Virginia · Nonprofit
THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION
THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 135 organizations whose IRS filings report $38,420,062 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($9,018,852). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 135
- Grants received
- $38M
- Net assets
- $41M
What Third Option Foundation does
Mission
The purpose of the foundation is to provide support to the families of government employees who have died or been seriously injured in the service of their country but whose employment status prohibits them from seeking assistance from normal governmental sources.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Medical program: provide support for physical and cognitive health assessment and treatment for officers and their families, as well as family resiliency retreats for families of deploying officers and survivors of fallen officers.
$3,803,864 spentof which $2,536,317 as grants75% of program spendingTransition support: provide support to officers and their family members as officers end their current employment. Provides continued access to the medical and family resiliency & behavioral health programs. Facilitates contact with financial advisory assistance, professional coaching, networking, and certification programs, and participation in legacy events.
$361,590 spent7% of program spendingSurvivorship: provide immediate financial and logistical support during the repatriation of a fallen operator, annual camps and support for surviving children, academic support and college preparation service for children, emergency home maintenance and home support, and grief and financial counseling.
$897,381 spentof which $1,051,112 as grants18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,062,835.
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 2017 to 2018, from $3.4M to $13M (+277%).
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.
92% of THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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
Steven T Cashen
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 50 funders, grant income rose $660k → $5.6M.
35 of 135 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 135 funders by total. 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
THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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
65% 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 THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 61% · 2019 57% · 2020 52% · 2021 30% · 2022 29% · 2023 40% — growing more concentrated.
“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
36% of THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
59% of THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $16M that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 20 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,289 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,289 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION
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
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 13 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: 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 THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION?
- THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 135 organizations whose IRS filings report $38,420,062 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($9,018,852). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 135 organizations giving $38,420,062 in grants to THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION, 70 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $9,018,852 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION 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 Third Option →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 135 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing