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James a Meador Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

James a Meador Foundation

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.

$472k
Granted FY2025still arriving
25
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Religion$604kHuman Services$566kHealth$395kAnimals$309kFood & Nutrition$280kEducation$240kPublic Safety & Disaster$240kYouth Development$210kOther$0
02FY2025 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $295k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $150k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$9.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FAITH CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS$50,000
HOPE TREE FAMILY SERVICES$50,000
LOVEABLE SERVICES INC$50,000
CARILION CLINIC FOUNDATION - CENTER FOR GRIEF & HEALING$40,000
LAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES$40,000
AGAPE CENTER$40,000
BRADLEY FREE CLINIC$40,000
WEST END CENTER$30,000
Individual grant recipient$30,000
VIRTUAL CENTER FOR VCFS$20,000
BETHLEHEM UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$15,000
MASTERPIECE ALLIANCE$10,000
GREG GELBURD FOUNDATION$10,000
REDWOOD UMC WARMING SHELTER$10,000
AAF OF ROANOKE$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $320k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%AGAPE CENTER: $40k → 8%BRAVEHEART GRIEF MINISTRIES: $20k → 8%LAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: $40k → 8%SML GOOD NEIGHBORS: $30k → 8%SML GOOD NEIGHBORS: $30k → 8%SML GOOD NEIGHBORS: $30k → 8%LAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: $20k → 8%LAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: $20k → 8%BEDFORD RIDE: $40k → 8%LOVEABLE SERVICES INC: $50k → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.8M · 38 repeat orgs$826k to everyone else

38 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 25 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
29

Total granted

$2.8M
$587k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-13%
+21%

Still filing today

50%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 49% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $240k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesAnimalsHealthHousing & ShelterPublic Safety & DisasterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • BF
    BRADLEY FREE CLINIC OF ROANOKE VALLEY INC
    4× · 2019–2025 · $160k · revenue +74%
  • FC
    Faith Christian School Inc
    3× · 2023–2025 · $150k · revenue +17%
  • AA
    Assisi Animal Clinics Of Virginia Inc
    3× · 2021–2023 · $150k · revenue +6%

Funded once

  • EC
    EASTLAKE COMMUNITY CHURCH
    one grant, 2019 · $130k
  • CO
    CHIP OF THE ROANOKE VALLEY
    one grant, 2019 · $60k
  • R
    RENEWANATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +25%
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Eastern Mennonite University

A leader among faith-based universities Eastern Mennonite University emphasizes peace-building creation care experiential learning and intercultural engagement. Founded in 1917 in Harrisonburg Virginia EMU is an educational institution of…

—
2
Regent University

Regent University serves as a center of Christian thought and action to provide excellent education through a Biblical perspective and global context equipping Christian leaders to change the world.

—
3
Bridgewater College

Bridgewater college educates the whole person by providing a challenging and supportive learning community that fosters the growth of its students and empowers and motivates them to live educated, intelligent, healthy, purposeful and…

Education
4
Roberts Wesleyan University

As new york's leading university for character education, rwu is a community of learners committed to historic christianity which seeks to prepare thoughtful, spiritually mature, service-oriented people who will transform society.

Education
5
Virginia Wesleyan University

Virginia wesleyan university is a fully accredited liberal arts, united-methodist related institution founded in 1961.

—
6
Franklin University

Since 1902, Franklin University has been a pioneer in meeting the needs of adult students who have the ambition to continue their education in combination with other responsibilities, receiving its status as a tax exempt organization in…

—
7
Greensboro College

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Education
8
Washington University of Virginia

Provides seminary, under-graduate, graduate, doctoral, and other continuing education programs

—
9
Georgetown College

Georgetown college is a fully accredited liberal arts institution of higher learning located in georgetown, kentucky. the college is committed to providing opportunities for excellence in higher learning under christian influences so as to…

Education
10
Alice Lloyd College

The mission of alice lloyd college is to educate mountain people for positions of leadership by making an alice lloyd college education accessible to qualified mountain students regardless of their financial situation. the college provides…

Education
11
Geneva College

Geneva college is a christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to god and neighbor.

Education
12
LaGrange College

Education - lagrange college challenges the minds and inspires the souls of its students. founded in 1831 and committed to its relationship with the united methodist church and its wesleyan and liberal arts traditions, the college supports…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Liberty University Inc; the most unlike its peers is Greg Gelburd Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

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

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 38 of the 80 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/38
Grantees still filing
16/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COVENANT FELLOWSHIP CHURCH: $240,000 · OtherCOVENANT FELLOWSHIP CHURCHIndividual grant recipient: $180,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBRADLEY FREE CLINIC OF ROANOKE VALLEY INC: $160,000 · OtherBRADLEY FREE CLINIC OF ROANOKE VALLEY INCVIRGINIA BAPTIST CHILDREN'S HOME AND FAMILY SERVICES: $157,000 · OtherVIRGINIA BAPTIST CHILDREN'S HOME AND FAMILY SERVICESROANOKE RESCUE MISSION: $152,000 · OtherROANOKE RESCUE MISSIONEASTLAKE COMMUNITY CHURCH: $130,000 · OtherEASTLAKE COMMUNITY CHURCHAPPLE RIDGE FARM INC: $100,000 · OtherRICHFIELD LIVING PROFESSIONAL CENTER: $100,000 · OtherFaith Network of Franklin County: $100,000 · OtherADULT CARE CENTER: $90,000 · OtherRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE: $80,000 · OtherSTRAIGHT STREET ROANOKE VALLEY INC: $120,000 · Other+40 more: $649,200 · Other+40 moreSML GOOD NEIGHBORS INC: $90,000 · Human ServicesSML GOOD …LAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES INC: $80,000 · Human ServicesLAKE CHRI…LOVABLE SERVICES INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesLOVABLE S…AGAPE CENTER CORPORATION INC: $40,000 · Human ServicesAGAPE CEN…CENTRAL VIRGINIA ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY LIVING INC: $40,000 · Human ServicesCENTRAL V…BRAVEHEART GRIEF MINISTRIES INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesBRAVEHEAR…Faith Christian School Inc: $150,000 · EducationFaith Chr…RENEWANATION: $50,000 · EducationRENEWANAT…West End Center Inc: $30,000 · EducationWest End …LIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC: $15,000 · EducationFERRUM COLLEGE: $10,000 · Education+9 more: $35,000 · Education+9 moreGOOD SAMARITAN HOSPICE INC: $150,000 · HealthHOPE TO WALK INC: $90,000 · HealthMASTERPIECE ALLIANCE: $10,000 · HealthMONETA VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $240,000 · Public Safety & DisasterAssisi Animal Clinics Of Virginia Inc: $150,000 · AnimalsALL-AMERICAN MUTT RESCUE INC: $6,000 · Animals+1 more: $1,000 · AnimalsSalem Area Ecumenical Ministries: $120,000 · Religion
Other$2,258,200Human Services$320,000Education$290,000Health$250,000Public Safety & Disaster$240,000Animals$157,000Religion$120,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMONETA VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $240,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetBRADLEY FREE CLINIC OF ROANOKE VALLEY INC: $160,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetVIRGINIA BAPTIST CHILDREN'S HOME AND FAMILY SERVICES: $157,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetFaith Christian School Inc: $150,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetGOOD SAMARITAN HOSPICE INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetAssisi Animal Clinics Of Virginia Inc: $150,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetSalem Area Ecumenical Ministries: $120,000 over 3y, 30% of budgetSTRAIGHT STREET ROANOKE VALLEY INC: $120,000 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetAPPLE RIDGE FARM INC: $100,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetFaith Network of Franklin County: $100,000 over 2y, 35% of budgetSML GOOD NEIGHBORS INC: $90,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetHOPE TO WALK INC: $90,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetLAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES INC: $80,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetRENEWANATION: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetAGAPE CENTER CORPORATION INC: $40,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCENTRAL VIRGINIA ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY LIVING INC: $40,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetWest End Center Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetMIRIAM'S HOUSE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetLIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC: $15,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMASTERPIECE ALLIANCE: $10,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetAAF of Roanoke Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetFERRUM COLLEGE: $10,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetEMORY & HENRY UNIVERSITY: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALTA MONS INC: $7,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetALL-AMERICAN MUTT RESCUE INC: $6,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetROANOKE COLLEGE: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRoanoke Area Ministries: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetAVERETT UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLUMBIA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWashington and Lee University: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRANDOLPH COLLEGE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROANOKE VALLEY SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

  • Who funds MONETA VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT ↗
  • Who funds BRADLEY FREE CLINIC OF ROANOKE VALLEY INC ↗
  • Who funds VIRGINIA BAPTIST CHILDREN'S HOME AND FAMILY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds Faith Christian School Inc ↗
  • Who funds GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPICE INC ↗
  • Who funds Assisi Animal Clinics Of Virginia Inc ↗
  • Who funds Salem Area Ecumenical Ministries ↗
  • Who funds STRAIGHT STREET ROANOKE VALLEY INC ↗
  • Who funds APPLE RIDGE FARM INC ↗
  • Who funds Faith Network of Franklin County ↗
  • Who funds SML GOOD NEIGHBORS INC ↗
  • Who funds HOPE TO WALK INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES INC ↗
  • Who funds RENEWANATION ↗
  • Who funds LOVABLE SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds AGAPE CENTER CORPORATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL VIRGINIA ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY LIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds West End Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds MIRIAM'S HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds BRAVEHEART GRIEF MINISTRIES INC ↗

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.

Community Foundation …Robertson Family Foun…Edgar a Thurman Fdn C…Investco FoundationPowell Charitable Fou…Mw Armistead III Fami…The Newbern FoundationCartledge Charitable …United Way of Virgini…Foster FoundationSmith Mountain Lake C…Cp & Mg Lunsford Tuw
Community Foundation Serving Western VirginiaVA38.5× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia · Robertson Family Foundation Inc · Edgar a Thurman Fdn Children Nect · Investco Foundation · Powell Charitable Foundation · Mw Armistead III Family Foundation · The Newbern Foundation · Cartledge Charitable Foundation Inc · United Way of Virginia's Blue Ridge Inc · Foster Foundation · Smith Mountain Lake Charity Home Tour Inc · Cp & Mg Lunsford Tuw

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization James a Meador Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from James a Meador Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to James a Meador Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to James a Meador 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 80 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on James a Meador’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home