GrantmakersVirginia

Blue Sea Philanthropy USA

Leesburg, VA · EIN 47-3541807. Reported 53 grants totalling $1,367,899 to 37 organizations across tax years 2023-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

37organizations funded
$18,253median reported grant
$1,367,899granted, 2023-2024
84%of grantees funded again the next year
21%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Blue Sea Philanthropy USA, by its IRS classification it is an alliance or advocacy organization in philanthropy & grantmaking (NTEE T01).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 37 distinct organizations, with 21% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 84% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 1 year-to-year transition. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $18,253. Half of what it reported fell between $10,523 and $24,803; the smallest was $5,044 and the largest $141,977. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
12 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
28 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
8 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Micah Ecumenical Ministries IncFredericksbrg, VA$283,077222024
Winchester Area Temporary Thermal ShelterWinchester, VA$150,626222024
Miriams House IncLynchburg, VA$101,374222024
Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless IncPortsmouth, VA$71,690222024
New Journey Community Outreach IncReading, PA$63,695222024
Carbondale Warming CenterCarbondale, IL$63,456222024
River Valley Charities IncHudson, WI$43,696112024
House of HopeDanville, VA$42,985222024
Religious Effort to Assist & Care for the Homeless IncHagerstown, MD$41,910222024
Carlisle CaresCarlisle, PA$38,672222024
Lockport Cares IncLockport, NY$36,410222024
Y W C a of Bucks CountyFstrvl Trvose, PA$34,683222024
Agate Housing and Services IncMinneapolis, MN$33,900222024
Pottstown Beacon of HopePottstown, PA$29,581112024
Homewardbound of the Grand ValleyGrand Jct, CO$28,138112024
Shelter of Flint IncFlint, MI$26,716222024
Illinois Valley Public Action to Deliver Shelter - IV PadsLa Salle, IL$24,803112024
Pathway Home of South Central Wisconsin IncBaraboo, WI$24,557112024
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of JolietCrest Hill, IL$23,786112024
Young Womens Christian AssnJamestown, NY$21,535222024
Compass HouseBuffalo, NY$19,004222024
Love Inc of Boone Co IncLebanon, IN$18,253112024
Wayfinders Ohio IncMansfield, OH$17,184222024
Stone City Alliance for Recovery & Hope IncBedford, IN$16,176112024
B the LightBartlesville, OK$14,460112024
One Collective NfpElgin, IL$13,545112024
The Refuge IncGreenwood, IN$12,835112024
Helping Overcome Povertys Existence IncWytheville, VA$11,700112024
Bethlehem Haven of PittsburghPittsburgh, PA$9,732112023
Im-Possible IncDurant, OK$8,864112024
Gathering Place MissionGeorgetown, KY$6,752112024
YWCA of Clinton IowaClinton, IA$6,633112023
Rolla MissionRolla, MO$5,810112024
Central Iowa Shelter & ServicesDes Moines, IA$5,590112023
Gathering TreeSpringfield, MO$5,533112024
South Michigan Food BankBattle Creek, MI$5,494112024
Loaves and Fishes MinistriesLansing, MI$5,044112024

16 of 37 (43%) received money in more than one year over the 2 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 32 of 37 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Housing & Shelter
14 orgs
Human Services
10 orgs
Food & Nutrition
3 orgs
Religion
2 orgs
Education
1 org
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org
International Affairs
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202319$493,992$15,655
202434$873,907$18,640

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

48% of its giving went to organizations in Virginia. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Virginia
$661K
Pennsylvania
$176K
Illinois
$126K
New York
$77K
Wisconsin
$68K
Indiana
$47K
Maryland
$42K
Michigan
$37K

Down to the city

Fredericksbrg, VA
$283K
Winchester, VA
$151K
Lynchburg, VA
$101K
Portsmouth, VA
$72K
Reading, PA
$64K
Carbondale, IL
$63K

Find more funders like Blue Sea Philanthropy USA

We read newly filed IRS returns and email you the grantmakers whose giving matches your state and cause, as they are published. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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 Fund18 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America7 shared recipientsNetwork for Good6 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund6 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $18,253 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Virginia.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Blue Sea Philanthropy USA's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 2 returns (tax years 2023-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 34 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 305 Harrison Street Se 3RD Floor, Leesburg, VA, 20175.

EIN 47-3541807 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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