Virginia · Nonprofit
BLUE RIDGE LITERACY
BLUE RIDGE LITERACY (Virginia) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $646,905 to it, the largest being Plymale Private Foundation ($165,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $366k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $647k
- Net assets
- $523k
What Blue Ridge Literacy does
Mission
To support adult learners in achieving their life goals through functional literacy skills. Functional literacy refers to the reading, writing, and communication skill-sets that adult literacy learners need to navigate everyday life situations and make long-term plans.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
In 2024, we expanded our esol services by launching in-person and online post-advanced level classes and adding additional in-person, beginner-level courses to meet growing demand at those proficiency levels.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Blue Ridge Literacy serves adult english learners through three main services: english for speakers of other languages (esol) services; english, health, and digital literacy programs; citizenship preparation classes.
$263,360 spent$109,165 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $263,360.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 $353k to $480k (+36%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 35% · 2020 34% · 2022 9% · 2023 3% · 2024 6% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of BLUE RIDGE LITERACY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $22k → $170k.
3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $66k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Carilion Medical Center). These are real filings, and they are not money BLUE RIDGE LITERACY raised.
From the IRS filings of BLUE RIDGE LITERACY’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 LITERACY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
36% 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 LITERACY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 49% · 2019 52% · 2020 52% · 2021 74% · 2022 77% · 2023 41% — 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.
How long its funders stay
44% of BLUE RIDGE LITERACY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
BLUE RIDGE LITERACY draws 80% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $22k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 LITERACY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BLUE RIDGE LITERACY
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLUE RIDGE LITERACY: 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 LITERACY?
- BLUE RIDGE LITERACY (Virginia) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $646,905 to it, the largest being Plymale Private Foundation ($165,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLUE RIDGE LITERACY have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $646,905 in grants to BLUE RIDGE LITERACY, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLUE RIDGE LITERACY?
- Plymale Private Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $165,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLUE RIDGE LITERACY 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 Literacy →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 16 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