Samuel L Phillips Family Foundation
Spruce Pine, NC · EIN 56-2225556. Reported 94 grants totalling $3,135,999 to 41 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Samuel L Phillips Family 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $27,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $335,400. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YMCA of Avery County | Linville, NC | $1,000,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Mayland Community College Fnd | Spruce Pine, NC | $362,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Mitchell County Development | Spruce Pine, NC | $335,400 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Appalachian State University | Boone, NC | $272,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Pisgah Legal Services | Asheville, NC | $155,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Penland School of Craft | Bakersville, NC | $137,320 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Duke University | Durham, NC | $132,000 | 6 | 5 | 2025 |
| East Carolina University Medical & Health Sciences Foundation Inc | Greenville, NC | $125,174 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Mitchell County Schools | Bakersville, NC | $108,571 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Buladean Community Center | Bakersville, NC | $62,800 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Mitchell County Animal Rescue | Spruce Pine, NC | $51,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| High Country Youth Ballet Inc | Newland, NC | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maryland Early College High School | Spruce Pine, NC | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Spruce Pine Montessori School Inc | Spruce Pine, NC | $41,375 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Greenlee Primary School | Spruce Pine, NC | $27,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Amy Wellness Foundation | Spruce Pine, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ecu Medical & Health Sciences | Greenville, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mitchell County Historical Society | Bakersville, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Appalachian Therapeutic Riding | Burnsville, NC | $21,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Go Global Inc | Columbia, SC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Special Olympics | Morrisville, NC | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Rural Education Partners | Spruce Pine, NC | $14,259 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Childrens Cancer Partners of the Carolina | Spartanburg, SC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mitchell Community Health Pship | Bakersville, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Strawbridge and Martha Wilson Young Foundation | Burnsville, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mitchell County Safe Place | Spruce Pine, NC | $8,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Mitchell Community Health | Bakersville, NC | $6,600 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Manna Food Bank | Asheville, NC | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| North Carolina Symphony Society Inc | Raleigh, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Shriners Hospitals for Children | Philadelphia, PA | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Mt Zion United Methodist Church | Spruce Pine, NC | $4,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Lily Branch Baptist Church | Bakersville, NC | $4,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Search | Burnsville, NC | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Duke Eye | Durham, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mayo Clinic | Rochester, MN | $2,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Salvation Army | Rancho Palos Verdes, CA | $2,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Toe River Arts Council | Burnsville, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation | Winstonsalem, NC | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Neighbors Feeding Neighbors | Spruce Pine, NC | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS | New York, NY | $1,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Duke Cancer | Durham, NC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
21 of 41 (51%) 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 63%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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.
- YMCA of Avery County
YOUTH AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT - Mayland Community College Fnd
PROJECT COSTS EXCEPT CONSTRUCTION - Penland School of Craft
ESSENTIAL WATER SYSTEM UPGRADES - Pisgah Legal Services
SUSTAINING FREE LEGAL IN MITCHELL CO - Greenlee Primary School
SMART BOARDS TO SUPPORT SMART KIDS - Buladean Community Center
COMMUNITY PLAYGROUND PROJECT
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 51 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | $567,347 | $1,000 |
| 2022 | 22 | $686,781 | $3,750 |
| 2023 | 17 | $641,500 | $5,000 |
| 2024 | 17 | $640,371 | $20,000 |
| 2025 | 17 | $600,000 | $5,000 |
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
99% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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 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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in North Carolina.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Samuel L Phillips Family 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: Po Box 400, Spruce Pine, NC, 28777. 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 56-2225556 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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