FundersVirginia

Bernau Family Foundation Inc

Hardy, VA · EIN 22-3382599. Reported 66 grants totalling $506,000 to 22 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$6,250median grant
$506,000granted, 2021-2024
22organizations funded
87%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,748,954assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Bernau Family Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $6,250. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $20,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
3 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
32 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
31 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Alice Lloyd CollegePippa Passes, KY$55,000442024
Neighboring MovementWichita, KS$45,000442024
Hope to WalkBlacksburg, VA$40,000442024
Legacy MinistriesWichita, KS$35,000442024
The Family Foundation of VaRichmond, VA$35,000442024
Community School the ArtsKnoxsville, TN$32,500442024
New Human Research and Development InstituteChicago, IL$30,000332024
Noah Webster Educational FoundationBedford, VA$30,000442024
RenewanationRoanoke, VA$30,000442024
Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the ServicesMonument, CO$30,000332024
Center of Enriched LivingRiverwoods, IL$25,000442024
Brook Hill FarmForest, VA$20,000442024
Hillsdale CollegeHillsdale, MI$20,000332024
Campfire First TexasFort Worth, TX$17,500332024
NourishedCedar Rapids, IA$15,000332023
Smith Mountain Lake Christian AcademyWirtz, VA$15,000332023
Eastern Appalachian Teen ChallengeRoanoke, VA$10,000222024
Parker County Center of HopeWeatherford, TX$10,000222024
Freedom Works FoundationWashington, DC$5,000112023
You CanOkemah, OK$2,500112024
You Can'tOkemah, OK$2,500112023
SycamoreLexington, KY$1,000112024

18 of 22 (82%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 87%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 24 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
10 grants
Animal Welfare
4 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Religion
4 grants
Human Services
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202115$90,000$5,000
202216$132,500$6,250
202317$145,000$10,000
202418$138,500$10,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 36% of this one's giving went to organizations in Virginia. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Virginia
$180K
Kansas
$80K
Kentucky
$56K
Illinois
$55K
Tennessee
$32K
Colorado
$30K
Texas
$28K
Michigan
$20K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America3 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc3 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust3 shared recipientsRaymond James Charitable Endowment Fund2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $6,250. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Virginia.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in VirginiaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Bernau Family Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 916, Hardy, VA, 24101. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 22-3382599 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.