Funders › Virginia

Harry and Zoe Poole Foundation

Fairfax, VA · EIN 20-1360297. Reported 158 grants totalling $788,100 to 49 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$788,100granted, 2021-2025
49recipients, as named on its returns
83%of grantees funded again the next year
$111,090assets, 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. Harry and Zoe Poole 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $25,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
65 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
79 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
8 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 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
Massachusetts Inst of TechCambridge, MA$125,000552025
University of Maryland College Park FoundationCollege Park, MD$50,000552025
Doorways for Women and FamiliesArlington, VA$37,500552025
KeenWashington, DC$35,400552025
Medical Mission of Mercy USAFalls Church, VA$25,000552025
So Others Might EatWashington, DC$25,000552025
The Sunshine FoundationFeasterville, PA$25,000552025
United Community MinistriesAlexandria, VA$25,000442024
Safe SpotFairfax, VA$23,000552025
Bright Beginnings IncWashington, DC$22,500552025
Reach Out and Read VirginiaRichmond, VA$22,500442025
Space of Her OwnAlexandria, VA$22,500552025
BritepathsFairfax, VA$20,000442025
Safe ShoresWashington, DC$20,000442025
Good Shepherd Housing & Family Serv IncAlexandria, VA$17,500552025
Greater DC Diaper BankSilver Spring, MD$17,500442024
Bright CenterManassas, VA$15,000332023
Child Resource ConnectUpper Marlboro, MD$15,000332025
Parkmont SchoolWashington, DC$15,000442025
The Child & Family Network CentersAlexandria, VA$15,000442025
Touching HeartHerndon, VA$15,000332024
Volunteer AlexandriaAlexandria, VA$15,000552025
Arlington ThriveArlington, VA$12,500552025
Depaul Community ResourcesRoanoke, VA$12,500552025
Friends of Guest HouseAlexandria, VA$12,500552025
Operation WarmChadds Ford, PA$12,500552025
Navy Safe Harbor FoundationAlexandria, VA$12,000222022
Network for Teaching EntrepreneurshipNew York, NY$10,000442025
Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern VaFairfax, VA$10,000112021
Prince George's Child Resource CenterUpper Marlboro, MD$10,000222022
Volunteer FairfaxFairfax, VA$10,000442025
Seabee Memorial ScholarshipSpringfield, VA$9,000332023
Food for OthersFairfax, VA$7,500222025
House of MercyManassas, VA$7,500332024
Mary's CenterWashingtond, DC$7,500332025
Washington Tennis & Education FoundationWashington, DC$7,500222025
George Mason Universiy Foundation IncFairfax, VA$6,000112021
Falls Church-Mclean Children's CenterFalls Church, VA$5,000112025
Navy Seabee FoundationGulfport, MS$5,000112024
The Napkin NetworkBethesda, MD$5,000222025
The Youth Quest FoundationChantilly, VA$5,000112021
Colonial Williamsburg (folds of Honor)Williamsburg, VA$3,700222025
Alexandria Tutoring ConsortiumAlexandria, VA$2,500112025
Calvary Womens's ServicesWashington, DC$2,500112021
Educate FairfaxFalls Church, VA$2,500112021
Family FuturesSperryville, VA$2,500112021
The Father Mckenna Center IncWashington, DC$2,500112024
The Casey Schulman FoundationFalls Church, VA$1,000112024
Cloverleaf Equine CenterClifton, VA$500112023

37 of 49 (76%) 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 83%, 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 89 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.

Human Services
35 grants
Education
23 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
11 grants
Health Care
6 grants
Youth Development
6 grants
Crime & Legal
4 grants
Religion
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202133$183,000$5,000
202230$154,500$5,000
202330$150,400$5,000
202434$157,200$3,750
202531$143,000$2,500

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

48% 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
$375K
District of Columbia
$138K
Massachusetts
$125K
Maryland
$98K
Pennsylvania
$38K
New York
$10K
Mississippi
$5K

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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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc26 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc25 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund24 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program18 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust17 shared recipientsThe Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz15 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. 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.
  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 groupFoundations funding education in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Harry and Zoe Poole 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 545, Fairfax, VA, 22038. 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 20-1360297 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.