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Virginia Early Childhood Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Virginia Early Childhood Foundation

Vecf is the non-partisan steward of virginia's promise for early childhood success.

$80M
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$11M
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$206MCommunity Improvement$309kPhilanthropy$188kHuman Services$174kFood & Nutrition$16k
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 9 grants below total $57,871,813, the rows itemized in this filing. The $80,431,521 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $22,559,708 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.
$5,901,231
Median grant
1
States reached
$17M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THRIVE BIRTH TO FIVE FOUNDATION$10,820,195
UNITED WAY GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE$9,242,198
OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION$8,393,371
EO COMPANIES INC$6,882,365
FAIRFAX COUNTY EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND SERVICES$5,901,231
FIRSTSPARK$4,785,302
FOUNDATION FIRST$4,384,860
CENTER FOR EARLY SUCESS$4,120,838
UNITED WAY OF VIRGINIA'S BLUE RIDGE INC$3,341,453
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 (FY18–25, $7.9M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%THE CAMPAGNA CENTER: $892k → 9%CRAIG COUNTY YOUTH & COMMUNITY SERVICES: $38k → 12%CENTER FOR EARLY SUCESS: $4.1M → 14%SMART BEGINNINGS WESTERN TIDEWATER: $15k → 15%TOTAL ACTION FOR PROGRESS: $130k → 20%THE CAMPAGNA CENTER: $797k → 9%TOTAL ACTION FOR PROGRESS: $115k → 20%THE CAMPAGNA CENTER: $617k → 9%CENTER FOR EARLY SUCESS: $995k → 14%YMCA RICHMOND: $90k → 22%JUST KIDS DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $47k → 14%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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$170M · 31 repeat orgs$9.7M to everyone else

31 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
33

Total granted

$170M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+45%

Still filing today

61%
24%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8.4M 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
Human ServicesEducationPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementHealthFood & NutritionOther
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

  • EC
    EO COMPANIES
    9× · 2017–2025 · $29M · revenue +572% · 98% of their budget
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $27M · revenue +341% · 73% of their budget
  • FI
    FIRSTSPARK INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $16M · revenue +728% · 94% of their budget

Funded once

  • CL
    CREATIVE LEARNERS ACADEMY LLC
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • FL
    FOUNDATION LEARNING ACADEMY & MIDLOTHIAN TURNPIKE
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • TG
    THE GREENHOUSE DAY CARE CENTER INC
    one grant, 2023 · $90k
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 Early Childhood Foundation

Vecf is the non-partisan steward of virginia's promise for early childhood success.

Education
2
West Virginia Association for Young Children

The west virginia association for young children is dedicated to supporting high quality early childhood programs, expanding opportunities for early childhood professionals, and advocating for west virginia' young children. west virginia…

Education
3
Thrive Birth to Five Foundation Dba Thrive Birth to Five

The thrive birth to five (tb5) foundation (the "foundation") has been the early childhood systems building organization in the richmond region since 2007 and was designated ready region central (rrc) by the virginia early childhood…

Education
4
Urban Baby Beginnings dba Ubb

To provide community support, workforce development, and advocacy for birthing and postpartum families.

Human Services
5
Early Years Inc

Early years leads efforts to strengthen accessible and affordable quality early care and education by providing support for families, communities and the workforce. early years 's primary purpose is to provide services, research and…

—
6
Kids First Years

Our mission is to align, strengthen and sustain early childhood systems through collective leadership, equity, and innovation. to ensure every child in the City of Alexandria has a strong start in life.

Human Services
7
North Carolina Partnership for Children Inc

The north carolina partnership for children (ncpc) is the lead organization and backbone of the smart start network, setting statewide vision, policy, and funding priorities. while local partnerships translate the statewide vision into…

Education
8
River Valley Child Development Services Services Inc

To provide quality services and support to children, families, and the early childhood community

Human Services
9
Virginia Ready Initiative
—
10
Onslow County Partnership for Children

When they have challenges, we connect all children and their families to programs and resources that provide opportunities and hope.

Education
11
Elevate Early Education Inc

Our mission is to raise awareness, advocate and create innovative initiatives to give children equitable access to a high-quality education for the first eight years of their lives.

Education
12
Virginia Association for the Education of Young Children

The virginia association for the education of young children serves, supports, and advocates for all who care for and educate young children.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Eo Companies; the most unlike its peers is Obici Healthcare Foundation 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

32 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. 32 of the 69 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.

9
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
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

EO COMPANIES: $28,815,835 · PhilanthropyEO COMPANIESUNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE: $27,364,044 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLETHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $26,643,296 · PhilanthropyTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INCUNITED WAY OF VIRGINIA'S BLUE RIDGE INC: $16,035,541 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF VIRGINIA'S BLUE RIDGE INC+2 more: $2,574,655 · PhilanthropyEASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL: $15,655,914 · OtherEASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SC…FAIRFAX COUNTY EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND SERVICES: $13,784,577 · OtherFAIRFAX COUNTY EARLY CHILDH…JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY: $7,662,601 · OtherJAMES MADISON UNIVERSITYUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL VIRGINIA INC: $4,448,334 · OtherUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL VIRGI…SMART BEGINNINGS GREATER RICHMOND: $3,956,207 · OtherSMART BEGINNINGS GREATER RI…+37 more: $4,194,134 · Other+37 moreFIRSTSPARK INC: $16,062,454 · EducationFIRSTSPARK INCFOUNDATION FIRST: $11,498,291 · EducationFOUNDATION FIRSTOLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $8,393,371 · EducationOLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY R…HENRICO EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $8,002,531 · EducationHENRICO EDUCATION FOUNDAT…FIRST CONNECTIONS FOR EARLY SUCCESS: $2,542,674 · EducationFIRST CONNECTIONS FOR EAR…+3 more: $174,503 · EducationCENTER FOR EARLY SUCCESS: $5,116,082 · Human ServicesTHE CAMPAGNA CENTER INC: $2,306,000 · Human Services+5 more: $433,405 · Human ServicesACT FOR ALEXANDRIA: $765,121 · Community ImprovementHAMPTON ROADS COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM INC: $263,538 · Community ImprovementROOFTOP OF VIRGINIA CAP: $45,520 · Community ImprovementTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $40,000 · Community ImprovementOBICI HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC: $141,562 · HealthFOODBANK OF SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA: $16,145 · Food & Nutrition
Philanthropy$101,433,371Other$49,701,767Education$46,673,824Human Services$7,855,487Community Improvement$1,114,179Health$141,562Food & Nutrition$16,145

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 budgetEO COMPANIES: $28,815,835 over 9y, 98% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE: $27,364,044 over 9y, 73% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $26,643,296 over 3y, 11% of budgetFIRSTSPARK INC: $16,062,454 over 9y, 94% of budgetUNITED WAY OF VIRGINIA'S BLUE RIDGE INC: $16,035,541 over 9y, 61% of budgetFOUNDATION FIRST: $11,498,291 over 9y, 89% of budgetOLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $8,393,371 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetHENRICO EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $8,002,531 over 4y, 40% of budgetCENTER FOR EARLY SUCCESS: $5,116,082 over 2y, 76% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL VIRGINIA INC: $4,448,334 over 7y, 44% of budgetFIRST CONNECTIONS FOR EARLY SUCCESS: $2,542,674 over 7y, 80% of budgetUNITED WAY OF DANVILLE-PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY: $2,386,496 over 6y, 20% of budgetTHE CAMPAGNA CENTER INC: $2,306,000 over 3y, 4.7% of budgetACT FOR ALEXANDRIA: $765,121 over 4y, 4.4% of budgetUNITED WAY OF HENRY COUNTY & MARTINSVILLE: $484,977 over 6y, 11% of budgetHAMPTON ROADS COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM INC: $263,538 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTOTAL ACTION AGAINST POVERTY IN THE ROANOKE VALLEY: $244,425 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetVIRGINIA CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL NETWORK: $241,216 over 3y, 5.4% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY INC: $212,801 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetUnited Way of South Hampton Roads: $188,159 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF STAUNTON AUGUSTA COUNTY & WAYNESBORO INC: $155,685 over 2y, 19% of budgetOBICI HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC: $141,562 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetPrince William County Public Schools Education Fou: $135,003 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetYWCA RICHMOND: $90,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetJUST KIDS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC: $46,980 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetROOFTOP OF VIRGINIA CAP: $45,520 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCRAIG COUNTY YOUTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES: $37,500 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetVIRGINIA TECH FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOODBANK OF SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA: $16,145 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEarly Childhood Western Tidewater: $14,500 over 1y, 9.9% 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 EO COMPANIES ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE ↗
  • Who funds THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds FIRSTSPARK INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF VIRGINIA'S BLUE RIDGE INC ↗
  • Who funds FOUNDATION FIRST ↗
  • Who funds OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HENRICO EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR EARLY SUCCESS ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL VIRGINIA INC ↗
  • Who funds FIRST CONNECTIONS FOR EARLY SUCCESS ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF DANVILLE-PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds THE CAMPAGNA CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds ACT FOR ALEXANDRIA ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF HENRY COUNTY & MARTINSVILLE ↗
  • Who funds HAMPTON ROADS COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds TOTAL ACTION AGAINST POVERTY IN THE ROANOKE VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds VIRGINIA CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY INC ↗
  • Who funds United Way of South Hampton Roads ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF STAUNTON AUGUSTA COUNTY & WAYNESBORO INC ↗
  • Who funds OBICI HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Prince William County Public Schools Education Fou ↗
  • Who funds YWCA RICHMOND ↗

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.

The Virginia Foundati…Sentara HealthVirginia Community Ac…The Community Foundat…Dominion Energy Chari…Early Impact VirginiaUnited Way of Virgini…Truist Foundation IncObici Healthcare Foun…Community Foundation …United Way of South H…Virginia Nonprofit Ho…
The Virginia Foundation for Community College Education IncVA26.2× affinity10 shared granteesties to 6 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Virginia Foundation for Community College Education Inc · Sentara Health · Virginia Community Action Partnership Inc · The Community Foundation Inc · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Early Impact Virginia · United Way of Virginia's Blue Ridge Inc · Truist Foundation Inc · Obici Healthcare Foundation Inc · Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia · United Way of South Hampton Roads · Virginia Nonprofit Housing Coalition

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 69 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

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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