FundersTennessee

Cole Foundation Robert H & Monica M

Knoxville, TN · EIN 62-6137973. Reported 134 grants totalling $1,416,850 to 39 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,500median grant
$1,416,850granted, 2020-2024
39organizations funded
94%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,860,628assets, 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. Cole Foundation Robert H & Monica M 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 $2,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $5,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $175,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
95 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
10 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
15 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
9 grants
$100,000 and Up
5 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
University of Tennessee Medical CenterKnoxville, TN$736,000552024
Northern Piedmont Community FoundationWarrenton, VA$150,000552024
Wakefield Country Day SchoolFlint Hill, VA$75,000332022
Blue Ridge SchoolSt George, VA$62,500552024
Family ServicesGaithersburg, MD$45,000222021
Smithsonian LibrariesWashington, DC$40,000552024
American Museum of Natural HistoryNew York, NY$35,000442024
Red Wiggler FoundationClarksburg, MD$22,000552024
Four Arts Society of Palm BeachPalm Beach, FL$20,000222024
St Pauls Episcopal ChurchDelray Beach, FL$20,000552024
The Highland SchoolWarrenton, VA$20,000222024
Roots and Wings IncDelray Beach, FL$19,000552024
St James Episcopal ChurchScarborough, ME$18,000552024
US Friends of HoedspruitNew York, NY$13,000442024
American Society Order of St JohnWashington, DC$12,000552024
Preservation Foundation of Palm BeachPalm Beach, FL$11,900332022
Virginia HomeRichmond, VA$11,500552024
Metropolitan Opera AssociationNew York, NY$11,000552024
French Heritage FoundationNew York, NY$10,450552024
American Red Cross Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$10,000112024
NypwcmcNew York, NY$9,000552024
Riverside SchoolNorth Chesterfield, VA$7,500552024
Prouts Neck AssociationScarborough, ME$6,500552024
Scarborough Land TrustScarborough, ME$6,500552024
Old Gray CemeteryKnoxville, TN$5,500552024
Olney HelpOlney, MD$5,000222022
The DoorwaysRichmond, VA$5,000552024
National Sporting Library & MuseumMiddleburg, VA$4,000332024
Children's Hospital FoundationRichmond, VA$3,000222024
Cocker Spaniel Adoption CenterWestminister, MD$3,000222022
NaeycWashington, DC$3,000222022
St James Childrens CenterRichmond, VA$3,000112024
Northstar Academy IncGlen Allen, VA$2,500112024
Central Park ConservancyNew York, NY$2,000222024
Fund for Park AvenueNew York, NY$2,000222024
Knine Rescue IncAshton, MD$2,000112022
Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, NY$2,000222024
Neue Galerie New YorkNew York, NY$2,000222024
Museum of the Shenandoah ValleyWinchester, VA$1,000112020

34 of 39 (87%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 94%, across 4 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 82 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
19 grants
Arts & Culture
17 grants
Human Services
16 grants
Health Care
15 grants
Environment
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants
Animal Welfare
3 grants
Recreation & Sports
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202023$255,500$2,000
202127$286,100$2,500
202226$286,500$2,750
202327$270,250$2,000
202431$318,500$3,000

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. 52% of this one's giving went to organizations in Tennessee. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Tennessee
$742K
Virginia
$345K
New York
$86K
Maryland
$77K
Florida
$71K
District of Columbia
$55K
Maine
$31K
California
$10K

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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 Fund21 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc14 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program8 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust7 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,500. 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 Tennessee.
  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 health care in TennesseeEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in VirginiaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Cole Foundation Robert H & Monica M's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 515 Market Street, Knoxville, TN, 37902. 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 62-6137973 · 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.

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