Virginia · Private foundation
Challenge Fund
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $256k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 13
- Grants FY2025
- 18
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 50%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $20,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $40,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 18
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 8
- Total assets, FY2025
- $4.8M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 50% of the organizations Challenge Fund funded were first-time grantees, receiving 45% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 55% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $115k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 13 | $256k | 62% |
| FY2024 | 18 | $255k | 50% |
| FY2023 | 11 | $263k | 45% |
| FY2022 | 16 | $290k | 25% |
| FY2021 | 15 | $255k | 53% |
| FY2020 | 11 | $241k | 36% |
| FY2019 | 13 | $187k | 31% |
| FY2018 | 14 | $298k | 57% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainforest Trust | $155,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Foodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc | $115,500 | 6 | 0% |
| Earthjustice | $86,575 | 4 | 0% |
| Equal Justice Initiative | $86,500 | 4 | 0% |
| Food Bank of Central & Eastern Nc Inc | $74,500 | 6 | 0% |
| Direct Relief | $70,500 | 3 | 0% |
| Hope Renovations Spencer | $60,000 | 5 | 3% |
| William J Brennan Center for Justice Inc | $45,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Environmental Defense Center | $45,000 | 3 | 1% |
| The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Foundation Inc | $40,000 | 1 | 0% |
Show all 78 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 8 recipients with no EIN on record ($725k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Challenge Fund supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Grace Jones Richardson Testamentary Trust C/O Piedmont Trust Co · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · United Way of the Greater Triangle Inc · North Carolina Community Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · Charlottesville Area Community Foundation · Caplin Foundation · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · Strowd Roses Inc · The Genan Foundation · Fm Kirby Foundation Inc
How this is measured
About Challenge Fund
- How much does Challenge Fund give?
- Challenge Fund reported 13 grants totaling $255,750 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 18 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Challenge Fund fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (29%), Environment (17%), Food & Nutrition (10%).
- Who are Challenge Fund's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Rainforest Trust ($155k), Foodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc ($116k), Earthjustice ($87k).
- Does Challenge Fund fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Challenge Fund accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Challenge Fund?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Grace Jones Richardson Testamentary Trust C/O Piedmont Trust Co, Triangle Community Foundation Inc, United Way of the Greater Triangle Inc.
- Where is Challenge Fund based?
- Challenge Fund is based in VA.
Play a game based on Challenge’s filings →