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Petters Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Petters Family 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.

$3.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
29
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$14MArts & Culture$2.6MYouth Development$1.8MPhilanthropy$1.1MHuman Services$909kCivil Rights$80kHealth$44kMembership Benefit$15kOther$0
02FY2025 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+4 grants · $1.9M
$15,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$50M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WILLIAM & MARY FOUNDATION$1,000,000
SOUNDSCAPES$366,990
VIRGINIA LIVING MUSEUM$250,000
US NAVAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION$250,000
SON OF A SAINT$210,000
AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM$205,000
PEAKE CHILDHOOD CENTER$202,500
VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION$200,000
BEARINGS BIKE SHOP$150,000
MARINER'S MUSEUM AND PARK$100,000
JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL$100,000
WHRO$75,000
FIRSTSPARK$20,000
UNITED WAY OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA$20,000
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR NOLA$15,000
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 (FY17–25, $3.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $150k → 13%PEAKE CHILDHOOD CENTER: $235k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $150k → 13%PEAKE CHILDHOOD CENTER: $203k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $130k → 13%PEAKE CHILDHOOD CENTER: $200k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $120k → 13%PEAKE CHILDHOOD CENTER: $35k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $100k → 13%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $31k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $100k → 13%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $30k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $100k → 13%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $30k → 14%BEARINGS BIKE SHOP: $50k → 13%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $30k → 14%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $25k → 14%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $3k → 14%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $3k → 14%THRIVE PENINSULA: $10k → 17%DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $300 → 14%THRIVE PENINSULA: $10k → 17%PENINSULA PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER: $5k → 17%THRIVE PENINSULA: $5k → 17%PENINSULA PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER: $5k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $205k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $205k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $200k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $200k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $100k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $100k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $100k → 17%AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM: $100k → 17%YMCA OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULAS: $5k → 17%YMCA OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULAS: $5k → 17%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.

Which US states its grants reach

NY
CA
VA
MD
LA
MS
GA
FL
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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$20M · 31 repeat orgs$199k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
8

Total granted

$20M
$171k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+1%

Still filing today

81%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyCivil RightsOther
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

  • WM
    William & Mary Foundation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $8.1M · revenue +98%
  • UN
    US NAVAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.1M · revenue +41%
  • TV
    THE VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $1.6M · revenue +74%

Funded once

  • VC
    Virginia Capitol Foundation
    one grant, 2018 · $100k · revenue -77% · 32% of their budget
  • LG
    LET'S GO BOYS AND GIRLS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $50k · revenue +213%
  • KB
    KIPP BELIEVE COLLEGE PREP
    one grant, 2017 · $8k
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
Virginia Learns

Virginia learns brings together business and education leaders with the shared goal of creating a more innovative, relevant and equitable public education system in virginia.

Civil Rights
2
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
3
Virginia Beach City Public Schools Entrepreneurship and Business
Education
4
Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine

The mission of the edward via college of osteopathic medicine (vcom) is to prepare globally-minded, community-focused physicians to meet the needs of rural and medically underserved populations and promote research to improve human health.

Education
5
Virginia Wesleyan University

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

—
6
Virginia Mentoring Partnership

Virginia mentoring partnership provides training and technical assistance to mentors and mentoring programs to increase the quality and quantity of mentoring for virginia's youth. the vision of vmp is that every child who needs a mentor…

Crime & Legal
7
Youth Sailing Virginia Inc

Youth sailing virginia's mission is to teach life skills to high school, middle school youth and their families in the commonwealth of virginia through safe, fun and competitive, recreational and educational community sailing programs with…

Recreation & Sports
8
Vpm Media Corporation

To use the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire, using public television and public radio to make a positive impact on the communities throughout central virginia, charlottesville, the shenandoah valley, the northern neck and…

Arts & Culture
9
New Schools for Virginia

New schools for virginia works with parents, students, educators and the community to improve educational outcomes by designing new schools and by supporting existing schools to improve outcomes.

Education
10
University of Virginia Foundation

To provide administrative services to university of virginia (university) entities, university associated organizations, or other entities involved in activities which support the university. to engage in matters pertaining to real…

Education
11
Henrico Education Foundation Inc

The mission of the henrico education foundation (hef) is to strengthen public education by advancing innovative programs and initiatives designed to improve student achievement.

Education
12
Virginia Peninsula Community College Educational Foundation

The virginia peninsula community college educational foundation is a private,non-profit, tax exempt organization dedicated to advancing and financially supporting educational excellence at virginia peninsula community college. it also…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Us Naval Academy Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Bayport 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

32 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. 32 of the 43 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/32
Grantees still filing
22/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

William & Mary Foundation: $8,080,000 · EducationWilliam & Mary FoundationUS NAVAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC: $2,100,000 · EducationUS NAVAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC+8 more: $456,165 · EducationAN ACHIEVABLE DREAM INC: $1,210,000 · Human ServicesAN ACHIEVABLE DR…BEARINGS BIKE SHOP INC: $900,000 · Human ServicesBEARINGS BIKE SH…DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD CARE COUNCIL INC: $824,400 · Human ServicesDOWNTOWN HAMPTON…+3 more: $45,000 · Human ServicesVIRGINIA LIVING MUSEUM INC: $900,000 · Arts & CultureVIRGINIA LIVI…SOUNDSCAPES INC: $766,703 · Arts & CultureSOUNDSCAPES I…THE MARINERS' MUSEUM: $710,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MARINERS'…HAMPTON ROADS EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $120,000 · Arts & CultureTHE VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INC: $1,650,000 · OtherTHE VIRGINIA …JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL: $700,000 · OtherJESUIT HIGH S…+11 more: $81,725 · OtherUnited Way of the Virginia Peninsula: $1,050,000 · PhilanthropyVirginia Capitol Foundation: $100,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $7,500 · PhilanthropyBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA INC: $510,000 · Youth DevelopmentSON OF A SAINT: $275,000 · Youth DevelopmentLET'S GO BOYS AND GIRLS INC: $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE DEGOOD FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Youth DevelopmentVirginia Center for Inclusive Communities: $80,000 · Civil RightsEDMARC INC: $12,500 · Health
Education$10,636,165Human Services$2,979,400Arts & Culture$2,496,703Other$2,431,725Philanthropy$1,157,500Youth Development$865,000Civil Rights$80,000Health$12,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWilliam & Mary Foundation: $8,080,000 over 9y, 2.5% of budgetUS NAVAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC: $2,100,000 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetTHE VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INC: $1,650,000 over 8y, 6.3% of budgetAN ACHIEVABLE DREAM INC: $1,210,000 over 8y, 23% of budgetUnited Way of the Virginia Peninsula: $1,050,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetVIRGINIA LIVING MUSEUM INC: $900,000 over 6y, 4.8% of budgetBEARINGS BIKE SHOP INC: $900,000 over 8y, 14% of budgetDOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD CARE COUNCIL INC: $824,400 over 9y, 11% of budgetSOUNDSCAPES INC: $766,703 over 7y, 26% of budgetTHE MARINERS' MUSEUM: $710,000 over 7y, 2.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA INC: $510,000 over 7y, 2.6% of budgetSON OF A SAINT: $275,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetTougaloo College: $250,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetHAMPTON ROADS EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $120,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetSAINT LEO UNIVERSITY INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVirginia Capitol Foundation: $100,000 over 1y, 32% of budgetVirginia Center for Inclusive Communities: $80,000 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetLET'S GO BOYS AND GIRLS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 9.2% of budgetFIRSTSPARK INC: $42,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHAMPTON EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $30,675 over 6y, 18% of budgetTHE DEGOOD FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetTHE FAISON CENTER INC: $26,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHRIVE PENINSULA FORMERLY DUCO: $25,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetEDMARC INC: $12,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULAS: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPENINSULA PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetBAYPORT FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetWilliam & Mary Business School Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTailhook Educational Foundation Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNETWORKPENINSULA: $2,500 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetVIRGINIA EARLY CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $490 over 1y, 0.0% 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 William & Mary Foundation ↗
  • Who funds US NAVAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION INC ↗
  • Who funds AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM INC ↗
  • Who funds United Way of the Virginia Peninsula ↗
  • Who funds VIRGINIA LIVING MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds BEARINGS BIKE SHOP INC ↗
  • Who funds DOWNTOWN HAMPTON CHILD CARE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds SOUNDSCAPES INC ↗
  • Who funds THE MARINERS' MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA INC ↗
  • Who funds SON OF A SAINT ↗
  • Who funds Tougaloo College ↗
  • Who funds HAMPTON ROADS EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SAINT LEO UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds Virginia Capitol Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities ↗
  • Who funds LET'S GO BOYS AND GIRLS INC ↗
  • Who funds FIRSTSPARK INC ↗
  • Who funds HAMPTON EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE DEGOOD FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE FAISON CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds THRIVE PENINSULA FORMERLY DUCO ↗
  • Who funds EDMARC INC ↗
  • Who funds YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE VIRGINIA PENINSULAS ↗
  • Who funds PENINSULA PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds BAYPORT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds William & Mary Business School Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Tailhook Educational Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds NETWORKPENINSULA ↗

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.

Dominion Energy Chari…Sentara HealthLangley for Families …Bernardine Franciscan…Peninsula Community F…Townebank FoundationThe Community Foundat…Abbitt Family Foundat…United Way of the Vir…The Mary Morton Parso…Vubay FoundationThe Isabel Duncan Hat…
Dominion Energy Charitable FoundationVA32.2× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Sentara Health · Langley for Families - the Foundation of Lfcu · Bernardine Franciscan Sisters Foundation Inc · Peninsula Community Foundation of Virginia Inc · Townebank Foundation · The Community Foundation Inc · Abbitt Family Foundation · United Way of the Virginia Peninsula · The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation · Vubay Foundation · The Isabel Duncan Hatchett Foundation

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 Petters Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Petters Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Saint Leo University Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.

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 43 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 Petters Family’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