FundersWest Virginia

Carter Family Foundation

Parkersburg, WV · EIN 55-0606479. Reported 203 grants totalling $2,617,798 to 73 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$2,617,798granted, 2021-2024
73organizations funded
87%of grantees funded again the next year
$19.5Massets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Carter Family Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $12,252; the smallest was $500 and the largest $205,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
95 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
41 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
24 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
30 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
9 grants
$100,000 and Up
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Beckley Area FoundationBeckley, WV$330,1891142024
University of CharlestonCharleston, WV$231,000442024
Salvation Army Beckley UnitBeckley, WV$205,000112021
Wvu FoundationMorgantown, WV$175,500742024
Concord UniversityAthens, WV$150,000642024
Just for Kids IncBeckley, WV$110,000542024
Beckley Babe RuthBeckley, WV$105,776112023
Appalachian Bible CollegeMount Hope, WV$100,000442024
New River CtcBeaver, WV$100,000442024
Uniiversity of CharlestonCharleston, WV$92,800112021
Wv Professional Dance CompanyBeckley, WV$82,000322024
University of Charleston- BeckleyBeckley, WV$75,000332024
Beckley Convention CenterBeckley, WV$67,320112024
Folk Feed Ouir Local KidsWashington, DC$60,000332024
Raleigh County Veterans AssociationBeckley, WV$51,050112024
Beckley Art Group IncBeckley, WV$47,500212022
Wv Wesleyan CollegeBuchannon, WV$40,000442024
Hospice of Southern WvBeckley, WV$34,300442024
United Methodist TempleBeckley, WV$32,500642024
Alderson-Broaddus CollegePhilippi, WV$30,000332023
Alzheimer's AssociationCharleston, WV$30,000332024
Beckley-Raleigh Co Chamber of CommeBeckley, WV$30,000222023
Brian's SafehouseMount Hope, WV$26,550112021
Active Southern West VirginiaBeckley, WV$26,500332024
American Red CrossBeckley, WV$25,000742024
Beckley Presbyterian ChurchBeckley, WV$20,000442024
Fellowship of Christian AthletesBeckley, WV$20,000442024
First Baptist ChurchBeckley, WV$20,000442024
Boy Scouts of AmericaCharleston, WV$18,000632024
YMCA of BeckleyBeckley, WV$16,000442024
Folk Feed Our Local KidsWashington, DC$15,000112021
Wv Humanities CoucilCharleston, WV$15,000332024
Make a Wish Greater Pa and WvCharleston, WV$14,400332024
Catholic Charities WvCharleston, WV$14,000332024
Raleigh County Solid Waste AuthorityBeckley, WV$12,252112021
Lillian James Learning CenterCrab Orchard, WV$12,000442024
United Way of Southern WvBeckley, WV$12,000442024
Piney Creek Watershed AssociationCrab Orchard, WV$11,988222024
Womens Resource CenterBeckley, WV$11,000322023
Alzheimer's AssoicationCharleston, WV$10,000112021
Trap Hill Area Little LeagueEccles, WV$10,000112024
Wv Public BroadcastingCharleston, WV$10,000442024
Wwhs Alumni ScholarshipBeckley, WV$9,000332024
Youth Museum of SwvBeckley, WV$9,000332024
Beckley Concert AssociationBeckley, WV$8,000442024
Gideon's InternationalBeckley, WV$8,000442024
Lions Sight Foundation of WvFairmont, WV$6,000332024
Raleigh County Solid Waste AuthoritBeckley, WV$5,756112023
Coalfield Elite Youth WrestlingBeckley, WV$5,000112024
Sheriff of Raleigh CountyBeckley, WV$5,000112021
Wv Humanities CouncilCharleston, WV$5,000112021
Make a Wish FoundaitonCharleston, WV$4,400112021
Black Diamond Girl ScoutsCharleston, WV$4,000442024
Greater Beckley Christian SchoolMount Hope, WV$4,000442024
Raleigh County Historical SocietyBeckley, WV$4,000442024
Raleigh County Public LibraryBeckley, WV$4,000442024
Boy Scouts of AmericanCharleston, WV$3,500112021
AwayBeckley, WV$3,000112024
Raleigh County Humance SocietyBeckley, WV$3,000332024
Southern Wv Fellowship HomeBeckley, WV$3,000332024
St Francis De Sales Catholic SchooBeckley, WV$3,000332024
Women's Resource CenterBeckley, WV$3,000112021
Wwhs Alumni Scholarship FundBeckley, WV$3,000112022
Youth Museam of Southern WvBeckley, WV$3,000112021
City of BeckleyBeckley, WV$2,500112023
Lions Sight FoundationFairmont, WV$2,000112021
Wvu TechBeckley, WV$1,895112024
Girl Scouts of Black Diamond CounciCharleston, WV$1,622112022
Beckley Little LeagueBeckley, WV$1,000112021
Raleigh County Humane SocietyBeckley, WV$1,000112021
Southern Wv FellowshipBeckley, WV$1,000112021
St Francis De Sales Catholic SchoolBeckley, WV$1,000112021
Woodrow Wilson High SchoolBeckley, WV$500112021

43 of 73 (59%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 87%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 64 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Philanthropy & Grantmaking
15 grants
Education
15 grants
Arts & Culture
9 grants
Crime & Legal
5 grants
Religion
4 grants
Mental Health
4 grants
Health Care
3 grants
Diseases & Disorders
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202145$840,651$4,400
202254$572,022$5,000
202354$624,060$5,000
202450$581,065$5,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 97% of this one's giving went to organizations in West Virginia. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

West Virginia
$2.5M
District of Columbia
$75K

Find more foundations like Carter Family Foundation

We email you newly filed foundations whose giving matches your state and cause, as the IRS publishes them. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Beckley Area Foundation Inc14 shared recipientsThe Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation11 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipientsEnterprise Holdings Foundation7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in West Virginia.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Carter Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 514 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV, 26101. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 55-0606479 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.