Skip to content
Wells Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Wells 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.

$97k
Granted FY2024still arriving
31
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$303kHealth$124kHuman Services$45kHousing & Shelter$35kEnvironment$33kPhilanthropy$26kArts & Culture$22kFood & Nutrition$16kOther$0
02FY2024 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k29 grants · $72k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
$2,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$156k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALS ASSOCIATION OR AND SW WA$15,000
LIBRARY FOUNDATION$10,000
GREATER FLINT HEALTH COALITION$8,000
SHATTERPROOF$5,500
PORTLAND STATE UNIV FOUNDATION$5,000
ADOPT ONE BLOCK$5,000
COMMUNITY TRANSITIONAL SCHOOL$5,000
ST MARY'S ACADEMY$5,000
WERS EMERSON COLLEGE$3,000
EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION$2,500
TRINITY UNIVERSITY$2,500
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY$2,500
ST ANDREW NATIVITY SCHOOL$2,500
Individual grant recipient$2,500
FOOD BANK OF EASTERN MICHIGAN$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 (FY17–24, $21k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%The Home for Little Wanderers: $2k → 16%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $2k → 14%The home for little wanderers: $2k → 16%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 14%HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS: $2k → 16%CLACKAMAS SERVICE CENTER: $2k → 12%CLACKAMAS SERVICE CENTER: $1k → 12%HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS: $4k → 16%The Home for Little Wanderers: $2k → 16%The Home for Little Wanderers: $2k → 16%Community Warehouse: $1k → 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

NH
MN
IL
MI
MA
OR
IN
OH
NJ
CT
CA
VA
AZ
NC
DC
TX
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$589k · 49 repeat orgs$61k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

49 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2024, 24 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

49
17

Total granted

$589k
$53k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+18%

Still filing today

57%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k 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
EducationHealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterInternationalOther
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

  • TL
    THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $54k · revenue +59%
  • PS
    PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $45k · revenue +7%
  • AL
    AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN
    3× · 2019–2021 · $27k · revenue +153%

Funded once

  • CC
    CARLETON COLLEGE
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +12%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $5k
  • SJ
    ST JOHN FISHER SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $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
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
2
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
4
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
5
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
6
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
7
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
8
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
9
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
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
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
12
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Houston Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Humane Society of Granville County. 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

43 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. 43 of the 74 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/43
Grantees still filing
34/43
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $45,000 · OtherPORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONPortland State University: $44,000 · OtherPortland State UniversityALS ASSOCIATION OR AND SW WA: $30,000 · OtherALS ASSOCIATION OR AND SW WAST MARYS ACADEMY: $24,500 · OtherST MARYS ACADEMYEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $19,000 · OtherSt John Fisher Capital Campaign: $15,500 · OtherFood Bank of Eastern Michigan: $14,000 · Other+39 more: $194,056 · Other+39 moreAMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN: $27,000 · HealthAMYOTROPHIC L…SHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $18,000 · HealthSHATTERPROOF …GREATER FLINT HEALTH COALITION INC: $13,000 · HealthGREATER FLINT…Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $9,000 · HealthDana-Farber C…LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $9,000 · HealthLUCILE PACKAR…+1 more: $1,000 · HealthCOMMUNITY TRANSITIONAL SCHOOL: $15,500 · EducationCOMMUNITY TR…CARLETON COLLEGE: $15,000 · EducationCARLETON COL…Trinity University: $12,500 · EducationTrinity Univ…University of Notre Dame du Lac: $10,000 · EducationUniversity o…EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationEASTERN MICH…CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 · EducationCHAPMAN UNIV…LAUREN DUNNE ASTLEY MEMORIAL FUND: $5,000 · EducationLAUREN DUNNE…Lake Forest College: $2,500 · EducationTHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $54,000 · Arts & CultureTHE LIBRARY…OREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $7,000 · Arts & CultureOREGON SYMP…Flint Institute of Arts: $3,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $3,000 · Arts & CultureAdopt One Block: $22,500 · EnvironmentGRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY: $4,500 · EnvironmentTHE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $14,000 · Human ServicesClackamas Service Center: $3,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,500 · Human ServicesOregon Community Warehouse Inc: $1,000 · Human ServicesEAST BAY INNOVATIONS INC: $11,500 · Housing & ShelterVIETNAM VETERANS WORKSHOP INC DBA NEW ENGLAND CENTER AND HOME FOR VETERANS: $4,000 · Housing & ShelterBETHLEHEM INN: $1,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$386,056Health$77,000Education$70,500Arts & Culture$67,000Environment$27,000Human Services$20,500Housing & Shelter$16,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $54,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetPORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN: $27,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAdopt One Block: $22,500 over 4y, 3.4% of budgetSHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $18,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY TRANSITIONAL SCHOOL: $15,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetCARLETON COLLEGE: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $14,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetFood Bank of Eastern Michigan: $14,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER FLINT HEALTH COALITION INC: $13,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTrinity University: $12,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetEAST BAY INNOVATIONS INC: $11,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $10,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLIFEMOVES: $10,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $9,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $9,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGenesee County Habitat for Humanity: $6,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNeighbor Brigade Inc: $6,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetJunior Achievement of Northern California: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMercy Corps: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLAUREN DUNNE ASTLEY MEMORIAL FUND: $5,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetGRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGALES CREEK CAMP FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetVIETNAM VETERANS WORKSHOP INC DBA NEW ENGLAND CENTER AND HOME FOR VETERANS: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetClackamas Service Center: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFlint Institute of Arts: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLake Forest College: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS PEOPLE INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF GENESEE COUNTY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPORTLAND ART MUSEUM: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Humane Society of Granville County: $2,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetPAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBETHLEHEM INN: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOregon Community Warehouse Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAVERLEY HISTORIC FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 38% of budgetCentral City Concern: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION 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.

  • Who funds THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN ↗
  • Who funds Adopt One Block ↗
  • Who funds SHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY TRANSITIONAL SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds CARLETON COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC ↗
  • Who funds Food Bank of Eastern Michigan ↗
  • Who funds GREATER FLINT HEALTH COALITION INC ↗
  • Who funds Trinity University ↗
  • Who funds EAST BAY INNOVATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
  • Who funds LIFEMOVES ↗
  • Who funds Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH ↗
  • Who funds OREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Genesee County Habitat for Humanity ↗
  • Who funds Neighbor Brigade Inc ↗
  • Who funds Junior Achievement of Northern California ↗
  • Who funds GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Mercy Corps ↗
  • Who funds EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY ↗

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 Oregon Community …OCF Joseph E Weston P…Juan Young TrustMarie Lamfrom Charita…Maybelle Clark Macdon…Rose E Tucker Charita…Braemar Charitable Tr…The Reser Family Foun…The Collins FoundationThe Autzen FoundationCharles Stewart Mott …The Larson Legacy
The Oregon Community FoundationOR22.6× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · OCF Joseph E Weston Public Foundation · Juan Young Trust · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund · Rose E Tucker Charitable Trust · Braemar Charitable Trust · The Reser Family Foundation · The Collins Foundation · The Autzen Foundation · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · The Larson Legacy

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Vietnam Veterans Workshop Inc Dba New England Center and Home for Veterans: 66% of income from government
  • Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
  • The Home for Little Wanderers Inc: 38% of income from government
  • Oregon Community Warehouse Inc: 24% of income from government
  • Central City Concern: 10% of income from government
  • Clackamas Service Center: 9% of income from government
  • Community Transitional School: 7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
  • Portland Art Museum: 1% of income from government
  • Oregon Symphony Association: 0% of income from government
  • Bethlehem Inn: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Portland State University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 74 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Wells 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