Indiana · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC (Indiana) receives grants from 142 organizations whose IRS filings report $235,355,934 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($139,248,042). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $51M
- Funders on record
- 142
- Grants received
- $235M
- Net assets
- $221M
What United Way of Central Indiana Inc does
Mission
United way of central indiana partners to design, support and grow systems that accelerate financial stability and upward mobility for individuals and families living in or near poverty and striving for a brighter future.we help people live the lives they are capable of living.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
United Way's Economic Mobility strategies focus on distancing 10,000 Central Indiana households out of poverty by investing in partners that expand access to jobs, education, and financial security. In 2024/2025, $10 million supported 29 CBOs serving 4,386 families and over 11,800 individuals, with a Peer Learning network established to strengthen collaboration and outcomes. The Center for Working Families (CWF) advanced stability for 3,264 individuals through integrated coaching, with 584 achieving an average monthly income increase of $1,400, supported by expanded training and evaluation tools. Additionally, the Workforce Pathways Accelerator pilot, launched with Dress for Success Indianapolis and Indianapolis Urban League, invested $200,000 in each partner to deliver certifications, training, and barrier removal, supporting 63 participants on pathways to sustaining-wage employment
$14,762,939 spentof which $14,463,672 as grants29% of program spendingUnited Way's Basic Needs strategy strengthens community organizations' ability to support Hoosiers in crisis by providing access to essentials such as shelter, food, health services, and transportation. In 2024/2025, UWCI awarded $12.45 million to 60 community-based organizations (CBOs) for basic needs, delivering nearly 2.9 million services and 3.6 million meals to over 140,000 individuals.
$9,553,296 spentof which $9,550,000 as grants19% of program spendingUnited Way's Early Care & Learning initiatives advance family stability by expanding access to affordable, high-quality childcare and education while promoting long-term academic success for children. In 2024/2025, 273 educators engaged in professional development through the Early Learning Providers Community of Practice. Additionally, the Early Childhood Education Providers Council has guided grantmaking to stabilize the workforce, and the ReadUP initiative has continued to enhance literacy outcomes, serving more than 7,500 students to date with the support of dedicated community volunteers. United Way advanced its Safe and Affordable Housing strategy in 2024 through a framework focused on reducing housing insecurity, expanding affordable housing supply, and fostering innovation. Key initiatives included the Winter Assistance Fund, which provided $127,224 in utility support to 212 households; and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which distributed $2.69 million across six counties to strengthen shelter and food access. Additionally, the Homelessness Targeted Initiative Fund (TIF) advanced systemic solutions to homelessness through capacity building, governance…
$3,547,396 spentof which $2,300,649 as grants7% of program spendingThrough Other Program services, United Way ensures that all our work is backed up with research and data, implemented with fidelity, and leveraged with other community resources. These included community needs/human services research; public policy advocacy; volunteer training, development, and deployment; nonprofit leadership education and training; and convening community leaders and funders to align resources around shared community goals. We also deployed $950,000 to 13 organizations through our social innovation fund grants. United Way addresses Central Indiana's most pressing needs in education, economic mobility, safe & affordable housing, and basic needs. Much of this work was accomplished in fiscal year 2024/2025 through support of accredited Community Based Organizations (CBOs) across the human services spectrum. These CBOs are part of a rigorous evaluation process that assesses organizational governance; leadership; diversity, equity & inclusion; financial stability; strategic planning; community responsiveness; sustainability & scalability; and ability to market and engage funders to support their work. United Way also supported these CBOs' general operations through…
$22,407,080 spentof which $16,003,065 as grants$612,377 earned by the program45% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $50,270,711.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $185M to $243M (+31%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 11% · 2018 14% · 2019 15% · 2020 11% · 2021 6% · 2022 12% · 2023 20% · 2024 1% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Fred Payne
President and CEO
Board chair
Jeff Harrison
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 48 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $7.5M → $47M.
28 of 142 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $7.6M from 27 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Indianapolis Foundation Inc); $20k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest United Way of Central Indiana Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 142 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 79% · 2019 80% · 2020 68% · 2021 52% · 2022 58% · 2023 79% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
59% of UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
97% of UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC's grant income comes from Indiana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $36M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC's funding base is broadening — from 48 funders to 68 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.3M on record.
- Department of Veterans Affairs$2.9M
- Department of the Treasury$1.1M
- Federal Communications Commission$350k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Indiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
57%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- United Way of Central Indiana LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC?
- UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC (Indiana) receives grants from 142 organizations whose IRS filings report $235,355,934 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($139,248,042). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC have?
- IRS filings report 142 organizations giving $235,355,934 in grants to UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC, 101 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $139,248,042 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 142 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing