Anthony Wayne Services, Benchmark, and the AWS Foundation

1960 — the disability-services line, and the foundation it spun off

Founding: The line begins in 1960, when a community volunteer committee that had been studying work-related services for people with disabilities founded the Community Coordinating Center for Rehabilitation and Health Services. In 1972 the organization took the name Anthony Wayne Rehabilitation Center (AWRC) — the "Anthony Wayne Services" name under which generations of Fort Wayne families knew it — and grew into the region's largest disability-services provider.

The 2007 restructuring: In 2007 the enterprise was restructured into three: AWRC continued as the nonprofit; Benchmark Human Services was created as the for-profit operating company; and the AWS Foundation was created as an independent philanthropic nonprofit. The foundation's finances — it receives a majority share of Benchmark's profits (60 percent in the OPEN MINDS profile) and returns them as grants across northeast Indiana, about 6 million dollars a year in recent reporting, on 18.4 million dollars of 2024 revenue — belong to the Wealth section; the service history is here: the foundation's grants fund the disability-services ecosystem its parent created. The foundation has announced a new name, WindSwell Foundation, adopted to end confusion with the better-known initials it shares with a technology company.

The work today: The service line continues under Benchmark Human Services, which marked its own 65-year history in 2025 counting from the 1960 founding — residential, employment and crisis services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral-health needs, grown from Fort Wayne into a multi-state operation.

Sources:

1. Benchmark Human Services, "65 Years of Hope, Growth and Resilience in Human Services" — the 1960 Community Coordinating Center, the 1972 AWRC renaming, the 2007 three-way restructuring.
2. Candid / Foundation Directory profile, AWS Foundation — independent organization created in 2007 by the corporate changes in AWS/Anthony Wayne Services; IRS Form 990 revenue 2024, 18,431,784 dollars.
3. OPEN MINDS profile, AWS Foundation — the 60 percent share of Benchmark profits redistributed as grants.
4. AWS Foundation — the WindSwell Foundation renaming announcement.