Virginia · Nonprofit
BLUE RIDGE CENTER
BLUE RIDGE CENTER (Virginia) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,545,001 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($515,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $621k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $402k
What Blue Ridge Center does
Mission
To expand intellectual diversity for university of virginia students. To help students succeed by promoting four core values: viewpoint diversity, open discourse, intellectual humility and empathetic engagement.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2025, brc expanded its programming activities for college students in charlottesville. This included dozens of public speakers and debates, and conducted over a dozen reading groups. Brc has a program of student fellows who play leadership roles in the center's programs.
$245,125 spentof which $2,036 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $245,125.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $430k to $305k (−29%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
98% of BLUE RIDGE CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Stephanie Merrick
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $388k → $265k.
4 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BLUE RIDGE CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BLUE RIDGE CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BLUE RIDGE CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 64% · 2023 53% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
BLUE RIDGE CENTER draws 50% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $692k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BLUE RIDGE CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BLUE RIDGE CENTER
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
47% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLUE RIDGE CENTER: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BLUE RIDGE CENTER?
- BLUE RIDGE CENTER (Virginia) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,545,001 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($515,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLUE RIDGE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $1,545,001 in grants to BLUE RIDGE CENTER, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLUE RIDGE CENTER?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $515,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLUE RIDGE CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Blue Ridge Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 8 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing