The Anonymous Fund
Greensboro, NC · EIN 56-2152734. Reported 95 grants totalling $3,182,490 to 54 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation told the IRS it does not accept unsolicited requests: it contributes only to organizations it selects itself.
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". The Anonymous Fund 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.
Organizations it funds that make grants of their own
3 of the organizations The Anonymous Fund funded make grants themselves, and it reported 4 grants totalling $355,000 to them. That is 17% of the $2,127,490 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.
| Grantmaker | Kind | State | Received | Grants | Years | Last | Only funds organizations it picks? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Foundation of Greater | community foundation | North Carolina | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 | Its form does not ask |
| United Way of Greater Greensboro Inc | federated giving programme | North Carolina | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 | Its form does not ask |
| Santa Fe Community Foundation | community foundation | New Mexico | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 | Its 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $300,000.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canterbury School | Greensboro, NC | $750,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro - Cfgg | Greensboro, NC | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Foundation of Greater Greensboro - Cfgg | Greensboro, NC | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of North Carolina at Greensboro | Greensboro, NC | $300,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Santa Fe Opera | Santa Fe, NM | $210,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Guilford College | Greensboro, NC | $200,000 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Eastern Music Festival | Greensboro, NC | $150,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Cone Health Philanthropy | Greensboro, NC | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Nc Museum of Art Foundation | Raleigh, NC | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Samaritan's Purse | Boone, NC | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Nc Greensboro | Greensboro, NC | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| United Way of Greater Greensboro | Greensboro, NC | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Nc Asheville | Asheville, NC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Diocese of Charlotte | Charlotte, NC | $40,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Friends for An Earlier Breast Cancer Test Inc | Greensboro, NC | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| National Trust for Historic Preservation | Washington, DC | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| University of North Carolina School of the Arts | Winstonsalem, NC | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Action Greensboro | Greensboro, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Arts Greensboro | Greensboro, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Carolina Theatre of Greensboro Inc | Greensboro, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Greensboro Opera | Greensboro, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Greenhill Center for Nc Art | Greensboro, NC | $20,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Choate Rosemary Hall | Wallingford, CT | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Greensboro Symphony Orchestra | Greensboro, NC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Lensic Performing Arts Center | Santa Fe, NM | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ndi - New Mexico | Santa Fe, NM | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| North Carolina Folk Festival | Greensboro, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Carolina Museum of Art | Raleigh, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation | Raleigh, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival | Santa Fe, NM | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival | Santa Fe, NM | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Greensboro Symphony | Greensboro, NC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Lensic | Santa Fe, NM | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Triad Health Project | Greensboro, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Nc School of the Arts | Winstonsalem, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Family Service of Greensboro Foundation | Jamestown, NC | $7,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Reynolda House Museum of American Art | Winstonsalem, NC | $7,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Cone Health | Greensboro, NC | $5,490 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Abcd - St Mary Star of the Sea | Miami Shores, FL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Diocese of Miami | Miami Shores, FL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| National Conference for Community and Justice | Middletown, CT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Nccj Piedmont Triad | Greensboro, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Garden Friends School | Greensboro, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Carolina for Community and Justice Inc | Greensboro, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| North Carolina Literary and Historical Association | Raleigh, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Preservation North Carolina | Raleigh, NC | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Reynolda House Museum of Art | Winstonsalem, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Santa Fe Community Foundation | Santa Fe, NM | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Carolina Theatre | Greensboro, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greensboro Downtown Parks | Greensboro, NC | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Georgia O'keefe Museum | Santa Fe, NM | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Museum of New Mexico Foundation | Santa Fe, NM | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greensboro Urban Ministry | Greensboro, NC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Piedmont Opera | Winstonsalem, NC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
23 of 54 (43%) 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 44%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. 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 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.
- Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro - Cfgg
4TH INSTALLMENT OF 1.2M PLEDGE FOR TANGER CENTER - Foundation of Greater Greensboro - Cfgg
3RD INSTALLMENT OF 1.2M PLEDGE FOR TANGER CENTER - Canterbury School
4TH INSTALLMENT OF $1M PLEDGE FOR LIBRARY & ADMIN BLDG - University of North Carolina at Greensboro
FINAL PAYMENT OF 2018 CONCERT AND LECTURE SERIES - Cone Health Philanthropy
TO ELIMINATE HEALTH INEQUITIES BY INVESTING IN COMMUNITY-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS AND PROMOTING WELLNESS ACROSS THE REGION. - Samaritan's Purse
TO PROVIDE SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL AID TO HURTING PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 60 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | $1,242,990 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 20 | $813,500 | $5,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $605,000 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 24 | $521,000 | $5,000 |
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
90% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina.
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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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Anonymous Fund's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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 20124, Greensboro, NC, 27420. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS.
EIN 56-2152734 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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