· Private foundation
The Ceres Foundation Inc
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k22 grants · $107k
- $10k–50k17 grants · $255k
- $50k–250k6 grants · $685k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Nature Conservancy of SC | $200,000 |
| Gibbes Museum of Art | $185,000 |
| Nuvance Health Network | $100,000 |
| Community School | $100,000 |
| Hotchkiss School | $50,000 |
| Nemours Wildlife Foundation | $50,000 |
| GrowFood Carolina | $35,000 |
| Blue Ridge Literacy | $30,000 |
| FARE | $25,000 |
| Roanoke Symphony Orchestra | $25,000 |
| Science Museum of Western VA | $15,000 |
| St Francis Service Dogs | $15,000 |
| Grace House of Brunswick | $10,000 |
| Friends of Caroline Hospice | $10,000 |
| Davis Love III Foundation | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $310k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 30% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.
103 repeat relationships: 44 still active in FY2025, 59 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LCLacuna Corporation4× · 2017–2021 · $730k · revenue +227% · 97% of their budget
- OSOPEN SPACE INSTITUTE INC5× · 2019–2023 · $580k · revenue +134%
- LLLOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INC7× · 2017–2024 · $491k · revenue +125%
Funded once
- FEFOOD EQUALITY INITIATIVE INCone grant, 2021 · $60k · revenue -79%
- NCNature Conservancy in Virginiaone grant, 2023 · $50k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2018 · $50k
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.
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.
The mission is to bring compassion to health care and to be good to those in need, especially those who are poor and dying. as a system of caregivers, we commit ourselves to help bring people and communities to health and wholeness.
To deliver important healthcare services with exceptional quality and patient-centered care.
To provide investment and investment management and related services to the rector and the board of visitors of virginia commonwealth university (vcu), and/or to the private and independent foundations and other entities affiliated with…
The mission of ccwv is to help our communities live the healthiest lives possible by meeting their immediate and long-term healthcare needs. this mission is accomplished by providing high quality, accessible, comprehensive, culturally…
To provide excellence in the delivery of healthcare.
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).
To educate Charleston area residents and visitors about the natural and cultural history of the South Carolina Lowcountry through collections, exhibitions, preservation, conservation, research and related programming.
To cultivate and develop an expansive collection of trees, gardens, and plants for all to explore, enjoy and study; and to provide through education and stewardship, a greener, healthier, more beautiful environment.
Trade association for electric cooperatives
The mission of the atlantic coast conservancy is to provide 21st century solutions and sound scientific applications for conservation of critical natural resources in the face of a changing climate, focusing on the southeasthern united…
The organization's mission is to sustain a vibrant, healthy and strong community through affordable, culturally competent, quality primary health care.
Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…
How this is measured
110 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. 110 of the 186 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Lacuna Corporation ↗
- Who funds OPEN SPACE INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds LOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INC ↗
- Who funds CAROLINA ART ASSOCIATION DBA GIBBES MUSEUM OF ART ↗
- Who funds Charleston Library Society ↗
- Who funds TAUBMAN MUSEUM OF ART ↗
- Who funds OPERA ROANOKE ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds SCIENCE MUSEUM OF WESTERN VIRGINIA ↗
- Who funds BLUE RIDGE LITERACY ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF CAROLINE HOSPICE OF BEAU ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC ↗
- Who funds The Preservation Society of Charleston Inc ↗
- Who funds RUMSEY HALL SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds HOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds Boys Farm Inc ↗
- Who funds CHILD HEALTH INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP DBA CHIP OF ROANOKE VALLEY ↗
- Who funds SIMPLY SMILES INC ↗
- Who funds South Carolina Coastal Conservation League Inc ↗
- Who funds SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds FOOD EQUALITY INITIATIVE INC ↗
- Who funds ROANOKE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ↗
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: Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia · Cartledge Charitable Foundation Inc · Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina Inc · The Beirne Carter Foundation · Carilion Medical Center · Edgar a Thurman Fdn Children Nect · Robertson Family Foundation Inc · The Joanna Foundation · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · Sam & Marion Golden Helping Hand Foundation · Evelyn F James Foundation · The Newbern Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Ceres Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ceres Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Ceres’ filings →