Funders › Alabama

The Blackmon Family Foundation

Mountain Brook, AL · EIN 63-1201181. Reported 41 grants totalling $122,519 to 25 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$122,519granted, 2021-2025
25recipients, as named on its returns
52%of grantees funded again the next year
$499,803assets, 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. The Blackmon Family 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 $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $3,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $15,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
10 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
25 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
3 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 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
Christ Church United MethodistBirmingham, AL$45,000332023
Heart of Alabama Food BankMontgomery, AL$19,839332025
The Montgomery AcademyMontgomery, AL$15,500552025
Montgomery Area Food BankMontgomery, AL$7,468222022
Lausanne Collegiate SchoolMemphis, TN$5,000332024
The University of AlabamaTuscaloosa, AL$5,000112025
Feeding Avery Families IncBanner Elk, NC$4,000112024
Children's of AlabamaBirmingham, AL$3,000332023
Folds of Honor - AlabamaHoover, AL$3,000112025
Montgomery Museum of Fine ArtMontgomery, AL$2,500112021
The Tumtum Tree FoundationBirmingham, AL$2,000222022
Make-a-Wish FoundationBirmingham, AL$1,500332023
All Saints MissionOakland Park, FL$1,000112024
Breast Cancer Research Foundation of AlabamaBirmingham, AL$1,000112025
Brother Bryan Mission of BirminghamBirmingham, AL$1,000112025
Childrens's of AlabamaBirmingham, AL$1,000112025
The Hobbs FoundationTampa, FL$1,000112024
United AbilityBirmingham, AL$1,000112025
American Red Cross of Alabama & MississippiBirmingham, AL$862112025
Avery County YMCALinville, NC$500112021
Linville Foundation IncLincille, NC$500112023
Red Cross of AlabamaBirmingham, AL$300112023
Mercy ShipsGarden Valley, TX$250112025
Community Foundation of the Texas Hill CountryKerville, TX$200112025
American Red CrossOpelika, AL$100112021

8 of 25 (32%) 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 52%, across 4 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.

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 23 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.

Food & Nutrition
11 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Education
4 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
Medical Research
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20219$26,838$1,000
20227$26,330$1,600
20238$23,547$1,273
20246$19,700$2,350
202511$26,104$1,000

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 Alabama. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Alabama
$110K
Tennessee
$5K
North Carolina
$5K
Florida
$2K
Texas
$450

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsAlabama Power Foundation Inc5 shared recipientsEnterprise Holdings Foundation5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. 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 Alabama.
  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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Blackmon 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: 2617 Caldwell Mill Lane, Mountain Brook, AL, 35243. 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 63-1201181 · 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.