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Blue Ridge Energy Members Foundation

Provide assistance for electric and heating utility bills and financial support for nonprofit community organizations that meet educational, healthcare, economic, and community development needs.

$200k
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$23k
Largest
01What you fund
0178% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY20172024.

Health$270kHuman Services$205kPublic Safety & Disaster$81kPhilanthropy$63kEnvironment$57kEducation$54kCommunity Improvement$44kFood & Nutrition$32kArts & Culture$20kOther$226k
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 18 grants below total $185,000 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $200,000 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $15,000 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k9 grants · $70k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $115k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$139k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASHE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$22,500
WESTERN YOUTH NETWORK$15,000
CALDWELL MEM HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$12,500
TOWN OF HUDSON$12,500
AMOREM$12,500
ALLEGHANY COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD$10,000
POND MOUNTAIN FIRE AND RESCUE$10,000
SHELTER HOME OF CADWELL COUNTY$10,000
THE MITFORD MUSEUM$10,000
BLUE RIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL DAY$8,500
ASHE COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD$8,500
THE WIG BANK OF CALDWELL COUNTY$8,000
OASIS INC$7,500
SHOES FOR KIDS$7,500
MOUNTAIN TRUE$7,500
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $205k) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%WESTERN YOUTH NETWORK: $25k → 21%WESTERN YOUTH NETWORK: $15k → 21%Ashe Services For Aging: $10k → 14%SHOES FOR KIDS: $10k → 14%AMOREM: $13k → 21%Shoes for Kids: $10k → 14%AMOREM: $13k → 21%BLUE RIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL DAY: $10k → 16%SHOES FOR KIDS: $8k → 14%AMOREM: $25k → 16%HIGH COUNTRY CAREGIVER FOUNDATION: $10k → 21%BLUE RIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL DAY: $9k → 16%OASIS INC: $8k → 21%BLUE RIDGE OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION: $5k → 16%CALDWELL CO YOKEFELLOW INC: $13k → 16%CALDWELL CO YOKEFELLOW INC: $9k → 16%THE WIG BANK OF CALDWELL COUNTY: $8k → 16%Caldwell Opportunities Inc: $7k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$647k · 17 repeat orgs$403k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +49% since the first grant, against +47% for the ones you funded once.

17 repeat relationships — 12 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
26

Total granted

$647k
$352k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+47%

Still filing today

82%
92%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $51k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHealthPublic Safety & DisasterEnvironmentEducationFood & NutritionOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • AM
    ASHE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $85k · revenue +51%
  • CM
    CALDWELL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $50k · revenue +69%
  • TW
    The Western Youth Network Inc
    2× · 2021–2024 · $40k · revenue +206%

Funded once

  • Alleghany County Memorial Hospital Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $80k · revenue +56%
  • PO
    PARTNERSHIP OF ASHEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $30k · revenue +59%
  • PC
    PINEY CREEK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $20k · revenue +54%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Ashford-Northcove Vfd

To provide fire protection to the ashford north cove cmmunity of mcdowell country north carolina

Public Safety & Disaster
2
Caldwell Fire Department Inc

The organization is a local volunteer fire department providing fire and rescue services to residents in their district.

Public Safety & Disaster
3
Western Carolina Rescue Ministries Inc

Provide food, shelter, rehabilitation and christian ministry to the poor and homeless

Housing & Shelter
4
Ashe County Recovery and Restoration

Ashe County Recovery and Restoration was established in October 2024 in response to the devastation in Ashe County, nc that occured as a result of Hurricane Helene.

Public Safety & Disaster
5
Alamance County Rescue Unit Inc

To provide specialty emergency services in a professional manner to the citizens and guests of alamance county, surrounding counties and the state of north carolina.

6
The Crooked Creek Township Vfd

To provide fire protection to the crooked creek community of mcdowell county north carolina

Public Safety & Disaster
7
Casville Volunteer Fire Dept Inc

Volunteer fire protection/1st responders

Public Safety & Disaster
8
Ash-Rand Rescue Squad & Ems Inc

Emergency and resecue services to randalph county, north carolina.

Health
9
Elk River Helping Hands

Elk River Helping Hands Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting in the aftermath of catastrophic events with needs of the people of the High Country of North Carolina, including but not limited to Avery and Watauga…

Human Services
10
Volunteer Avery County & Community Services Inc

Volunteer Avery County finds resources to aid families and individuals that do not qualify for public assistance and fall through the cracks.

Human Services
11
Wnc Health Network Inc

WNC Health Network, Inc supports people and organizations to improve community health and wellbeing across Western North Carolina.

Health
12
Ashe County Transportation Authority

Public transportation services to the general public including the elderly and disabled population

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Alleghany Wellness Center Inc and the most unlike its peers is Life Village Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyRural Community DevelopmentLocal Emergency AssistanceFaith-Based Camps and Retre…Regional Social ServicesCaldwell County Community O…High Country Regional Organ…Blowing Rock Community Orga…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 36 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%5%<5yr15%3%5–10yr20%15%10–20yr15%25%20–35yr15%40%35–55yr14%13%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%5%<5yr15%1%5–10yr20%12%10–20yr15%18%20–35yr15%35%35–55yr14%29%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 5% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 4% lost their exemption, against 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
4%
2/49
the rest of the field
11%
99/901

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

43 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 43 of the 49 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/43
Grantees still filing
34/43
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ASHE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INC — $85,000 · HealthASHE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INCAlleghany County Memorial Hospital Inc — $80,000 · HealthAlleghany County Memorial Hos…CALDWELL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INC — $50,000 · HealthCALDWELL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN…ASHE COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD — $18,500 · HealthASHE COUNTY RESCUE SQUADALLEGHANY WELLNESS CENTER INC — $17,500 · HealthALLEGHANY WELLNESS CENTER INCCALDWELL HALFWAY HOUSE INC — $10,000 · Health+1 more — $8,500 · HealthWILKES COMMUNITY COLLEGE — $83,817 · OtherWILKES COMMUNITY COLLEGETOWN OF HUDSON — $50,000 · OtherTOWN OF HUDSONCALDWELL MEM HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $25,000 · OtherCALDWELL MEM HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONRIVERVIEW COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $22,500 · OtherRIVERVIEW COMMUNITY CENTER INCGREATER LANSING AREA DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE INC — $15,000 · OtherTHE HUNGER AND HEALTH COALITION INC — $13,000 · Other+13 more — $112,000 · Other+13 moreCALDWELL HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE INC DBA AMOREM — $50,000 · Human ServicesCALDWELL HOSPICE AND P…The Western Youth Network Inc — $40,000 · Human ServicesThe Western Youth Netw…SHOES FOR KIDS — $27,500 · Human ServicesSHOES FOR KIDSCaldwell County Yokefellow Inc — $21,500 · Human ServicesCaldwell County Yokefe…BLUE RIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL DAY — $18,500 · Human ServicesBLUE RIDGE DEVELOPMENT…HIGH COUNTRY CAREGIVER FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Human ServicesASHE SERVICES FOR AGING INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE WIG BANK OF CALDWELL COUNTYINC — $8,000 · Human ServicesOPPOSING ABUSE WITH SERVICE INFORMATION & SHELTER — $7,500 · Human ServicesCALDWELL OPPORTUNITIES — $6,870 · Human Services+1 more — $5,322 · Human ServicesPOND MOUNTAIN VOLUNTEER FIRE & RESCUE INC — $31,000 · Public Safety & DisasterPINEY CREEK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT INC — $20,000 · Public Safety & DisasterALLEGHANY COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD INC — $20,000 · Public Safety & DisasterKINGS CREEK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT — $10,000 · Public Safety & DisasterTHE FOUNDATION OF CALDWELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND TECHNICAL INSTITUTE INC — $62,500 · PhilanthropyBLUE RIDGE CONSERVANCY — $24,000 · EnvironmentNew River Conservancy — $15,000 · EnvironmentBLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION — $10,000 · EnvironmentMountainTrue — $7,500 · EnvironmentPARTNERSHIP OF ASHE — $30,000 · EducationALLEGHANY PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN — $15,000 · EducationPATTERSON SCHOOL FOUNDATION INC — $9,000 · Education
Health$269,500Other$321,317Human Services$205,192Public Safety & Disaster$81,000Philanthropy$62,500Environment$56,500Education$54,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetASHE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INC — $85,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAlleghany County Memorial Hospital Inc — $80,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE FOUNDATION OF CALDWELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND TECHNICAL INSTITUTE INC — $62,500 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetCALDWELL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALDWELL HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE INC DBA AMOREM — $50,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetThe Western Youth Network Inc — $40,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetPOND MOUNTAIN VOLUNTEER FIRE & RESCUE INC — $31,000 over 3y, 9.2% of budgetPARTNERSHIP OF ASHE — $30,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetSHOES FOR KIDS — $27,500 over 3y, 17% of budgetBLUE RIDGE CONSERVANCY — $24,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRIVERVIEW COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $22,500 over 2y, 21% of budgetCaldwell County Yokefellow Inc — $21,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetPINEY CREEK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT INC — $20,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetALLEGHANY COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD INC — $20,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetBLUE RIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL DAY — $18,500 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetASHE COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD — $18,500 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetALLEGHANY WELLNESS CENTER INC — $17,500 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetGREATER LANSING AREA DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE INC — $15,000 over 1y, 36% of budgetNew River Conservancy — $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetALLEGHANY PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN — $15,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetTHE HUNGER AND HEALTH COALITION INC — $13,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetHIGH COUNTRY CAREGIVER FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetASHE SERVICES FOR AGING INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA SCULPTURE CENTER INC — $10,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetKINGS CREEK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT — $10,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetCALDWELL HALFWAY HOUSE INC — $10,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetLAUREL SPRINGS VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT INC — $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF NORTHWEST NC INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPATTERSON SCHOOL FOUNDATION INC — $9,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE LENOIR SOUP KITCHEN INC — $8,500 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetALLEGHANY COUNTY GROUP HOMES INC — $8,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE WIG BANK OF CALDWELL COUNTYINC — $8,000 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetMountainTrue — $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFORT DEFIANCE INC — $7,500 over 1y, 12% of budgetOPPOSING ABUSE WITH SERVICE INFORMATION & SHELTER — $7,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSUGAR GROVE DEVELOPMENTAL DAY SCHOOL INC — $7,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S COUNCIL OF WATAUGA COUNTY INC — $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCALDWELL OPPORTUNITIES — $6,870 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetASHE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET INC — $6,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetBLUE RIDGE OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION INC — $5,322 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

North Carolina Community FoundationNC44.9× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: North Carolina Community Foundation · The Cannon Foundation Inc · Bernhardt Furniture Foundation · Stevens Family Foundation Inc · Womens Fund of the Blue Ridge Inc · Broyhill Family Foundation Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Inc · The Little Farm Foundation · The Alfred B and Josette L Glover Foundation · High Country United Way · The Wilson Family Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Blue Ridge Energy Members Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    20report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Blue Ridge Energy Members Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Blue Ridge Energy Members Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 49 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph