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Created 1958 — the family's fortune is in Wealth; the foundation at work is here
The machine: Helene Foellinger and her mother Esther created the Foellinger Foundation in 1958, funded by Helene's lifetime gifts, both women's estates, and contributions from the News Publishing Company until The News-Sentinel was sold in 1980 (the fortune and the family are in the Wealth section). Carl D. Rolfsen, personally selected by Helene, served as its first president and chief executive. What the foundation built was not only a grant portfolio but a piece of sector infrastructure: it grants in defined categories — in its current practice Early Childhood Development, Family Development, Community Interests, Capacity Building and board-discretion Special Opportunity grants — restricted to organizations serving Allen County residents, in its own words those "with the greatest economic need and least opportunity."
Scale, from the filings: The foundation's federal Form 990-PF returns report assets at fair market value of $207,656,725 for tax year 2022, $234,746,601 for tax year 2023 and $252,344,709 for tax year 2024, with grants paid of $6,865,550 in tax year 2024. Its own annual report gives the operating picture for fiscal 2025: 93 grants approved totaling $5,243,550, alongside 7 grant workshops, 168 meetings hosted in its collaborative space and 19 leadership training opportunities with 609 participants. A single December 2025 round shows the categories at work: $3,536,125 approved on 19 December 2025, of which fourteen Family Development grants took $3,240,000 and four Early Childhood Development grants $190,000.
The leadership sideline: The foundation has treated nonprofit leadership itself as a grantmaking object. Its Williams Lecture Series ran from 2000 to 2018, bringing national speakers on leadership and philanthropy, with follow-on workshops and more than 70 implementation grants totaling over $775,000. Its stewardship and leadership awards date from 2006 — the Carl D. Rolfsen Stewardship Award is named for its first president — and were expanded in 2025 to add chief-executive and staff recognitions with professional-development grants. Its money also underwrites the sector's training infrastructure directly: the Paul Clarke Nonprofit Resource Center's Get On Board program (below) was made possible by a Foellinger grant.
Sources:
- Foellinger Foundation, Forms 990-PF, tax years 2022–2024 (public filings, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer data) — asset series and 2024 grants paid; figures as compiled in Great Fortunes.
- Foellinger Foundation, FY25 annual report (foellingerannualreport.org) — 93 grants approved totaling $5,243,550; workshops, collaborative-space meetings and leadership-training counts; the foundation's creation and funding.
- Foellinger Foundation, news releases, 19 December 2025 and 4 June 2026 (foellinger.org) — the $3,536,125 round by category; the 1958 creation by Helene and Esther Foellinger.
- Foellinger Foundation, "Leadership Awards History" (foellinger.org) — Rolfsen as first president/CEO; awards since 2006; the Williams Lecture Series 2000–2018 and its 70-plus grants totaling over $775,000.