FundersNorth Carolina

Mildred Sheffield Wells Char Trust

Raleigh, NC · EIN 56-6505336. Reported 79 grants totalling $1,568,464 to 39 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$18,681median grant
$1,568,464granted, 2020-2024
39organizations funded
56%of grantees funded again the next year
$9,946,654assets, 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. Mildred Sheffield Wells Char Trust 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 $18,681. Half of everything it gave fell between $12,412 and $25,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $75,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
9 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
4 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
41 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
22 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 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
Boys & Girls Club of Coastal PlainWinterville, NC$150,318552024
St Pauls Episcopal ChurchGreenville, NC$135,318552024
Straightway ChurchAyden, NC$127,000332024
Food Bank - Central & Eastern NcGreenville, NC$115,000552024
The Salvation ArmyGreenville, NC$105,318552024
Hope of Glory MinistriesGreenville, NC$85,000552024
Greenville Choral SocietyGreenville, NC$77,000442023
Habitat for Humanity of Pitt CoGreenville, NC$75,000112022
Churches Outreach NetworkGreenville, NC$57,625322023
Rebuilding Together Pitt CountyGreenville, NC$55,000332024
Grifton Mission Ministries IncGrifton, NC$54,300222021
North Carolina SymphonyRaleigh, NC$50,000222023
Carenet Counseling EastGreenville, NC$47,500332024
Emerge Gallery & Art CenterGreenville, NC$44,000222024
Hb Suggs Community CenterFarmville, NC$42,000112021
Greenville Museum of Art IncGreenville, NC$39,680222024
Aces for AutismGreenville, NC$30,000112023
A Time for ScienceGreenville, NC$25,000112021
Town of GrimeslandGrimesland, NC$25,000112020
Feed Your Neighbor Food PantryGreenville, NC$22,600112024
Ecu Medical & Health Science FdnGreenville, NC$20,000222023
Habitat for HumanityGreenville, NC$20,000112024
Chicod Choral DepartmentGreenville, NC$19,652112024
Ecu Health FoundationGreenville, NC$15,000112023
University Health SystemsGreenville, NC$15,000112024
Vidant Health FoundationGreenville, NC$15,000112022
Lives of Purpose IncGreenville, NC$14,436332024
Dh Conley High School BandsGreenville, NC$13,000112024
Chicod School PTAGreenville, NC$12,412112020
Moonbeams & MiraclesGrimesland, NC$10,922112021
Third Street Education CenterGreenville, NC$10,000112022
Uptown GreenvilleGreenville, NC$7,390112021
Moonbeams and Miracles TheraeuticGrimesland, NC$6,500112024
Children's Cancer PartnersSpartansburg, SC$5,963222024
Cancer Services of Eastern NcGreenville, NC$5,000112021
Building Hope Community Life CtrGreenville, NC$4,796112021
Building Hope Community Life CenterGreenville, NC$4,734112023
Carolina Pregnancy CenterGreenville, NC$4,000112020
Girl Scouts - Nc Coastal PinesRaleigh, NC$2,000222023

18 of 39 (46%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 56%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 36 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
7 grants
Religion
6 grants
Arts & Culture
6 grants
Housing & Shelter
5 grants
Youth Development
4 grants
Employment
3 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202012$250,501$15,000
202116$321,826$18,681
202216$341,299$23,000
202317$319,647$21,917
202418$335,191$19,826

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. 100% of this one's giving went to organizations in North Carolina. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

North Carolina
$1.6M
South Carolina
$6K

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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.

James J & Mamie Richardson Perkins15 shared recipientsTr Uw Vivian S West -13 shared recipientsUniversity Health Systems of Eastern10 shared recipientsThe Cannon Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsNorth Carolina Community Foundation8 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $18,681. 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 North Carolina.
  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 Mildred Sheffield Wells Char Trust's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 4242 Six Forks Rd 17TH Fl US Trust, Raleigh, NC, 27609. 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 56-6505336 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.