Isora Wells Foundation
Albuquerque, NM · EIN 20-5193741. Reported 18 grants totalling $1,442,350 to 16 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. 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. Isora Wells Foundation 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 $27,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $20,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $430,000. 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. 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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| See Attachment 3 | Albuquerque, NM | $1,047,350 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center | St Paul, MN | $80,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Access | New York, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness | St Paul, MN | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| La Plaza De Encuentro Gathering Place (encuentro) | Albuquerque, NM | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Minneapolis Community and Technical College Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| New Mexico Immigrant Law Center | Albuquerque, NM | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Robin Hood Foundation | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Face-to-Face Project | Brooklyn, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Minnesota Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Indian Pueblo Cultural Center | Albuquerque, NM | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Fe Dreamers Project | Santa Fe, NM | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| ACLU of New Mexico Foundation | Albuquerque, NM | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Family Forum | Superior, WI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| ACLU Foundation Inc | New York City, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Como Friends | St Paul, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
1 of 16 (6%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
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.
- Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT & YOUTH SCHOLARSHIPS - Community Access
CHANGING MINDS YOUNG FILMMAKER INITIATIVE - Minneapolis Community and Technical College Foundation
THOMAS WELLS ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP (FUND 305.3025) - University of Minnesota Foundation
WESTLAKE WELLS ALCOHOL ADDICTION FUND - Family Forum
GENERAL SUPPORT FOR BRULE HEAD START LOCATION
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 13 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 | $430,000 | $430,000 |
| 2022 | 1 | $307,350 | $307,350 |
| 2023 | 1 | $310,000 | $310,000 |
| 2024 | 15 | $395,000 | $25,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Isora Wells Foundation has 5 of them, worth $175,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| See Attahcment 3 | Albuquerque, NM | $70,000 |
| La Plaza De Encuentro Gathering Place (encuentro) | Albuquerque, NM | $30,000 |
| Community Access | New York, NY | $30,000 |
| The Face-to-Face Project | Brooklyn, NY | $25,000 |
| Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness | St Paul, MN | $20,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 81% of this one's giving went to organizations in New Mexico. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $27,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New Mexico.
- 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 Isora Wells Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 12231 Academy Road Ne Suite 301-32, Albuquerque, NM, 87111. 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 20-5193741 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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