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Wedner Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Wedner Family 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.

$107k
Granted FY2021
6
Grants FY2021
4
States reached
$60k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

60% of Wedner Family Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 6 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2021, the last year Wedner Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 6 organizations, $107k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

12
’17
6
’18
8
’19
6
’20
6
’21
3
’22
4
’23
6
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Philanthropy$944kEducation$375kSocial Science$181kHealth$57kHuman Services$52kInternational$50kEnvironment$37kPublic Benefit$35kOther$0
02FY2021 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k3 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $60k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$5.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY$60,000
FREEDOM HOUSE$25,000
MI VECINO INC$10,000
TEMPLE JUDEA$5,000
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$5,000
THE FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT FOUNDATION$2,000
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 (FY17–23, $17k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 70% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CAMP KESEM: $3k → 14%GIFT OF ADOPTION FUND: $3k → 8%GIFT OF ADOPTION FUND: $3k → 8%INVEST FOR KIDS: $1k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS: $2k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS: $1k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS: $1k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS: $1k → 14%GIFT OF ADOPTION FUND: $3k → 14%CHILDREN'S HOME & AID: $1k → 14%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

IL
NY
MA
CT
CA
VA
MD
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$692k · 13 repeat orgs$181k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2021, 10 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call). Read against FY2021, 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

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
28

Total granted

$692k
$111k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+50%

Still filing today

62%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $40k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureEnvironmentInternationalSocial ScienceOther
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

  • WU
    WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2019–2022 · $210k · revenue +45%
  • FH
    FREEDOM HOUSE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $40k · revenue +37%
  • University of Chicago
    3× · 2017–2024 · $37k · revenue +56%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $25k
  • TC
    TRUMAN CENTER
    one grant, 2018 · $15k
  • CR
    CRISTO REY ST MARTIN
    one grant, 2019 · $10k
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
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

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…

Community Improvement
2
National Opinion Research Center

See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…

Social Science
3
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
4
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
5
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
6
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
7
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
8
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
9
The Roosevelt Institute

To create a nation where everyone enjoys a fair share of our collective prosperity.

Education
10
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Go Green Winnetka. 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

30 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. 30 of the 53 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
30/30
Grantees still filing
22/30
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $940,690 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUNDWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $210,000 · EducationWESLEYAN UNIVERSITYCHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $115,000 · EducationCHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY …University of Chicago: $37,000 · EducationUniversity of Chicago+2 more: $7,000 · EducationHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: $170,500 · OtherHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOLCCGA: $50,000 · OtherCCGAMI VECINO INC: $27,000 · OtherMI VECINO INCIndividual grant recipient: $25,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipie…AJC: $15,000 · OtherTRUMAN CENTER: $15,000 · Other+30 more: $90,040 · Other+30 moreFREEDOM HOUSE: $40,000 · InternationalTRUMAN NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT: $10,000 · InternationalSpark Climate Solutions: $25,000 · EnvironmentEVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS: $10,000 · EnvironmentGO GREEN WINNETKA: $1,500 · EnvironmentGIFT OF ADOPTION FUND INC: $7,500 · Human ServicesInvest for Kids Inc: $5,700 · Human ServicesCamp Kesem National: $2,500 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL: $1,000 · Human ServicesCHICAGO PSYCHOANALYTIC INSTITUTE: $5,700 · Social ScienceTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $5,000 · Social Science
Community Improvement$940,690Education$369,000Other$392,540International$50,000Environment$36,500Human Services$16,700Social Science$10,700

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 budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $940,690 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $210,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $115,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetFREEDOM HOUSE: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $37,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMI VECINO INC: $27,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetSpark Climate Solutions: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetEVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTRUMAN NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetGIFT OF ADOPTION FUND INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CIVIC FEDERATION: $6,300 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCHICAGO PSYCHOANALYTIC INSTITUTE: $5,700 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetInvest for Kids Inc: $5,700 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetONE MILLION DEGREES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCamp Kesem National: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCONNECTICUT PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTHE KMZ FOUNDATION: $1,683 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetGO GREEN WINNETKA: $1,500 over 1y, 9.2% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOGGERHEAD MARINELIFE CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNSELING CENTER OF THE NORTH SHORE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLS ON THE RUN - CHICAGO INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

The Chicago Community…Jewish Federation of …Gs Donor Advised Phil…John D and Catherine …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…National Philanthropi…Baird Foundation IncAmerican Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…The Blackbaud Giving …Charities Aid Foundat…
The Chicago Community TrustIL15.6× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Baird Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America

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 Wedner Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wedner Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
6report 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.

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 53 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Wedner 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