GrantmakersVirginia

Virginia Historical Society

Richmond, VA · EIN 54-0419452. Reported 36 grants totalling $1,194,706 to 36 organizations across tax years 2021-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

36organizations funded
$30,000median reported grant
$1,194,706granted, 2021-2023
0%of grantees funded again the next year
6%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Virginia Historical Society, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A800) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 36 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 0% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $30,000. Half of what it reported fell between $20,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $75,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
11 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
13 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
10 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Let Freedom Ring FoundationWilliamsburg, VA$75,000112021
Virginia Nottoway Indian Circle and Square Foundation IncorporatedCapron, VA$75,000112022
Chickahominy Indian Tribe IncProvdence Frg, VA$65,000112021
Rappahannock Tribe FoundationIndian Neck, VA$65,000112021
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center IncRichmond, VA$60,000112023
Greater Reedville Association IncReedville, VA$57,582112022
Afro American Historical Assoc of Fauquier CountyWarrenton, VA$50,000112022
Calfee Community and Cultural Center IncPulaski, VA$50,000112021
Gloucester County ParksGloucester, VA$50,000112023
The Corporation for Jeffersons Poplar ForestForest, VA$50,000112023
Sharon Indian School Foundation IncKing William, VA$44,824112022
Lincoln Preservation FoundationLincoln, VA$40,000112022
National D-Day Memorial Foundation LtdBedford, VA$38,360112022
Jamestown Rediscovery FoundationRichmond, VA$35,000112023
Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia IncLocust Grove, VA$35,000112023
Richmond Hill IncorporatedRichmond, VA$35,000112021
Association for the Preservation of Virginia AntiquitiesRichmond, VA$30,000112023
City of Richmond Public Library FoundationRichmond, VA$30,000112021
Radford Heritage FoundationRadford, VA$30,000112023
Fairfield Foundation TbsWhite Marsh, VA$25,000112021
Manassas Museum AssociatesManassas, VA$25,000112021
Montgomery Museum of Art & HistoryChristiansbrg, VA$25,000112022
The Fluvanna County Historical Society IncPalmyra, VA$25,000112022
The Board of Regents of Gunston Hall IncorporatedMason Neck, VA$20,400112022
Norfolk Historical SocietyNorfolk, VA$20,000112023
Science Museum of Virginia Foundation IncorporatedRichmond, VA$20,000112023
Virginia Tech Foundation IncBlacksburg, VA$20,000112023
HERE2HEAR LLCN Chesterfld, VA$16,000112023
Belle Grove IncMiddletown, VA$14,000112023
Woodland Restoration FoundationRichmond, VA$13,040112022
Ft Harrison IncDayton, VA$12,000112022
Appomattox Regional Governors School BoostersPetersburg, VA$10,000112023
Louisa County Historical SocietyWapello, IA$10,000112021
Prince William Historic Preservation Foundation IncDumfries, VA$10,000112021
Clarke County Historical Association IncBerryville, VA$7,500112021
Orange County Historical Society IncOrange, VA$6,000112023

0 of 36 (0%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 26 of 36 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Arts & Culture
17 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Religion
2 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 orgs
Human Services
1 org
Recreation & Sports
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202111$397,500$30,000
202211$401,206$38,360
202314$396,000$25,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

99% of its giving went to organizations in Virginia. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Virginia
$1.2M
Iowa
$10K

Down to the city

Richmond, VA
$223K
Williamsburg, VA
$75K
Capron, VA
$75K
Provdence Frg, VA
$65K
Indian Neck, VA
$65K
Reedville, VA
$58K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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 Fund12 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc11 shared recipientsDominion Energy Charitable Foundation10 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program10 shared recipientsThe Mary Morton Parsons Foundation6 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $30,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Virginia.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in VirginiaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Virginia Historical Society's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 14 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 7311, Richmond, VA, 23221.

EIN 54-0419452 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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