Wells Fargo Foundation Grants 2026: Can You Apply?

Wells Fargo Foundation grants open now: 6 routes checked

Grantsights checked 6 possible routes on November 6, 2026. None takes an unsolicited application today. The table lists each one, what it pays for and its status on that date.

Recently closed: Round 1 of the 2026 Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge (April 1 to May 15, 2026). Enterprise's page says Round 3 finalists will be announced in November 2026 and winners in winter 2027.

The honest reading: unless Wells Fargo staff already know your work, there's nothing to submit this year. The rest of this guide shows who the foundation funds, so you can judge whether a relationship is worth building, and where the same kinds of projects find open money.

How the Wells Fargo invitation process works

Wells Fargo's Grant Process page sets out 3 eligibility tests and 3 review considerations. According to that page, checked November 6, 2026, every applicant must:

• have 501(c)(3) status, or be a qualified government agency, tribal entity, or public school or school system;
• show fiscal and administrative stability; and
• deliver services that address critical community needs.

Proposals are then judged on the ability to forecast and report outcome metrics tied to Wells Fargo's goals, on new and scalable solutions, and on whether they offer "human capital and volunteerism opportunities." That last point matters more than it looks: the bank gives eligible employees 16 hours of paid volunteer time a year, and its giving page describes Employee Impact Teams that run group volunteer events with local charities.

The page rules out grants for individuals; political action committees, candidates, causes and lobbying; labor, alumni or fraternal groups; recreation, athletic or sports teams and leagues; for-profit businesses, including start-up small businesses; and travel, including student trips.

The Philanthropy FAQs (opens in a new tab) answer the question most searchers have. Asked whether an invitation code is needed to apply for a grant, the FAQ says yes: invited organizations get the code from their contact at Wells Fargo or the Wells Fargo Foundation. The "Online application" link on the Grant Process page opens a login page at wellsfargo.versaic.com.

The FAQ also defines the low- to moderate-income people Wells Fargo wants grants to reach: annual income of 80% or less of the area median income, using the median family income figures the FFIEC (the federal bank examination council) publishes. If your program serves a mixed-income population, be ready to show what share falls under that line.

Who the Wells Fargo Foundation actually funds

Grantsights analysis of the Wells Fargo Foundation's 2025 Form 990-PF found 1,372 grants worth $150.6 million after the exclusions in the data note, going to about 1,250 organizations in 44 states and Washington, D.C. The median grant was $35,000, and the middle half of grants fell between $25,000 and $60,000. According to the return, Part I, line 25 shows $157,468,750 in contributions, gifts and grants on the books, and Part XV line 3a totals $157,383,750 paid during the year.

Two things stand out. First, 576 grants (42%) were $25,000 or less, and $25,000 was the single most common amount, at 252 grants. Second, 28 grants of $1 million or more took 34% of the money. A first-time local grantee should expect the smaller end.

Where the money went by state

Recipient addresses put the most dollars in California (221 grants, $21.4 million), New York (82, $15.2 million), Texas (113, $12.3 million), Missouri (27, $9.6 million) and North Carolina (106, $9.6 million). Washington, D.C. (39, $9.5 million), Georgia (51, $9.3 million), Maryland (23, $8.4 million), Minnesota (44, $7.5 million) and Florida (110, $5.2 million) round out the top 10. New York, Maryland and D.C. totals are inflated by national intermediaries headquartered there; their money often reaches other states.

No 2025 grant went to an organization with an address in Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont or West Virginia. Small states did get some: 17 grants worth $395,000 went to Alaska groups, and 4 grants worth $90,000 went to North Dakota.

What the grants paid for

Grantsights sorted each grant's stated purpose by keyword. According to our analysis, the match is rough, but the order is clear: housing purposes (affordable rental, homeownership, ADUs, shelters, repairs, heirs' property) covered about 493 grants and $54.6 million. Financial health purposes (financial coaching, credit building, savings, tax preparation) covered about 279 grants and $26.9 million. Small business and entrepreneur programs covered about 189 grants and $16.9 million. That tracks Wells Fargo's 3 published priorities.

The biggest checks went to named partners with multiyear plans. For example, Concordance received $8,000,000, the largest single grant of 2025. Large 2025 grants named on the return include:

• Concordance, St. Louis: $8,000,000 for its reentry program's national expansion (July 2025 to June 2028)
• Enterprise Community Partners, Columbia, Maryland: $5,000,500 for the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, plus $1,500,000 for a Faith Based Development Initiative expansion
• Habitat for Humanity International: $4,900,000 for 2025 Wells Fargo Builds and flexible funding
• Center for Land Reform, Flint, Michigan: $2,000,000 and $1,000,000 to expand national heirs' property work
• Community Ventures Corporation, Lexington, Kentucky: $1,300,000 and $1,200,000 as a housing counseling intermediary ("Keeping People Housed")

Smaller grants look like ordinary local program support. For example, Arkansas Asset Builders received $15,000 in 2025 for financial literacy education tied to tax time, 100 Black Men of Las Vegas received $25,000 for a financial literacy program, the Alabama Council on Economic Education received $20,000 for Financial Fitness for Life, Anchorage Community Land Trust received $25,000 in operating support for its Set Up Shop program, and America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend in Tallahassee received $10,000 for a mobile pantry.

WORTH and the named initiatives in the filing

The return names several Wells Fargo initiatives that have no public application. Grantsights counted 7 grants worth $7,525,000 labeled WORTH, a homeownership effort, all going to local collaboratives: Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) for New York City ($1,875,000 planning grant), Richmond ($1,000,000) and Houston ($937,500); ACTS Community Development Corporation in Milwaukee ($937,500); the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta ($937,500); Urban League of Philadelphia ($937,500); and the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville, Texas, for Native and rural work ($900,000). No current Wells Fargo page described WORTH or invited applications on November 6, 2026.

Tax help shows up too: 12 grants worth $730,000 name Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), mostly to local United Ways. According to IRS information on its own VITA grant program (opens in a new tab), the agency awards matching funds to organizations that offer free tax preparation in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and that's an application you can actually file.

How 2025 compares with earlier years

According to ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer's extract of the 2023 return, the foundation paid $217.6 million that year. The 2024 return lists 1,610 grants totaling $155,188,258. Grantsights excluded 5 payments, $19,000,000 in all, to "YourCause LLC FBO The Blackbaud Giving Fund" labeled donor advised fund grants, leaving 1,605 grants, $136.2 million and a $30,000 median. So 2025 had fewer grants than 2024 (1,372 against 1,605) but a higher median ($35,000 against $30,000). The foundation's giving has shrunk from its 2023 level, and the Wells Fargo giving pages Grantsights checked on November 6, 2026 didn't publish a combined 2025 company and foundation total.

The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, Wells Fargo's one public call

The challenge is the only Wells Fargo-funded grant with an open application round in recent years, and the 2025 return shows a $5,000,500 grant to Enterprise to run it. According to Enterprise's challenge page (opens in a new tab), checked November 6, 2026, the 2026 competition is the third cycle since 2020. Round 1 attracted 871 applications, and 39 semifinalists moved on to compete for five $2 million grants plus technical support.

The 3 focus areas are design and construction, finance, and service delivery and programs. Eligible lead applicants in Round 1 included 501(c)(3) nonprofits, mission-oriented for-profits, tribally designated housing entities, tribal housing authorities, and quasi-government groups such as housing authorities or housing finance agencies if a 501(c)(3) entity led the application.

Two warnings. First, this is a competition for proven pilots ready to scale, not general operating money; Round 2 asks semifinalists to show measurable outcomes and a path to scale. Second, 871 applications for 5 awards is under 1% odds. Enterprise didn't publish a date for a fourth cycle, so treat any next round as unannounced until its page says otherwise.

How to apply for a Wells Fargo grant if you're invited

Wells Fargo's FAQ describes the application in enough detail to prepare 5 parts before you ever get a code. Here's the order that follows the bank's own pages.

1. Check the 3 priorities. Your project should fit financial opportunity, housing access and affordability, or small business growth. If it doesn't, the FAQ says out-of-priority support is limited.
2. Check eligibility and exclusions. Confirm your 501(c)(3), government, tribal or public school status, and make sure the request isn't for sports, travel, a for-profit or an individual.
3. Get the invitation code. The FAQ says the code comes from your contact at Wells Fargo or the Wells Fargo Foundation. There's no public form to request one.
4. Log in through the Online application link on the Grant Process page and complete every required field. The FAQ says all documentation is required even for a small request.
5. Write to the FAQ's outline: an executive summary (who you serve, the need, what the project does, the impact), detailed project information including how the money will be used and a marketing and communications plan, quantifiable success metrics, and, for past grantees, what the prior grant achieved and why you should get continued support.
6. Plan your cash flow. The FAQ says payment typically arrives within 4 months after approval, and site visits usually don't happen.

Common mistake: writing a needs statement with no forecast. The Grant Process page says invited applicants must forecast expected outcomes in the application and may owe periodic impact reports with actual results. A request that can't name a number it will move is weak here.

What Wells Fargo's Grant Pages Don't Tell You

Grantsights compared the 3 Wells Fargo giving pages with the foundation's 2024 and 2025 990-PF grant lists, and five points don't appear on the pages.

The filing says "preselected only." The 2025 Form 990-PF checks the box in Part XV stating that the foundation only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds. That's stronger than the web page's "invitation process" wording. Don't send a cold proposal by mail or email.

National intermediaries take a big share. LISC alone received 18 grants worth $6.1 million in 2025 under its various name spellings, Enterprise received 4 worth $6.6 million, and Habitat for Humanity groups received 36 worth $7.1 million. Local United Ways received 67 grants worth $3.2 million, and Junior Achievement chapters received 56 worth $1.8 million. If you're a local housing group, a LISC office, a Habitat affiliate or a United Way may be a closer route to Wells Fargo money than the foundation itself.

Volunteer events are part of the deal. Many 2025 purposes name employee involvement: Junior Achievement "YES Days" for Wells Fargo team members, Habitat "Wells Fargo Builds" days, meal-packing events and move-in kit builds. The Grant Process page lists volunteerism opportunities as a review factor. A program with nowhere for a bank team to show up is at a disadvantage, and the reality is that many smaller grants look tied to local employee engagement.

Some money goes out through a giving platform. In 2025, 4 payments worth $6.7 million went to the Blackbaud Giving Fund as prefunds, including one labeled "2025 CCG Prefund 1" for $5,000,000. Wells Fargo's giving page describes Community Care Grants, which employees direct to eligible charities of their choice. Grantsights can't see final recipients of those prefunds in the filing, and no organization can apply for them.

Big headline programs aren't open doors. The Open for Business Fund was a roughly $420 million effort funded by fees Wells Fargo earned processing 2020 Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to Wells Fargo Stories, and it worked through more than 200 CDFIs and nonprofits. It's described in the past tense. WORTH grants went to 7 collaboratives in named cities. Don't underestimate how often a search result for "Wells Fargo grants" is about a program that's finished or closed to new applicants.

A 4-step fit check before you pursue Wells Fargo

Use these 4 checks in order. If one fails, put your time into a funder that publishes deadlines.

1. Priority match. Is the work housing, financial health (coaching, credit, savings, tax prep) or small business support for low- to moderate-income people? About 65% of 2025 dollars matched those three by Grantsights' keyword sort; the rest included reentry, food, youth and disaster work.
2. Peer match. Look up the foundation's grants to organizations like yours on its 990-PF. Grantsights' Wells Fargo Foundation funder page shows its public summary. If no group of your type in your state appears in 2024 or 2025, that's a red flag.
3. Footprint match. In 2025 the foundation funded nothing in 6 states. If you're in one of them, the odds are poor.
4. Relationship match. Do you have a real tie to Wells Fargo staff: volunteers, a board member who banks there, a local community relations contact, or a partnership with a current grantee? Without one, there's no route to a code.

Bad fit, for example: a youth sports league in Louisiana (sports teams are excluded, and no Louisiana group got a 2025 grant). Plausible fit: a HUD-approved housing counseling agency in North Carolina whose peers already show up in the 2025 list.

Where to apply when Wells Fargo won't invite you

Open alternatives exist for every Wells Fargo priority, and 3 of them are federal programs with published rules.

Housing groups: According to HUD, its Housing Counseling program (opens in a new tab) helps families obtain, sustain and retain their homes through a network of HUD-participating agencies and certified counselors, and the housing counseling agency grants guide covers who funds that work. For development and repair, compare the affordable housing grants guide, the best grants for affordable housing nonprofits and the community development corporation grants guide.

Financial health programs: the financial literacy program grants guide lists foundation and bank funders, and the free tax preparation grants guide explains the IRS VITA grant cycle. Many banks fund this work, so read corporate grants for nonprofits for others with open forms.

Small business support organizations: the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund's CDFI Program (opens in a new tab) makes financial and technical assistance awards to certified CDFIs; see the CDFI Fund grants guide. Workforce groups can start with the best grants for workforce development nonprofits.

Reentry and disaster work: the reentry program grants guide and the disaster relief grants guide cover funders that take applications.

Local money: your community foundation and local United Way often run open cycles; see the community foundation grants guide and the United Way grants guide. To find foundations that fund work like yours in your state, Grantsights' human services funder lists group foundations by cause and state from the grants on their 990-PF filings, with a free preview of your state, and the Grantsights grant database shows open opportunities. For method, see how to research foundation grants.

How Grantsights Checked This Guide

Grantsights checked Wells Fargo's Philanthropy and Community Impact page (opens in a new tab), Grant Process page (opens in a new tab) and Philanthropy FAQs (opens in a new tab), Enterprise's challenge page, the Open for Business Fund story, and the foundation's 2024 and 2025 Form 990-PF returns on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (opens in a new tab) on November 6, 2026. ProPublica's record confirms EIN 41-1367441 for the Wells Fargo Foundation in Minneapolis, with tax exemption issued February 1980.

The IRS private foundation annual return page (opens in a new tab) explains that every private foundation must file Form 990-PF, which is why the grant lists above are public.

Related Guides

• Corporate grants for nonprofits
• Foundation grants for nonprofits
• Grants for affordable housing
• Grants for financial literacy programs

Sources

• Wells Fargo: Philanthropy and Community Impact (opens in a new tab)
• Wells Fargo: Grant Process (opens in a new tab)
• Wells Fargo: Philanthropy FAQs (opens in a new tab)
• Enterprise Community Partners: Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, About the Challenge (opens in a new tab)
• Wells Fargo Stories: Open for Business Fund (opens in a new tab)
• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: Wells Fargo Foundation filings (2024 and 2025 Form 990-PF) (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Private Foundation Annual Return (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: VITA Grant Program (opens in a new tab)
• HUD: Housing Counseling (opens in a new tab)
• CDFI Fund: CDFI Program (opens in a new tab)