Funders › Virginia

Douglas & Marianne Dickerson Foundation

Virginia Beach, VA · EIN 20-1577084. Reported 157 grants totalling $1,024,500 to 48 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,500median grant
$1,024,500granted, 2021-2025
48recipients, as named on its returns
86%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,079,923assets, 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. Douglas & Marianne Dickerson Foundation 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 $1,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $118,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
12 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
101 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
31 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants
$100,000 and Up
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
United WayNorfolk, VA$501,500552025
Access College FoundationNorfolk, VA$58,000552025
An Achievable DreamNewport News, VA$50,000552025
Youth With a MissionRichmond, VA$32,500552025
St Mary Home for Disabled ChildrenNorfolk, VA$26,000552025
Hospice House of Hampton RoadsVirginia Beach, VA$25,000112022
Imperial Valley Food PantryEl Centro, CA$25,000552025
Vanguard LandingVirginia Beach, VA$25,000112021
Equi-KidsVirginia Beach, VA$23,000552025
Chesapeake Bay FoundationNorfolk, VA$19,000552025
San Diego Food BankSan Diego, CA$15,000552025
Foodbank of the RockiesDenver, CO$14,500552025
Project Angel HeartDenver, CO$14,500552025
Children's Hospital of the King's DaughtersNorfolk, VA$14,000442025
Tunnel to TowersStaten Island, NY$14,000222025
Catalyst SportsAtlanta, GA$13,500552025
Samaritan's PurseBoone, NC$12,000222025
Ronald Mcdonald House CharitiesOak Brook, IL$9,000552025
4CS Food PantryHampstead, NC$8,500332025
Hope Leadership AcademyKansas City, MO$8,500442025
Backpack BeginningsGreensboro, NC$7,500332023
Focus Points Family Resource CenterDenver, CO$7,500332023
Invest in KidsDenver, CO$7,500332023
Out of the Garden ProjectGreensboro, NC$7,500332023
Operation SmileVirginia Beach, VA$7,000552025
All Seated in a BarnBakersfield, CA$6,500332023
Warrior Foundation Freedom StationSan Diego, CA$6,500332023
Easter SealsSalem, VA$6,000552025
Nourish NcWilmington, NC$5,500222025
Chrysler Museum of ArtNorfolk, VA$5,000552025
Montreat CollegeMontreat, NC$5,000552025
Norfolk AcademyNorfolk, VA$5,000552025
Our Saviour Lutheran ChurchVirginia Beach, VA$5,000112021
Helen Woodward Animal CenterRancho Santa Fe, CA$4,000222025
Old Dominion UniversityNorfolk, VA$3,500552025
Share the TableHampstead, NC$3,500222024
St Bonaventure Indian Mission SchoolThoreau, NM$2,500552025
Virginia Aquarium FoundationVirginia Beach, VA$2,500332023
Convoy of HopeSpringfield, MO$2,000112025
Denver Dream CenterDenver, CO$2,000112024
Groundwork DenverDenver, CO$2,000112024
GrowhausDenver, CO$2,000112024
Regional Air Quality ControlDenver, CO$2,000112024
Salvation Army CaliforniaCarson, CA$2,000112021
Seal Family FoundationCarlsbad, CA$2,000112021
UncagedAtlanta, GA$2,000112023
Friends of First LandingVirginia Beach, VA$1,500332023
Friends of First Landing State ParkVirginia Beach, VA$1,000112025

36 of 48 (75%) 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 86%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

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 activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 90 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Education
21 grants
Food & Nutrition
17 grants
Human Services
10 grants
Youth Development
8 grants
International Affairs
7 grants
Community Improvement
6 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Recreation & Sports
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202132$234,000$2,750
202231$224,000$2,500
202334$159,500$2,000
202431$183,500$2,000
202529$223,500$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

79% of its giving went to organizations in Virginia. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Virginia
$810K
California
$61K
Colorado
$52K
North Carolina
$50K
Georgia
$16K
New York
$14K
Missouri
$10K
Illinois
$9K

Get funders for your state and cause by email

We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.

Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.

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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund24 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc22 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc19 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust11 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,500. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  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

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Douglas & Marianne Dickerson Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 1204 Kamichi Court, Virginia Beach, VA, 23451. 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 20-1577084 · 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.

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