Ford Meter Box Foundation Inc
Wabash, IN · EIN 35-1253080. Reported 94 grants totalling $1,333,700 to 56 recipients across tax years 2022-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Ford Meter Box Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $250 and the largest $200,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Foundation of Wabash County | North Manchester, IN | $495,600 | 8 | 4 | 2025 |
| Daniels Place Inc | North Manchester, IN | $102,800 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Community Foundation of Wabash County Wabash County YMCA Endowment | North Manchester, IN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Josiah Whites | Wabash, IN | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Whites Residential & Family Services | Wabash, IN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wabash County YMCA | Wabash, IN | $95,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Wabash County Museum | Wabash, IN | $75,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Learn More Center | Wabash, IN | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Wabash County United Fund | Wabash, IN | $44,000 | 4 | 2 | 2025 |
| University of Alabama at Birmingham | Birmingham, AL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Youth for Christ of Northern Indiana | Fort Wayne, IN | $21,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Junior Achievement Serving Greater Wabash | Wabash, IN | $11,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Jefferson State Community College Foundation Inc | Birmingham, AL | $10,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Living Well in Wabash County Coa Inc | Wabash, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Manchester Symphony Orchestra | North Manchester, IN | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| The David Kunkel Foundation Inc | Wabash, IN | $8,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| The Arc of Wabash County | Wabash, IN | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Advantage Housing | Wabash, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Science Central | Fort Wayne, IN | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Babe of Wabash County | Wabash, IN | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Destination Wabash County Inc | Wabash, IN | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Downtown Wabash | Wabash, IN | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Lighthouse Mission | Wabash, IN | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| New Beginnings Ministries of Wabash County | Wabash, IN | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| North Manchester Historical Society | North Manchester, IN | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Wabash Valley Dance Theater | Wabash, IN | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| 85 Hope | Wabash, IN | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Boy Scouts of America - Sagamore Council | Kokomo, IN | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wabash County Fair Association Inc | Wabash, IN | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Housing Action of Wabash County Inc | North Manchester, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Junior Achievement Serving North Manchester | North Manchester, IN | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Parkview Health Foundation | Fort Wayne, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank | Muncie, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Life Center | Wabash, IN | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Trine University | Angola, IN | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Wabash Recovery Services Inc | Wabash, IN | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Emmanuel Christian School | Wabash, IN | $1,800 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry | Garrett, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Junior Achievement - North Manchester | North Manchester, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| My Team Triumph Northern Indiana | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| New Biginnings Ministries of Wabash County | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pell City Softball Booster Club | Pell City, AL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana | Muncie, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Womans Clubhouse Association | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Wabash Area Community Theater | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wabash County Habitat for Humanity | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wabash Street Level Ministries | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Wabash Weekend Food Insecurities Corp | Wabash, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Japanese American Association of Indiana | Fort Wayne, IN | $750 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Fame | Wabash, IN | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Japanese American Association Fo Indiana Inc | Fort Wayne, IN | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Japanese American Association Indiana | Fort Wayne, IN | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wabash County Festivals Pageant | Wabash, IN | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wabash County Festivals Scholarship Pageant | Wabash, IN | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wabash County Scholarship Pageant | Wabash, IN | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Huntinton County Child Advocacy Center Inc | Huntington, IN | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
23 of 56 (41%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 60%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Community Foundation of Wabash County
OPERATION CHANGE THE FUTURE - Learn More Center
WABASH LOCATION FURNITURE & TECH EQUIPMENT - University of Alabama at Birmingham
FORD METER BOX ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP IN ENGINEERING - Wabash County YMCA
FIELD OF DREAMS & ANNUAL CAMPAIGN - Youth for Christ of Northern Indiana
WABASH COUNTY CAMPUS LIFE PROGRAM - Manchester Symphony Orchestra
2ND PAYMENT OF 3 YEAR PLEDGE
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 50 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8 | $187,500 | $2,500 |
| 2023 | 8 | $223,000 | $2,750 |
| 2024 | 41 | $633,400 | $2,500 |
| 2025 | 37 | $289,800 | $2,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Where its money goes
97% of its giving went to organizations in Indiana. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Indiana.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Ford Meter Box Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 443, Wabash, IN, 46992. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 35-1253080 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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