We3 Fund

We3 Fund is a small, closely held Alabama private trust (EIN 61-6625806) with $1.74 million in assets, no website, no published mission statement, and no public application process. IRS data flags it as 'preselected_only' — meaning its trustee(s), operating under the name George C Smith and administered through Regions Private Wealth Management in Montgomery, choose grantees directly rather than soliciting or reviewing unsolicited proposals. There is no LOI stage, no online portal, and no board of program staff to court in the way a larger institutional funder would have. This is a legacy-style giving vehicle, most likely tied to a family or estate plan, that quietly re-funds a consistent roster of Montgomery-area institutions year after year.

The grantee list bears this out: of 103 tracked grants worth $753,992, 97 went to Alabama organizations, with only a handful reaching New York (4) and Texas (2) recipients — almost certainly national or umbrella affiliates of local chapters (e.g., New Israel Fund) rather than a broadened geographic mandate. The same names recur across multiple grant cycles — Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Tuskegee University, Huntingdon College, Montgomery Academy, and the Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. Institute each show 3-4 separate grant instances — indicating multi-year, relationship-based renewal commitments rather than competitive annual review.

For a first-time prospect, the realistic path is not a cold application (none exists) but a warm introduction: through a shared board member, a Regions Private Wealth Management relationship, or a connection to an organization already on the funding roster (arts, historically Black colleges, faith-based/Jewish community organizations, independent K-12 schools, and Montgomery human-services nonprofits). Given the trust's small annual payout (roughly $170,000 in FY2025) and typical grant size of $1,000-$30,000 (median $5,000), it functions more like a family's structured annual giving list than a grantmaking program seeking new partners — expectations for engagement should be modest and locally grounded.

We3 Fund's own 990-derived 'typical grant size' profile shows a median of $5,000, an average of $7,233, and a range of $1,000 to $30,000 across 15 recently sized grants. The broader historical grantee dataset (103 grants, $753,992 total, averaging $7,320 per grant) confirms this is a small-dollar, high-frequency giving pattern rather than a few marquee gifts.

Geographically, funding is almost entirely Alabama-based: 97 of 103 grants (94%) went to AL organizations, with only 4 to New York and 2 to Texas recipients. Every listed grant purpose is coded simply 'GENERAL FUND,' meaning We3 Fund provides unrestricted operating support rather than project- or program-specific grants — a donor preference that favors trusted, established organizations over new initiatives.

By dollar concentration, the largest cumulative recipient is Alabama Shakespeare Festival at roughly $229,000 combined (two ledger entries of $190,000 and $39,000, likely reflecting different fiscal-year filings), representing nearly a third of all tracked giving. The Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. Institute (~$110,000 combined across entries), Tuskegee University (~$85,000 combined), River Region United Way ($40,000), and Huntingdon College (~$42,750 combined) round out the top tier. Recurring smaller grants ($1,000-$12,000) go to Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, Boy Scouts' Tukabatchee Area Council, Montgomery Humane Society, Montgomery Area Council on Aging, Family Sunshine Center, and Jewish Federation of Central Alabama — signaling a portfolio balanced across arts/culture, higher education, human services, and faith-based community organizations.

Annual giving has held in a relatively narrow band: $121,193 (FY2020), $165,898 (FY2021, boosted by a $261,443 one-time contribution received that year), $195,055 (FY2022, the recent peak), $162,312 (FY2023), and $169,985 (FY2025). Total assets have stayed essentially flat near $1.7-1.75 million since 2021, meaning payout is driven by investment income (net investment income of $124,621 in FY2025) rather than fresh contributions — contributions received were $0 in every year on record except FY2021.

We3 Fund sits in a cluster of nearly identically sized ($1.74M) small private trusts and family foundations classified under Philanthropy & Grantmaking, none of which maintain a public website or open application process.

The near-identical asset figures (all within $700 of $1.744M) strongly suggest these entities share a common trust administration structure or benchmark reporting period rather than independent investment performance — likely small family trusts using similar bank/wealth-management trustees. None of the five peers have a public web presence, reinforcing that this asset tier of private foundation typically operates as closed, relationship-driven giving vehicles rather than competitive grant programs. Grant seekers should not expect any of these peers to behave differently from We3 Fund — the entire peer set requires personal or institutional relationships rather than applications.

No news coverage, press releases, leadership changes, or program announcements for 'We3 Fund' were found in any of the four targeted web searches (grants awarded, application guidance, news, funding priorities) conducted for this report — every result surfaced unrelated 'Web3'/cryptocurrency-sector funds and investment groups sharing a similar name, confirming this Montgomery trust has no meaningful public media footprint. This is expected for a foundation of this size and type: no website, no listed programs, and IRS data marking it 'preselected_only.'

The only verifiable recent activity is what the IRS Form 990-PF filings show: total assets rose modestly to $1,743,766 in the FY2025 filing (last verified by IRS EO/BMF-derived data on 2026-09-14) from $1,707,565 in FY2023, with total giving of $169,985 for FY2025 — up from $144,501-$165,502 in grants paid across FY2021-FY2023. Net investment income of $124,621 in FY2025 was the primary driver of available giving capacity, consistent with a trust that distributes largely from investment returns rather than new contributions (contributions received were $0 in every recent filing year except FY2021's $261,443).

No leadership changes could be confirmed; the fund's listed contact remains '% George C Smith,' with administration through Regions Private Wealth Management's Montgomery office, unchanged across the filing history reviewed.

There is no formal application process to optimize for here — We3 Fund's own record shows a null application_deadline, no application_form_url, and no application_instructions (recorded simply as none), combined with a 'preselected_only' flag. Practically, that means:

• Do not submit a cold LOI or proposal; there is no channel confirmed to review one, and no staff or portal exists to process it.
• The realistic entry point is a warm introduction through Regions Private Wealth Management's Montgomery, AL office or a personal connection to the trust's contact, George C Smith — small family trusts like this one are typically steered by a single trustee or small family group making personal giving decisions, not by a review committee.
• Organizations with the best odds are those that mirror the existing 103-grant history: Montgomery/River Region-based arts and culture institutions (modeled on Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts), historically Black colleges and universities (Tuskegee University), independent/faith-affiliated schools (Huntingdon College, Montgomery Academy, Montgomery Christian School), youth-serving organizations (Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, Boy Scouts' Tukabatchee Area Council, Boys & Girls Club of River Region), and human-services/community nonprofits (River Region United Way, Family Sunshine Center, Jewish Federation of Central Alabama, Montgomery Humane Society).
• Because every recorded grant purpose is 'GENERAL FUND,' proposals framed around unrestricted operating support are more consistent with this funder's pattern than project-specific asks.
• Typical award size is modest ($1,000-$30,000, median $5,000) — this is a supplementary, not transformational, funding source, and should be positioned as part of a diversified funding base rather than a headline gift.
• The biggest mistake an unfamiliar organization could make is treating this like an institutional funder with a program officer and cycle calendar; there is no evidence such infrastructure exists. Time spent chasing a nonexistent portal or deadline would be better spent identifying a shared board member, donor, or wealth-management relationship that can make a direct introduction.
• Because multiple top recipients show repeat, multi-year grant counts (3-4 instances), the fund appears to prioritize continuity with known grantees over funding new organizations each cycle — new applicants should expect a longer relationship-building runway before any first gift, if one comes at all.