· Private foundation
The Columbus Phipps Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k39 grants · $145k
- $10k–50k20 grants · $423k
- $50k–250k4 grants · $497k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MOUNTAIN EMPIRE COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $193,750 |
| UNIVERSITY OF VA COLLEGE AT WISE | $183,500 |
| LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY | $60,000 |
| APPALACHIAN SCHOOL OF PHARMACY | $60,000 |
| EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY | $44,500 |
| RIDGEVIEW HIGH SCHOOL | $38,650 |
| ANTIGUA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE | $30,000 |
| KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | $30,000 |
| CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY | $30,000 |
| GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING | $29,000 |
| DICKENSON COUNTY VA COOPERATIVE EXT | $27,125 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| LIBERTY UNIVERSITY | $23,000 |
| SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $20,500 |
| DICKENSON COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES | $20,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 21%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 96% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-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 +10% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.
95 repeat relationships: 46 still active in FY2025, 49 since wound down; 16 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, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $142k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LULIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC6× · 2020–2025 · $233k · revenue +44%
- LMLINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY6× · 2020–2025 · $231k · revenue +67%
- BUBLUEFIELD UNIVERSITY6× · 2020–2025 · $61k · revenue +5%
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2020 · $177k
- ASAPPALACHIA SCHOOL OF PHARMACYone grant, 2020 · $40k
- EVEDWARD VIA COLLEGE OFone grant, 2021 · $25k
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 of the University is to inspire independent thinkers who become trustworthy, effective leaders that shape caring communities. The vision of the University of Lynchburg is to cultivate a world that is innovative, authentic, and…
The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…
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…
Coker university is a student-centered, comprehensive university. it is dedicated to providing every student an academic curriculum based upon a uniformly excellent liberal arts core that enhances the structured development of key personal…
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…
Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.
John brown university (jbu) provides christ-centered education that prepares students to honor god and serve others by developing their intellectual, spiritual, and professional lives. (continued on schedule o)jbu serves traditional…
Virginia wesleyan university is a fully accredited liberal arts, united-methodist related institution founded in 1961.
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.
Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.
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.
Union university provides christ-centered education that promotes excellence and character development in service to church and society.
How this is measured
39 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. 39 of the 162 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 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds KING UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds ST MARYS HEALTH WAGON INC ↗
- Who funds BLUEFIELD UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds FERRUM COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Campbellsville University Inc ↗
- Who funds HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE ↗
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: Tua Blankenshipjustice Mem Sch Fnd Xxx-Xx-Xxxx · Council of Independent Colleges · National Collegiate Athletic Association · Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc · Tulsa Community Foundation · The United Company Foundation · East Tennessee Foundation · Ibm International Foundation · Folds of Honor Foundation · Hughes Memorial Home · Wellmont Health System · Thompson Charitable Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Columbus Phipps Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Columbus Phipps Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Columbus Phipps’ filings →