FundersVirginia

Claws Foundation

Reston, VA · EIN 20-1658710. Reported 87 grants totalling $131.7M to 42 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$200,000median grant
$131.7Mgranted, 2021-2024
42organizations funded
62%of grantees funded again the next year
$6,208,935assets, 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. Claws 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 $200,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $50,000 and $2,025,000; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $12.1M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
4 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
14 grants
$100,000 and Up
60 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
Silver Valley Research FoundationReston, VA$32.6M332023
Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, PA$17.1M442024
Fidelity CharitableCovington, KY$15.7M442024
Wistar InstituteNew York, NY$10.1M442024
Women in Need IncNew York, NY$9,535,000442024
Refuge PointCambridge, MA$9,500,000442024
Shalom Hartman InstituteNew York, NY$6,500,000222022
Thomas Jefferson UniversityPhiladelphia, PA$6,500,000222024
Philadelphia Museum of ArtPhiladelphia, PA$6,000,000222024
Dia Art FoundationBeacon, NY$5,534,565332024
Alliance for Decision EducationBala Cynwyd, PA$4,000,000442024
Calder GardensPhiladelphia, PA$3,000,000222024
American Friends of Hebrew UniversityPhiladelphia, PA$1,000,000222022
Reason FoundationLos Angeles, CA$500,000112021
Save the ChildrenFairfield, CT$500,000442024
Pef Israel EndowmentNew York, NY$475,000112021
Franklin InstitutePhiladelphia, PA$400,000442024
The Public TheaterNew York, NY$345,000332024
Boca Raton Regional Hospital FoundationBoca Raton, FL$250,000332024
Hirshhorn MuseumWashington, DC$250,000112024
Jdc - Taub CenterTeaneck, NJ$250,000222022
Art Philly 2026Philadelphia, PA$200,000112023
Friends of FacesReston, VA$200,000112024
Philadelphia ContemporaryPhiladelphia, PA$200,000112023
Greenwich HouseNew York, NY$190,000442024
Beth David Reform CongregationGladwyne, PA$175,000222023
MeorWashington, DC$150,000222022
Bryn Mawr Hospital FoundationBryn Mawr, PA$100,000112022
Jewish Business NetworkDobbs Ferry, NY$73,500112022
Friends of Gladwyne Jewish Memorial CemetaryGladwyne, PA$50,000112021
Lankenau Medical Center FoundationWynnewood, PA$50,000112024
World Central KitchenWashington, DC$50,000112022
Orphaned Starfish FoundationNew York, NY$35,000222024
Special Olympics of New YorkAlbany, NY$32,500222022
Skin Cancer FoundationNew York, NY$25,000112024
GallopnycNew York, NY$15,000112023
Woolly Mammoth Theatre CompanyWashington, DC$10,000112023
Musket Ridge Junior AcademyReston, VA$5,000112024
Covenant House InternationalNew York, NY$2,500112022
Drama Club NyJackson Heights, NY$2,500112023
St Jude Children's Research HospitalMemphis, TN$2,500112024
St Judes Research HospitalMemphis, TN$2,500112023

23 of 42 (55%) 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 62%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 47 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
12 grants
Human Services
8 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants
Youth Development
4 grants
Community Improvement
4 grants
International Affairs
4 grants
Religion
3 grants
Health Care
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$45.4M$500,000
202223$37.6M$200,000
202321$30.1M$100,000
202422$18.5M$175,000

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. 29% of this one's giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Pennsylvania
$38.8M
New York
$32.9M
Virginia
$32.8M
Kentucky
$15.7M
Massachusetts
$9.5M
Connecticut
$500K
California
$500K
District of Columbia
$460K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program16 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust15 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc11 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $200,000. 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 Pennsylvania.
  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.

Related guides

Foundations funding arts & culture in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Claws 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: 12030 Sunrise Valley Drive 450, Reston, VA, 20191. 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 20-1658710 · 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.