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Va Foundation for Independent Colleges at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Va Foundation for Independent Colleges

To secure financial support that enables college-bound students to access and graduate from outstanding virginia independent higher education institutions.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$194k
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$16M
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 16 grants below total $2,060,943, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,173,736 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $112,793 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$122,323
Median grant
1
States reached
$45M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VIRGINIA UNION UNIVESITY$193,970
SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY$140,280
VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY$139,570
HOLLINS UNIVERSITY$134,401
RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE$132,085
RANDOLPH COLLEGE$131,819
MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY$124,977
ROANOKE COLLEGE$122,323
MARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY$121,341
BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE$121,153
SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE$121,065
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND$120,746
EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE$119,524
UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG$114,467
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE$112,832
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 74% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE: $182k → 5%MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $157k → 7%ROANOKE COLLEGE: $154k → 8%MARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY: $134k → 8%RANDOLPH COLLEGE: $143k → 8%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $184k → 10%BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $181k → 11%EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE: $178k → 11%WASHINGTON & LEE UNIVERSITY: $144k → 12%LYNCHBURG COLLEGE: $161k → 13%SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $180k → 16%HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE: $141k → 20%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $172k → 22%RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE: $137k → 5%MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $156k → 7%ROANOKE COLLEGE: $141k → 8%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $145k → 10%BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $143k → 11%WASHINGTON & LEE UNIVERSITY: $139k → 12%LYNCHBURG COLLEGE: $141k → 13%SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $154k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $164k → 22%MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $141k → 7%ROANOKE COLLEGE: $141k → 8%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $140k → 10%BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $143k → 11%WASHINGTON & LEE UNIVERSITY: $136k → 12%LYNCHBURG COLLEGE: $139k → 13%SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $140k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $152k → 22%MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $137k → 7%ROANOKE COLLEGE: $136k → 8%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $140k → 10%BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $139k → 11%WASHINGTON & LEE UNIVERSITY: $135k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG: $135k → 13%SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $140k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $152k → 22%MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $136k → 7%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $137k → 10%BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $138k → 11%SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $136k → 16%VIRGINIA UNION UNIVESITY: $194k → 22%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $135k → 10%SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $135k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $145k → 22%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $139k → 22%HOLLINS UNIVERSITY: $134k → 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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$16M · 16 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

16 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
0

Total granted

$16M
$0

Still filing today

94%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +10%
  • VW
    VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +63%
  • SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +39%

Funded once

    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
    Roger Williams University

    At Roger Williams University, students are prepared to be thinkers and doers ready to solve challenging problems with innovative solutions. RWU offers robust offerings of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across eight…

    Education
    2
    Albright College

    As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

    Education
    3
    Lehigh University

    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
    4
    Wilson College

    Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

    Education
    5
    Mcdaniel College Inc

    Mcdaniel college is a diverse student-centered community committed to excellence in the liberal arts & sciences and professional studies with careful mentoring and attention to the individual. mcdaniel changes lives. we challenge students…

    Education
    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
    Wake Forest University

    Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

    Education
    8
    Barton College

    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…

    Education
    9
    President and Trustees of Bates College

    Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

    Education
    10
    Boston Architectural College

    The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

    —
    11
    Goucher College

    Goucher College provides an innovative liberal arts education that prepares students with a broad, humane perspective for a life of inquiry, creativity, and critical and analytical thinking. The College's vision is to become a top-100…

    Education
    12
    Coker University

    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…

    Education
    How this is measured
    The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Virginia Wesleyan University; the most unlike its peers is Sbc Foreign Programs Inc. 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

    16 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.

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

    1
    Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
    0
    Early backer (in before they grew)
    15/16
    Grantees still filing
    12/16
    Grew since first funded

    Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

    UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $1,172,402 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF RICHMONDSHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $1,109,929 · EducationSHENANDOAH UNIVERSITYBRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $1,102,431 · EducationBRIDGEWATER COLLEGERANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE: $1,058,934 · EducationRANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGEUNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG: $1,057,949 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURGEMORY & HENRY UNIVERSITY: $1,045,962 · EducationEMORY & HENRY UNIVERSITYROANOKE COLLEGE: $1,036,036 · EducationROANOKE COLLEGEWashington and Lee University: $1,013,753 · EducationWashington and Lee UniversityRANDOLPH COLLEGE INC: $970,144 · EducationRANDOLPH COLLEGE INCMARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY: $961,290 · EducationMARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITYHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $953,696 · EducationHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATIONHAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE: $951,687 · EducationHAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGEVIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY: $464,785 · EducationVIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $1,115,332 · OtherVIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIV…MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $1,079,587 · OtherMARYMOUNT UNIVERSITYSBC FOREIGN PROGRAMS INC: $928,247 · OtherSBC FOREIGN PROGRAMS I…
    Education$12,898,998Other$3,123,166

    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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $1,172,402 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetVIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $1,115,332 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetSHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY: $1,109,929 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetBRIDGEWATER COLLEGE: $1,102,431 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetMARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $1,079,587 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetRANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE: $1,058,934 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG: $1,057,949 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetEMORY & HENRY UNIVERSITY: $1,045,962 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetROANOKE COLLEGE: $1,036,036 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetWashington and Lee University: $1,013,753 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetRANDOLPH COLLEGE INC: $970,144 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetMARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY: $961,290 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $953,696 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetHAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE: $951,687 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetSBC FOREIGN PROGRAMS INC: $928,247 over 9y, 62% of budgetVIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY: $464,785 over 4y, 0.3% 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 UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND ↗
    • Who funds VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG ↗
    • Who funds EMORY & HENRY UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds ROANOKE COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds Washington and Lee University ↗
    • Who funds RANDOLPH COLLEGE INC ↗
    • Who funds MARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds HOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION ↗
    • Who funds HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds SBC FOREIGN PROGRAMS INC ↗
    • Who funds VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY ↗

    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.

    Lettie Pate Whitehead…National Collegiate A…Charlottesville Area …Tulsa Community Found…Verizon FoundationCharities Aid Foundat…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
    Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation IncGA13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

    Open a dossier: Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc · National Collegiate Athletic Association · Charlottesville Area Community Foundation · Tulsa Community Foundation · Verizon Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Va Foundation for Independent Colleges funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Va Foundation for Independent Colleges. Bigger dots raise more.

    2025
    ’20’21’22’23’24’25
    no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
      no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
      0get no government money at all
      6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
      0rely on government for over half their income
      ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
      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 16 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 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 Va Foundation for Independent Colleges’ 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