FundersVirginia

Harry and Zoe Poole Foundation

Fairfax, VA · EIN 20-1360297. Reported 127 grants totalling $645,100 to 47 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$645,100granted, 2021-2024
47organizations funded
87%of grantees funded again the next year
$115,146assets, 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. Harry and Zoe Poole 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 $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $25,000. 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
48 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
67 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 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
Massachusetts Inst of TechCambridge, MA$100,000442024
University of Maryland College Park FoundationCollege Park, MD$40,000442024
Doorways for Women and FamiliesArlington, VA$30,000442024
KeenWashington, DC$27,400442024
United Community MinistriesAlexandria, VA$25,000442024
Bright Beginnings IncWashington, DC$20,000442024
Medical Mission of Mercy USAFalls Church, VA$20,000442024
So Others Might EatWashington, DC$20,000442024
Space of Her OwnAlexandria, VA$20,000442024
The Sunshine FoundationFeasterville, PA$20,000442024
Safe SpotFairfax, VA$18,000442024
Greater DC Diaper BankSilver Spring, MD$17,500442024
Reach Out and Read VirginiaRichmond, VA$17,500332024
Bright CenterManassas, VA$15,000332023
BritepathsFairfax, VA$15,000332024
Good Shepherd Housing & Family Serv IncAlexandria, VA$15,000442024
Safe ShoresWashington, DC$15,000332024
Touching HeartHerndon, VA$15,000332024
Parkmont SchoolWashington, DC$12,500332024
Volunteer AlexandriaAlexandria, VA$12,500442024
Navy Safe Harbor FoundationAlexandria, VA$12,000222022
Arlington ThriveArlington, VA$10,000442024
Child Resource ConnectUpper Marlboro, MD$10,000222024
Depaul Community ResourcesRoanoke, VA$10,000442024
Friends of Guest HouseAlexandria, VA$10,000442024
Operation WarmChadds Ford, PA$10,000442024
Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern VaFairfax, VA$10,000112021
Prince George's Child Resource CenterUpper Marlboro, MD$10,000222022
The Child & Family Network CentersAlexandria, VA$10,000332023
Seabee Memorial ScholarshipSpringfield, VA$9,000332023
House of MercyManassas, VA$7,500332024
Network for Teaching EntrepreneurshipNew York, NY$7,500332024
Volunteer FairfaxFairfax, VA$7,500332024
George Mason Universiy Foundation IncFairfax, VA$6,000112021
Food for OthersFairfax, VA$5,000112024
Mary's CenterWashingtond, DC$5,000222024
Navy Seabee FoundationGulfport, MS$5,000112024
The Youth Quest FoundationChantilly, VA$5,000112021
Washington Tennis & Education FoundationWashington, DC$5,000112021
Calvary Womens's ServicesWashington, DC$2,500112021
Educate FairfaxFalls Church, VA$2,500112021
Family FuturesSperryville, VA$2,500112021
The Father Mckenna Center IncWashington, DC$2,500112024
The Napkin NetworkBethesda, MD$2,500112024
Colonial Williamsburg (folds of Honor)Williamsburg, VA$1,200112024
The Casey Schulman FoundationFalls Church, VA$1,000112024
Cloverleaf Equine CenterClifton, VA$500112023

33 of 47 (70%) 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 71 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
29 grants
Education
17 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
9 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Youth Development
4 grants
Religion
3 grants
Crime & Legal
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202133$183,000$5,000
202230$154,500$5,000
202330$150,400$5,000
202434$157,200$3,750

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. 48% of this one's giving went to organizations in Virginia. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Virginia
$313K
District of Columbia
$110K
Massachusetts
$100K
Maryland
$80K
Pennsylvania
$30K
New York
$8K
Mississippi
$5K

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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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc23 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund21 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc20 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program17 shared recipientsThe Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz15 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust14 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 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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in VirginiaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Harry and Zoe Poole 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: Po Box 545, Fairfax, VA, 22038. 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 20-1360297 · 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.