Skip to content
The Watterson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Watterson Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$350k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$385kEducation$379kFood & Nutrition$292kReligion$287kAnimals$275kHousing & Shelter$124kArts & Culture$47kHuman Services$37kOther$0
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k2 grants · $250k
  • $250k+4 grants · $1.2M
$270,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT$350,000
WEATHERHEAD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT$350,000
CHARLOTTESVILLE ALBEMARLE SPCA$270,000
THE BLUE RIDGE AREA FOOD BANK$250,000
CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH$150,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CHARLOTTESV$100,000
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 (FY17–22, $23k) 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%THE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET: $2k → 8%THE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET: $2k → 8%THE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET: $2k → 8%READY KIDS: $2k → 8%READY KIDS: $1k → 8%THE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET: $1k → 8%READYKIDS: $1k → 8%READY KIDS: $500 → 8%ALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH MINISTRIES: $2k → 8%ALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH MINISTRIES: $2k → 8%MADISON HOUSE: $2k → 8%MADISON HOUSE: $2k → 8%ALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH MINISTRIES: $1k → 8%MADISON HOUSE: $1k → 8%SHELTER FOR HELP IN EMERGENCY: $1k → 8%ALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH MINISTRIES: $1k → 8%MADISON HOUSE: $1k → 8%MADISON HOUSE: $1k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
NY
MA
SD
IA
OH
PA
KY
VA
MD
KS
NC
SC
DC
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.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 44 repeat orgs$808k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +67% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

44 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 41 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

44
63

Total granted

$1.1M
$88k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+67%
+15%

Still filing today

64%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 51% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $720k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthHousing & ShelterEducationInternationalOther
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

  • HO
    HOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT INC
    5× · 2019–2024 · $361k · revenue +20%
  • BR
    BLUE RIDGE AREA FOOD BANK INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $266k · revenue +51%
  • SC
    SENIOR CENTER INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $16k · revenue +62%

Funded once

  • TE
    TUESDAY EVENING CONCERT SERIES INC
    one grant, 2018 · $6k · revenue -6%
  • TE
    THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
  • OL
    OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE at GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2018 · $3k · revenue -6%
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
Vcu Investment Management Company

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…

Education
2
Vcu Health Tappahannock Hospital

To deliver important healthcare services with exceptional quality and patient-centered care.

Health
3
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
4
Community Memorial Hospital

To provide excellence in the delivery of healthcare.

Health
5
Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation

The mission of vt-arc is to extend the impact of the virginia tech research and innovation enterprise, delivering superior analytic and technology solutions to government and non-government customers.

Science & Tech
6
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
7
Transitions Family Violence Services

The mission of transitions family violence services (tfvs) is to build safe and healthy families on the virginia peninsula by providing services to adult and child victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. we work to increase…

—
8
Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia Inc

Home of va ensures equal access to housing opportunities by building individual capacity, ensuring compliance with fair housing laws, and promoting effective public policy to advance housing justice.

Housing & Shelter
9
Virginia Commonwealth University Intellectual Property Foundation

The foundation determines the patentability and obtains patents on virginia commonwealth university (vcu) inventions and markets and licenses such inventions to commerical entities. the foundation's activities promote research efforts at…

Health
10
Virginia Lutheran Homes Inc

Providing life-enriching services that promote well-being and build community.

—
11
Goodwin House Incorporated

The mission of goodwin house incorporated ("ghi") is to support, honor and uplift the lives of older adults and the people who care for them through a faith-based, nonprofit organization affiliated with the episcopal church.

Human Services
12
Virginia Community Action Partnership Inc

Virginia community action partnership (vacap) is the statewide membership association for virginia's thirty-one non-profit and public community action agencies. vacaps mission is to build the capacity and competencies of virginias…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Bridgeline; the most unlike its peers is International Essential Tremor 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

50 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 50 of the 112 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/50
Grantees still filing
38/50
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT INC: $361,000 · OtherHOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT INCWEATHERHEAD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: $350,000 · OtherWEATHERHEAD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENTCHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $278,600 · OtherCHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHBLUE RIDGE AREA FOOD BANK INC: $265,500 · OtherBLUE RIDGE AREA FOOD BANK INCHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CHARLOTTESV: $100,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CHARLOTTESV+83 more: $207,073 · Other+83 moreALBEMARLE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS INC: $270,000 · AnimalsALBEMARLE SOCIET…+1 more: $2,000 · AnimalsTHE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET INC: $6,000 · Human ServicesMadison House: $6,000 · Human ServicesALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH MINISTRIES: $6,000 · Human ServicesREADYKIDS INC: $4,000 · Human ServicesSHELTER FOR HELP IN EMERGENCY INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 · Human ServicesTHE EDITH AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT PINE KNOT FOUNDATION: $5,500 · Arts & CultureLAKEVIEW CEMETERY FOUNDATION: $3,850 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI: $3,550 · Arts & CultureFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $3,000 · Arts & CultureCharlottesville Ballet: $2,200 · Arts & CultureVPM MEDIA CORPORATION: $750 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $500 · Arts & CultureInternational Essential Tremor Foundation: $7,000 · HealthGLIOBLASTOMA FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 · HealthTHE BRIDGELINE: $2,000 · HealthALL BLESSINGS FLOW INC: $2,000 · HealthCHARLOTTESVILLE-ALBEMARLE RESCUE SQUAD: $2,000 · HealthEMERGENCY FOOD NETWORK: $11,000 · Food & NutritionPEOPLE AND CONGREGATIONS ENGAGED IN MINISTRY: $5,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE HAVEN INC: $4,000 · Housing & ShelterALBEMARLE HOUSING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM INC: $1,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$1,562,173Animals$272,000Human Services$24,000Arts & Culture$19,350Health$16,000Food & Nutrition$11,000Housing & Shelter$10,000

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 budgetHOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT INC: $361,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetALBEMARLE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS INC: $270,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetBLUE RIDGE AREA FOOD BANK INC: $265,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetSENIOR CENTER INC: $16,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetEMERGENCY FOOD NETWORK: $11,000 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetTRI-RIVER HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $8,100 over 4y, 17% of budgetInternational Essential Tremor Foundation: $7,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTUESDAY EVENING CONCERT SERIES INC: $6,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET INC: $6,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMadison House: $6,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetTHE EDITH AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT PINE KNOT FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 2y, 13% of budgetTHE MILLER CENTER FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPEOPLE AND CONGREGATIONS ENGAGED IN MINISTRY: $5,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetREADYKIDS INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF CHARLOTTESVILLE- ALBEMARLE: $4,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HAVEN INC: $4,000 over 2y, 48% of budgetTHE BRIDGE MINISTRY INC: $4,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS HOME INC: $3,900 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLAKEVIEW CEMETERY FOUNDATION: $3,850 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI: $3,550 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE at GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: $3,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTransformation Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetGLIOBLASTOMA FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCAMP HOLIDAY TRAILS: $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCharlottesville Ballet: $2,200 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY-SPCA OF NELSON COUNTY: $2,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BRIDGELINE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetALL BLESSINGS FLOW INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHARLOTTESVILLE-ALBEMARLE RESCUE SQUAD: $2,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPIEDMONT CASA INC: $1,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCultivate Charlottesville: $1,200 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY SCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKentucky Chamber Foundation Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD VISION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIVY CREEK FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALBEMARLE HOUSING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVPM MEDIA CORPORATION: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UHURU FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVIRGINIA TECH FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInstitute for Humane Studies: $500 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 HOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT INC ↗
  • Who funds ALBEMARLE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS INC ↗
  • Who funds BLUE RIDGE AREA FOOD BANK INC ↗
  • Who funds SENIOR CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds EMERGENCY FOOD NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds TRI-RIVER HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC ↗
  • Who funds International Essential Tremor Foundation ↗
  • Who funds TUESDAY EVENING CONCERT SERIES INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HAVEN AT FIRST AND MARKET INC ↗
  • Who funds Madison House ↗
  • Who funds ALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds THE EDITH AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT PINE KNOT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE MILLER CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE AND CONGREGATIONS ENGAGED IN MINISTRY ↗
  • Who funds READYKIDS INC ↗
  • Who funds MEALS ON WHEELS OF CHARLOTTESVILLE- ALBEMARLE ↗
  • Who funds THE HAVEN INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BRIDGE MINISTRY INC ↗
  • Who funds BOYS HOME INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKEVIEW CEMETERY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI ↗
  • Who funds FRACTURED ATLAS INC ↗
  • Who funds OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE at GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Transformation Inc ↗
  • Who funds GLIOBLASTOMA FOUNDATION 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.

Charlottesville Area …The Charles Fund IncPerry Foundation IncThe J & E Berkley Fou…The Better Living Fou…S&P Global Foundation…The Oak Hill FundCaplin FoundationManning Family Founda…The Genan FoundationWhitney and Anne Ston…Thomas C & Mary Ann H…
Charlottesville Area Community FoundationVA59.1× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charlottesville Area Community Foundation · The Charles Fund Inc · Perry Foundation Inc · The J & E Berkley Foundation · The Better Living Foundation · S&P Global Foundation Fka the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation · The Oak Hill Fund · Caplin Foundation · Manning Family Foundation · The Genan Foundation · Whitney and Anne Stone Foundation · Thomas C & Mary Ann Hays Fam Char Tr

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    22report 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 112 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Watterson’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