FundersNorth Carolina

The Kooken Family Foundation

Winstonsalem, NC · EIN 91-1938062. Reported 40 grants totalling $155,800 to 36 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$3,000median grant
$155,800granted, 2021-2024
36organizations funded
7%of grantees funded again the next year
$685,466assets, 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. The Kooken 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.

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 $3,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $6,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $9,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
24 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
16 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
Augsburg Lutheran ChurchWinstonsalem, NC$17,000222024
Piedmont Environmental AllianceWinstonsalem, NC$11,000222024
KaleideumWinstonsalem, NC$8,000222022
The DwellingWinstonsalem, NC$8,000112023
State Employees' Credit Union Family HouseWinstonsalem, NC$6,500112022
Centers for Exceptional ChildrenWinstonsalem, NC$6,000112024
Good StuffWinstonsalem, NC$6,000112024
HopewayCharlotte, NC$6,000112024
Nc Coastal Land TrustWilmington, NC$6,000112024
North Carolina Outward Bound SchoolAsheville, NC$6,000112023
Imprints CaresWinstonsalem, NC$5,000112021
Sawtooth School for the Visual ArtsWinstonsalem, NC$5,000112023
Southern Environmental Law CenterCharlottesville, VA$5,000112022
Winston-Salem Mixxer IncWinstonsalem, NC$5,000112021
Crosby Scholars Community PartnershipWinstonsalem, NC$4,800112023
Doors to DreamsCharleston, SC$4,000112023
Amos CottageWinstonsalem, NC$3,000112022
Arts for LifeAsheville, NC$3,000112022
Center for Reproductive RightsNew York, NY$3,000112022
Community Care Center of Forsyth County IncWinstonsalem, NC$3,000212021
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Planned Parenthood Federation of America IncWashington, DC$3,000112022
Sawtooth School for Visual ArtWinstonsalem, NC$3,000112021
Winston-Salem Street SchoolWinstonsalem, NC$3,000112022
Family ServicesWinstonsalem, NC$2,500112021
Action 4 EquityWinstonsalem, NC$2,000112021
Book HarvestDurham, NC$2,000112021
Cancer Services IncWinstonsalem, NC$2,000112021
Hawaii Community FoundationHonolulu, HI$2,000112023
KidznotesDurham, NC$2,000112021
Nc Partnership for ChildrenRaleigh, NC$2,000112021
Piedmont CraftsmenWinstonsalem, NC$2,000112021
Pivot Ministry IncWinstonsalem, NC$2,000112024
WinghavenCharlotte, NC$2,000112022
Wncw 887 Isothermal Community CollegeSpindale, NC$2,000112021
Musical EmpowermentCarrboro, NC$1,800112021
Winston-Salem Foundation IncWinstonsalem, NC$1,200112021

3 of 36 (8%) 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 7%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. 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 28 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
8 grants
Education
4 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Human Services
4 grants
Environment
2 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
Community Improvement
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202116$38,500$2,000
202210$38,500$3,000
20237$37,800$5,000
20247$41,000$6,000

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. 89% of this one's giving went to organizations in North Carolina. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

North Carolina
$139K
Virginia
$5K
South Carolina
$4K
District of Columbia
$3K
New York
$3K
Hawaii
$2K

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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.

The Winston-Salem Foundation20 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund18 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc14 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsReynolds American Foundation12 shared recipientsDuke Energy Foundation11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,000. 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 North Carolina.
  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 North CarolinaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Kooken Family Foundation'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: 227 W Fifth Street 1, Winstonsalem, NC, 27101. 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 91-1938062 · 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.