOOL: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetKALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPIKES PEAK HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $9,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Michigan: $6,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetWESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEVERY CHILD MINISTRIES: $4,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYMCA of Metuchen: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE FOR GUATEMALA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.7% 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.

Kalamazoo Community F…Marvin and Rosalie Ok…Tyler-Little Family F…Dorothy U Dalton Foun…Harold and Grace Upjo…Preston S and Barbara…The Burdick-Thorne Fo…Suzanne Upjohn Delano…Irving S Gilmore Foun…John E Fetzer Institu…Ws & Lois Vandalson F…Jim Gilmore Jr Founda…
Kalamazoo Community FoundationMI25.9× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Kalamazoo Community Foundation · Marvin and Rosalie Okun Foundation · Tyler-Little Family Foundation · Dorothy U Dalton Foundation Inc · Harold and Grace Upjohn Foundation · Preston S and Barbara J Parish Foundation · The Burdick-Thorne Foundation · Suzanne Upjohn Delano Parish Foundation · Irving S Gilmore Foundation · John E Fetzer Institute Inc · Ws & Lois Vandalson Foundation · Jim Gilmore Jr 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 Wattles Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wattles Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Wattles Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Wattles Family 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 34 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 Wattles Family’s 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