Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Nonprofit of the Year: (Small)
CEO: Wendy Noe
Chair: Chris Mills
When Wendy Noe joined the staff of Dove Recovery House for Women 10 years ago, the organization had an operating budget of $250,000 and a staff of six, all in Indianapolis. Today, the budget is $3 million, the staff has grown to 40, and Dove provides free housing and treatment services for women with substance use disorder in Indianapolis, Jasper and, soon, Columbus.
The expansion is both gratifying and sad.
“It’s a Catch-22,” Noe said. “I hate that we have to open more locations, but I’m grateful that women with addiction and trauma have a place to go where they can get rehabilitation, get the services they need at no cost and can truly focus on themselves. Because there’s really nothing like Dove House in the state of Indiana.”
Dove House, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025, is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., Fairbanks Foundation, opioid response dollars from the state of Indiana and individual donors (“our lifeblood,” Noe said) and is in-network with Medicaid. Participants are asked to spend at least 90 days in the recovery program but can stay up to two years.
Dove boasts a 74% success rate. Data from 2024 exit surveys shows that 94% of Dove participants leave the program sober, and 88% are sober and self-sufficient six months after discharge.
“When women complete our program, they are sober, they are employed or enrolled in school, they are housing-stable, they are reunited with family and friends, and we have great evidence that shows that they maintain sobriety,” Noe said.
Dove also offers an eight-month program called Steps to Success, in which women who went through the original program live in the community—Dove provides a rental subsidy—and they come back for treatment and peer-recovery support services in groups.
“We love these women so they can love themselves, and the reality is, we keep on loving them,” said Noe, who has spent her career working in women’s nonprofits. “We’re like a family here—from the team to the board of directors to the women that we serve.”
Becky, the mother of a former resident, wrote in support of Dove’s Nonprofit of the Year award: “I have seen firsthand the life-saving impact this extraordinary organization has on women and their families. Today, (my daughter) has been employed full-time for over two years and is thriving. One of my proudest moments was when she was injured in a car accident and made the decision to refuse opioid painkillers, knowing the risk they posed to her recovery. It was an act of strength and self-awareness that confirmed how far she had come.”•
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Editor's note: You can comment on IBJ stories by signing in to your IBJ account. If you have not registered, please sign up for a free account now. Please note our comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated.