FundersIndiana

Garry and Mary Lou Estes Foundation Inc

Hope, IN · EIN 88-3061439. Reported 37 grants totalling $159,433 to 26 organizations across tax years 2022-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,500median grant
$159,433granted, 2022-2024
26organizations funded
81%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,179,765assets, latest filing

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. Garry and Mary Lou Estes 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.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $876 and $5,148; the smallest was $485 and the largest $25,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
10 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
12 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Trine UniversityAngola, IN$26,500222023
American Welding AcademyUnion, MO$25,500112024
Vincennes UniversityVincennes, IN$11,500222024
Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN$11,000222024
Ivy Tech Community CollegeIndianapolis, IN$10,055332024
North American Lineman Training CenterMcewen, TN$10,000112024
Paul Mitchell the SchoolIndianapolis, IN$10,000112023
University of CincinnatiCincinnati, OH$7,500222024
Hope ElementaryHope, IN$6,855332024
University of IndianapolisIndianapolis, IN$5,500222024
Southeast Lineman Training CenterTrenton, GA$5,148112023
Aveda InstituteCarmel, IN$5,000112024
Iu IndianapolisIndianapolis, IN$5,000112024
Indiana State UniversityTerre Haute, IN$4,000222024
Iu ColumbusColumbus, IN$3,500112024
University of Southern IndianaEvansville, IN$3,000222024
IupucIndianapolis, IN$2,500112023
Trevecca Nazarene UniversityNashville, TN$1,500112024
Future Jets Biddy Basketball Travel TeamHope, IN$1,375112024
Saint Mary of the Woods CollegeSt Mary of the Woods, IN$750112024
Taylor UniversityUpland, IN$750112024
Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN$500112024
Franklin CollegeFranklin, IN$500112024
Hanover CollegeHanover, IN$500112024
Kansas State UniversityManhattan, KS$500112023
Oakland City UniversityOakland, IN$500112024

9 of 26 (35%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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 81%, across 2 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

Plus 1 grants to individuals totalling $1,100 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 14 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
14 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20223$18,088$5,494
202313$55,014$2,500
202421$86,331$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 69% of this one's giving went to organizations in Indiana. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Indiana
$109K
Missouri
$26K
Tennessee
$12K
Ohio
$8K
Georgia
$5K
Kansas
$500

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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund11 shared recipientsLilly Endowment Inc10 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc10 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc6 shared recipientsDuke Energy Foundation6 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Indiana.
  3. 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.
  4. 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 Garry and Mary Lou Estes Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2022-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 161, Hope, IN, 47246. 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 88-3061439 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.