Connecticut · Nonprofit
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (Connecticut) receives grants from 389 organizations whose IRS filings report $156,438,697 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($33,131,399). 262 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $443M
- Funders on record
- 389
- Grants received
- $156M
- Net assets
- $2.0B
What Wesleyan University does
Mission
Wesleyan University is dedicated to providing an education in liberal arts by building a diverse, energetic community of students, faculty, and staff who value independence of mind and generosity of spirit. See additional description in schedule o.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instruction and researchWesleyan University offers more than 900 courses in 47 major fields of study, 32 minor fields of study, and 2 certificate programs, and awards the bachelor of arts, a master of arts and a doctor of philosophy. This rich catalog reflects wesleyan's commitment to a well-rounded education, allowing students to explore everything from the arts and humanities to sciences and social studies. Instruction and research includes all expenditures for compensation and other expenses in support of instructional activity. The student body is made up of approximately 3,000 full-time undergraduate students and 140 graduate students as well as around 60 students per year in the graduate liberal studies program. An ongoing faculty of more than 400 is joined each semester by a distinguished group of visiting artists and professors. Today's student/instructor ratio is 8 to 1 and about two thirds of all courses enroll fewer than 20 students.
$257,992,000 spentof which $99,200,000 as grants$231,278,000 earned by the program73% of program spendingAuxiliary services and otherauxiliary services include the costs of room and board for approximately 3,000 students residing on a 316 acre campus. There are 8 residence halls, 7 apartment complexes and over 25 program houses in addition to over 140 house units on campus for upper-class students. Working in partnership with students and collaboratively with other members of the wesleyan community, the office of residential life strives to provide a safe and supportive residential environment that complements and extends students' educational experience. Student-centered programs and services are developed and implemented with an emphasis on holistic individual and community development, student leadership, individual responsibility, advocacy of academic inquiry, and freedom of thought, opinion and expression in the spirit of mutual respect. These are the hallmarks of the wesleyan residential experience, and they provide the essential foundation for a quality liberal arts education within a diverse and dynamic community.
$66,833,000 spent$65,016,000 earned by the program19% of program spendingLibrarieslibrary expenses include acquisition of books, periodicals and other materials, compensation of staff, and other expenditures in support of the library. The mission of the library is to provide the information services and resources required to support the learning, teaching, and research of the wesleyan community.to carry out this mission the library will: - organize and provide intellectual and physical access to collections and information resources locally and world-wide- develop and preserve local collections - teach and guide users in the library research process - provide an atmosphere conducive to study, research, and learning - contribute to the larger scholarly worldthe wesleyan library will provide unexcelled services. It is a dynamic place where library staff provide users with the information they need, as well as a keen sense that there are many paths, and a wide range of skills necessary for the effective use and evaluation of information resources.
$14,172,000 spent4% of program spendingStudent services includes the costs associated with administering theoffice of admissions, registrar, financial aid, career planning, healthservices, institutional research and dean's office.
$12,190,975 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $351,187,975.
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 $1.7B to $2.3B (+37%).
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 2% · 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 2% · 2021 3% · 2022 5% · 2023 3% · 2024 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
13% of WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 106 funders to 176 funders, grant income rose $9.2M → $21M.
42 of 389 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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: $11M from 27 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY raised.
From the IRS filings of WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 389 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
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
47% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 24% · 2019 30% · 2020 31% · 2021 50% · 2022 14% · 2023 19% — diversifying over time.
“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
49% of WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 33 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $67M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $67.9M on record — $57.1M federal, $10.8M state.
- Department of Education$19.8M
- National Science Foundation$14.7M
- Department of Health and Human Services$13.6M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$2.8M
- Department of Defense$2.0M
- Department of Commerce$1.8M
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$7.6M
- Government Buildings$1.8M
- Reimbursements$500k
- Internet Services$461k
- Student Grant & Aid-Undergrad$377k
- Client Services-General$36k
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 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 11 states
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Charitable Remainder Trust (1) · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Unitrust - Ct (11) · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Unitrust - Ca (1) · corp_trust
- Pooled Income Fund (2) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: 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 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY?
- WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (Connecticut) receives grants from 389 organizations whose IRS filings report $156,438,697 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($33,131,399). 262 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 389 organizations giving $156,438,697 in grants to WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, 262 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $33,131,399 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 389 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