Funders › North Carolina

Smith Family Foundation

Greensboro, NC · EIN 56-6040787. Reported 111 grants totalling $909,166 to 59 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation told the IRS it does not accept unsolicited requests: it contributes only to organizations it selects itself.

Notold the IRS it takes no unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$909,166granted, 2021-2025
59recipients, as named on its returns
57%of grantees funded again the next year
$7,337,603assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

No -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation to check a box if it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds". Smith Family Foundation checked it on its most recent filing, as 78% of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered did. An unsolicited request is unlikely to go anywhere.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement. A foundation can give a different answer on a later return, and this page is rebuilt when one is published. The rest of the page is its giving record: who it chose, and which of those make grants themselves.

Organizations it funds that make grants of their own

3 of the organizations Smith Family Foundation funded make grants themselves, and it reported 11 grants totalling $116,833 to them. That is 20% of the $590,166 of its giving we could match to a registered organization. Each is classified by the IRS as a philanthropy or grantmaking organization, reported grants to at least 25 organizations of its own, and has at least 10 funders behind it.

All of them file Form 990, which never asks whether an organization funds only groups it picks, so there is no answer on record either way.

What that does not mean. It does not mean an application to any of them reaches this foundation's money. A private foundation's grant to a community foundation or a federated campaign is often a donor-advised fund or a gift designated for a purpose the foundation chose, and has nothing to do with any open programme the receiving organization runs. Its return's purpose text sometimes names a family fund or a designated purpose, which is the plainest case of money no applicant can reach; where it names none, neither return says which. The list is who this foundation paid that also makes grants. Whether any of them would fund you is a question for its own page.

GrantmakerKindStateReceivedGrantsYearsLastOnly funds organizations it picks?
Alamance Community Foundationgrantmaking organizationNorth Carolina$68,333542025Its form does not ask
United Way of Greater Greensboro Incfederated giving programmeNorth Carolina$30,000332023Its form does not ask
North Carolina Community Foundationcommunity foundationNorth Carolina$18,500332025Its form does not ask

A floor, not a full list. A grantmaker appears here only where this foundation's return named it clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows, and only where that grantmaker has a page on this site. There may be more. Dollars here are summed by EIN across every spelling on its returns, so a figure can differ from the matching row in the full list below, which groups names as written. And the IRS classification cannot tell a grantmaker from a funders' association or a donor-advised fund sponsor, so a payment to one of these may be dues or an account rather than support for a grants programme.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $10,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $37,500.

$1,000 - $5,000
35 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
40 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
26 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
10 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
The Educational FoundationChapel Hill, NC$148,500552025
Alamance Community FoundationBurlington, NC$68,333542025
Alamance Community College FoundatiGraham, NC$65,000442025
Old North State Council Boy Scouts of AmericaGreensboro, NC$60,000332025
Virginia Episcopal SchoolLynchburg, VA$45,000552025
Alamance County Economic Development FoundationBurlington, NC$43,333552025
The Lamb's ChapelBurlington, NC$36,000552025
United Way of Greater GreensboroGreensboro, NC$30,000332023
Front Street United Methodict ChurcBurlington, NC$27,500222022
Greensboro Day SchoolGreensboro, NC$27,500442025
Front Street United Methodist ChurBurlington, NC$25,000222025
Methodist Home for ChildrenRaleigh, NC$23,500442025
Swing Pals IncDurham, NC$20,000332025
North Carolina Community FoundationRaleigh, NC$18,500332025
Nc Community FoundationRaleigh, NC$15,000112021
Come and See FoundationColorado Springs, CO$12,000332025
The Leukemia & Lymphoma SocietyCary, NC$12,000112021
Duke UniversityDurham, NC$11,000222025
Red Oak United Methodist ChurchRed Oak, NC$11,000442025
Greensboro Chamber of CommerceGreensboro, NC$10,000222023
J Harold Smith Carolina ScholarsGreensboro, NC$10,000112021
J Harold Smith Carolina Scholars FuGreensboro, NC$10,000112025
North Carolina Folk FestivalGreensboro, NC$10,000222025
Positive Attitude Youth CenterBurlington, NC$10,000442025
Samartitan's PurseBoone, NC$10,000112024
The Burlington SchoolBurlington, NC$10,000112025
Wake Forest UniversityWinston Salem, NC$10,000222022
American Heart AssociationGreensboro, NC$7,500112021
Greensboro CollegeGreensboro, NC$7,500112025
Guilford CollegeGreensboro, NC$7,500112025
Uncg - Alyse S CooperGreensboro, NC$7,500112025
Elon AcademyElon, NC$5,000222023
Greensboro ChamberGreensboro, NC$5,000112025
J Harold Smith Scholars FundGreensboro, NC$5,000112023
National Christian Foundation of South FloridaFort Lauderdale, FL$5,000112025
Nc Fine Wines SocietyWinston Salem, NC$5,000112021
North Carolina Fine Wines SocietyWinstonsalem, NC$5,000112025
Saint Anthony the Great Greek OrthoRock Hill, SC$5,000112021
Socionomics FoundationGainesville, GA$5,000112021
The Taft SchoolWatertown, CT$5,000112021
Unc GreensboroGreensboro, NC$5,000112023
University of Arizona FoundationTuscon, AZ$5,000112021
Woodberry Forest SchoolWoodberry Forest, VA$5,000112021
Abc of NcWinston Salem, NC$2,500112021
Alamance County Endowment for the ArtsGraham, NC$2,500112021
Alamance Eldercare IncBurlington, NC$2,500112021
Armc FoundationBurlington, NC$2,500112021
Efland United Methodist ChurchEfland, NC$2,500112021
Etv Endowment of South CarolinaSpartanburg, SC$2,500112021
Greensboro Science CenterGreensboro, NC$2,500112021
Greensboro Symphony OrchestraGreensboro, NC$2,500112021
Hospice of Alamance-CaswellBurlington, NC$2,500112021
Nc Society of the CincinnatiRaleigh, NC$2,500112021
New Leaf SocietyBurliongton, NC$2,500112021
Pet Adoption & Welfare SocietyBurlington, NC$2,500112021
Ralph Scott Life ServicesBurlington, NC$2,500112025
Ralph Scott Lifeservices IncBurlington, NC$2,500112021
Salvation ArmyBurlington, NC$2,500112021
Swingpals IncDurham, NC$2,500112021

22 of 59 (37%) 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 57%, 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, and this foundation told the IRS it does not.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 62 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.

Education
19 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
13 grants
Youth Development
9 grants
Community Improvement
6 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Religion
2 grants
Diseases & Disorders
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202141$287,000$5,000
202210$109,833$7,500
202317$109,833$5,000
202416$132,500$6,250
202527$270,000$7,500

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

90% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina.

North Carolina
$820K
Virginia
$50K
Colorado
$12K
South Carolina
$8K
Georgia
$5K
Connecticut
$5K
Arizona
$5K
Florida
$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. Unlike this foundation, none of them is on record as funding only organizations it picks, and each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund23 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc20 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc18 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program15 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc15 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of Greater14 shared recipients

Related guides

Foundations funding education in North CarolinaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Smith 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: 800 Green Valley Road Suite 304, Greensboro, NC, 27408. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS.

EIN 56-6040787 · 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.