Underdown Family Foundation
Hickory, NC · EIN 56-1827986. Reported 89 grants totalling $337,500 to 42 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Underdown 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $3,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $10,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catawba Science Center Inc | Hickory, NC | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Carolina Caring Inc | Newton, NC | $39,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Habitat for Humanity of Catawba | Hickory, NC | $24,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Hickory Museum of Art Inc | Hickory, NC | $23,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| First Presbyterian Church | Hickory, NC | $18,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Habitat for Humanity of Catawba County | Hickory, NC | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Hart Square Foundation Inc | Vale, NC | $14,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| The Western Piedmont Symphony | Hickory, NC | $13,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Catawba County Council on Aging | Hickory, NC | $13,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| YMCA of Catawba Valley | Hickory, NC | $13,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| American National Red Cross | Hickory, NC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Safe Harbor Rescue Mission Inc | Hickory, NC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Rising Hope Farms Inc | Claremont, NC | $8,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Catawba County Partnership for Children | Hickory, NC | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Hospitality House | Hickory, NC | $7,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Pregnancy Care Center of Catawba | Hickory, NC | $6,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Children's Cancer Partners of the Carolinas | Spartanburg, SC | $6,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| American Red Cross | Hickory, NC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Council on Adolescents of Catawba County Inc | Hickory, NC | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Council on Adolescents of Catawba | Hickory, NC | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Neighbors Network Inc | Conover, NC | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Service League of Hickory Nc Inc | Hickory, NC | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Safe Harbor of Nc Inc | Hickory, NC | $4,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Cakeable Charlotte | Charlotte, NC | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina | Charlotte, NC | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Women's Resource Center Inc | Hickory, NC | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Big House Family Ministry | Lenoir, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cool Kids Campaign | Huntersville, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Family Guidance Center Incorporated | Hickory, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| First United Methodoist Church | Hickory, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Make-a-Wish Foundation of Central | Charlotte, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pregnancy Care Center of Catawba Valley | Hickory, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Williams Place | Black Mountain, NC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| American Red Cross | Springfield, MO | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Catawba County Hispanic Ministry Inc | Hickory, NC | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Exodus Outreach Foundation | Hickory, NC | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Greater Hickory Cooperative | Hickory, NC | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| North Carolina School for the Deaf | Morganton, NC | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Shining Hope Farms | Charlotte, NC | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Girls on the Run | Charlotte, NC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hickory Public Schools Band Boosters | Hickory, NC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Hospitality House of Charlotte | Charlotte, NC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
22 of 42 (52%) 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 69%, 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.
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.
- Catawba Science Center Inc
Planetarium Projection System - Habitat for Humanity of Catawba
Homeownership Program - Ridgeview Community - Carolina Caring Inc
Caring for Children Battling Serious Illness - Hart Square Foundation Inc
Cultural Heritage Education Opportunities - The Western Piedmont Symphony
Explore The Orchestra Program - Catawba County Council on Aging
West Hickory Senior Center
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 52 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 | 15 | $70,000 | $4,000 |
| 2022 | 16 | $71,500 | $3,500 |
| 2023 | 17 | $65,000 | $3,000 |
| 2024 | 19 | $65,000 | $2,500 |
| 2025 | 22 | $66,000 | $2,000 |
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
98% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in North Carolina.
- 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.
- 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 Underdown 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: Po Box 128, Hickory, NC, 28603. 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 56-1827986 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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