FundersIndiana

Steel Dynamics Foundation Inc

Fort Wayne, IN · EIN 26-3012038. Reported 75 grants totalling $7,051,406 to 27 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$50,000median grant
$7,051,406granted, 2021-2024
27organizations funded
75%of grantees funded again the next year
$11.4Massets, 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. Steel Dynamics 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 $50,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $25,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $1,000,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$10,000 - $25,000
10 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
27 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
19 grants
$100,000 and Up
19 grants

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$3,528,9061042024
Boys and Girls ClubFort Wayne, IN$500,000442024
Junior AchievementFort Wayne, IN$400,000332024
TurnstoneFort Wayne, IN$240,000442024
Fort Wayne PhilharmonicFort Wayne, IN$200,000442024
Fort Wayne ZooFort Wayne, IN$200,000112024
University of St FrancisFort Wayne, IN$180,000222023
Questa Foundation for EducationFort Wayne, IN$155,000442024
Matthew 25 Health & DentalFort Wayne, IN$150,000442024
World Baseball AcademyFort Wayne, IN$130,000222022
American Red CrossFort Wayne, IN$125,000112021
Grace CollegeWinona Lake, IN$120,000332024
Fort Wayne Museum of ArtFort Wayne, IN$100,000332024
Marshall University Foundation IncHuntington, WV$100,000442024
National Kidney FoundationFort Wayne, IN$100,000442024
National Ornamental Metal MuseumMemphis, TN$100,000112024
Rescue MissionFort Wayne, IN$100,000112021
Science CentralFort Wayne, IN$100,000222024
Smith Academy for ExcellenceFort Wayne, IN$100,000112022
Big Brothers Big SistersFort Wayne, IN$80,000442024
ScanFort Wayne, IN$65,000332024
Arts UnitedFort Wayne, IN$62,500112024
Human Services Center CorpNew Castle, PA$60,000332024
Ne Indiana FundFort Wayne, IN$50,000112024
Center for Whitley County YouthColumbia City, IN$40,000222022
Ivy Tech FoundationFort Wayne, IN$40,000112021
Mississippi State UniversityMississippi State, MS$25,000222022

19 of 27 (70%) 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 75%, across 3 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.

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 50 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
22 grants
Arts & Culture
9 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Youth Development
4 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
Recreation & Sports
2 grants
Animal Welfare
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$1,342,500$40,000
202218$1,181,406$40,000
202315$2,035,000$50,000
202421$2,492,500$50,000

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. Steel Dynamics Foundation Inc has 18 of them, worth $6,345,000. 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.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Trine UniversityAngola, IN$3,000,000
Vincent VillageFort Wayne, IN$1,000,000
Boys and Girls ClubFort Wayne, IN$450,000
Smith Academy for ExcellenceFort Wayne, IN$400,000
Arts UnitedFort Wayne, IN$250,000
Junior AchievementFort Wayne, IN$200,000
Questa Foundation for EducationFort Wayne, IN$160,000
Science CentralFort Wayne, IN$150,000
Matthew 25 Health & DentalFort Wayne, IN$120,000
Fort Wayne PhilharmonicFort Wayne, IN$100,000
Big Brothers Big SistersFort Wayne, IN$90,000
Fort Wayne Museum of ArtFort Wayne, IN$80,000
Grace CollegeWinona Lake, IN$80,000
Marshall University Foundation IncHuntington, WV$75,000
National Kidney FoundationFort Wayne, IN$50,000

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 96% 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
$6.8M
West Virginia
$100K
Tennessee
$100K
Pennsylvania
$60K
Mississippi
$25K

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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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund13 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund13 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of Greater13 shared recipientsAws Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsLincoln Financial Foundation Inc11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $50,000. 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 Steel Dynamics Foundation Inc'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: 7575 W Jefferson Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN, 46804. 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 26-3012038 · 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.