GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

General Society of Colonial Wars

Washington, DC · EIN 23-6393310. Reported 47 grants totalling $1,097,982 to 32 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

32organizations funded
$10,000median reported grant
$1,097,982granted, 2021-2024
36%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 General Society of Colonial Wars, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A800) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 32 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. 36% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $7,926 and $50,000; the smallest was $5,250 and the largest $75,000. 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
14 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
16 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
12 grants

27 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $678,472 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

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
Detroit Historical SocietyDetroit, MI$230,000442024
New England Historic Genealogical Society IncBoston, MA$150,000332024
St James Goose Creek Chapel of Ease Historical SiteAiken, SC$125,000222024
Jamestown Rediscovery FoundationRichmond, VA$103,000222024
Citadel FoundationCharleston, SC$75,000112024
Fort Ligonier AssociationLigonier, PA$35,000222022
Historic St Marys City Foundation IncSt Marys City, MD$35,000222023
Society of Colonial Wars in LouisianaNew Orleans, LA$25,000112024
Society of Colonial Wars in the State of GaSavannah, GA$25,000112024
Society of Colonial Wars in the State of IllinoisChicago, IL$25,000112022
Society of Colonial Wars in the State of VirginiaHeathsville, VA$25,000112024
American Village Liberty FoundationMontevallo, AL$23,978442024
Old Barracks AssociationTrenton, NJ$21,996222022
National Society of the Colonial Dames of AmericaWashington, DC$19,000222024
Friends of Mount Harmon IncEarleville, MD$17,500112024
New York Historical SocietyNew York, NY$14,046112021
Society of Colonial Wars of DelawareWilmington, DE$13,907112024
Plimoth Patuxet Museums IncPlymouth, MA$13,100222023
Bethesda Union Society of SavannahSavannah, GA$10,000112022
Brick House Ruins PreservationCharleston, SC$10,000112021
College of Charleston FoundationCharleston, SC$10,000112022
Florida Atlantic University Foundation IncBoca Raton, FL$10,000112024
Gunston Hall FoundationMason Neck, VA$10,000112022
Historic Morven IncPrinceton, NJ$10,000112021
Massachusetts Historical SocietyBoston, MA$10,000112022
University of DelawareNewark, DE$10,000112022
The Wayside InnSudbury, MA$8,000112021
Les Amis Du Fort De ChartresPr Du Rocher, IL$7,926112021
Society of the CincinnatiWashington, DC$7,500112023
Historic Annapolis IncAnnapolis, MD$7,000112021
Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the UnionMount Vernon, VA$5,714112021
Fab FoundationBoston, MA$5,315112022

10 of 32 (31%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 27 of 32 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.

Arts & Culture
20 orgs
Education
4 orgs
Human Services
1 org
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org
Science & Technology
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202113$197,210$9,000
202214$259,565$10,000
20237$222,300$18,000
202413$418,907$25,000

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

21% of its giving went to organizations in Michigan. 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.

Michigan
$230K
South Carolina
$220K
Massachusetts
$186K
Virginia
$144K
Maryland
$60K
Pennsylvania
$35K
Georgia
$35K
Illinois
$33K

Down to the city

Detroit, MI
$230K
Boston, MA
$165K
Aiken, SC
$125K
Richmond, VA
$103K
Charleston, SC
$95K
Ligonier, PA
$35K

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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 Fund17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program12 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust11 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc10 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 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 $10,000 -- 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 Michigan.
  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 education in MichiganEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from General Society of Colonial Wars's own Form 990 Schedule I 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: 1015 15TH Street Nw 1000, Washington, DC, 20005.

EIN 23-6393310 · 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.