Grantmakers › Maryland

Cpwr the Center for Construction

Silver Spring, MD · EIN 52-1172454. Reported 127 grants totalling $33.4M to 37 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

37organizations funded
$118,839median reported grant
$33.4Mgranted, 2020-2024
79%of grantees funded again the next year
55%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Cpwr the Center for Construction, the IRS classifies it under social science rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE V99) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 37 distinct organizations, with 55% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
  3. How much its list changes. 79% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $118,839. Half of what it reported fell between $19,400 and $199,227; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $4,299,057. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
31 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
6 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
8 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
50 grants
$250,000 Or More
21 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Zenith AME SolutionSeattle, WA$18.5M552024
National Ironworkers and Employers Apprenticeship Training and JourneWashington, DC$1,793,676552024
Insulation Industrys National Apprentice and Training FundLanham, MD$1,684,917552024
Washington UniversitySt Louis, MO$1,381,719552024
Univ of Mass-LowellLowell, MA$1,050,795552024
University of California San FranciscoSan Francisco, CA$978,504552024
University of WashingtonSeattle, WA$964,800552024
Jobtrain IncMenlo Park, CA$892,283552024
Virginia Polytechnic InstBlacksburg, VA$823,773552024
Iupat Finishing Trades InstituteHanover, MD$770,599552024
Building Pathways IncRoxbury, MA$722,604552024
West Virginia University Research CorporationMorgantown, WV$700,437552024
Gst Michigan WorksMarlette, MI$631,734552024
International Training Institute for the Sheet Metal & Ac IndustryFalls Church, VA$550,687552024
Gulf Coast CarpentersAustin, TX$343,310332022
Morgan State UniversityBaltimore, MD$237,391332024
Hanford Mission Integration Solutions LLCRichland, WA$175,634112024
Regents of the University of ColoradoDenver, CO$164,469222024
Clark UniversityWorcester, MA$116,834222024
Finishing Trades Institute District Council 10Houston, TX$99,610112023
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, NC$96,455222023
Lawrence Technological UniversitySouthfield, MI$89,970642024
University of UtahSalt Lake City, UT$79,400552024
Georgia Tech Research CorporationAtlanta, GA$59,989222024
Oregon State UniversityCorvallis, OR$54,985222021
Trustees of Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN$49,824222024
University of IowaIowa City, IA$47,730112023
Board of Regents of the University of NebraskaLincoln, NE$30,000222024
Carnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh, PA$30,000332023
Colorado State UniversityFort Collins, CO$30,000332023
Texas A&m UniversityCollege Station, TX$29,999332024
Arizona State UniversityTemple, AZ$29,994222022
Board of the University of AlabamaTuscaloosa, AL$29,961222021
Clemson UniversityClemson, SC$29,853222021
Michigan Tech UniversityHoughton, MI$29,810332023
University of FloridaGainesville, FL$29,710332022
University of HoustonHouston, TX$28,931222022

34 of 37 (92%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 12 of 37 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Education
7 orgs
Employment
3 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org
Health Care
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202022$5,206,230$131,059
202127$6,802,481$118,839
202225$6,819,033$121,150
202329$7,193,261$99,610
202424$7,330,833$142,743

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

59% of its giving went to organizations in Washington. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Washington
$19.6M
Maryland
$2.7M
Massachusetts
$1.9M
California
$1.9M
District of Columbia
$1.8M
Missouri
$1.4M
Virginia
$1.4M
Michigan
$752K

Down to the city

Seattle, WA
$19.5M
Washington, DC
$1.8M
Lanham, MD
$1.7M
St Louis, MO
$1.4M
Lowell, MA
$1.1M
San Francisco, CA
$979K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. 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.

American Heart Association Inc10 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipientsWashington University9 shared recipientsFolds of Honor Foundation9 shared recipientsUniversity of Southern California9 shared recipientsThe Trustees of Columbia University9 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $118,839 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Washington.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Cpwr the Center for Construction's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 15 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 7 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 8484 Georgia Avenue 1000, Silver Spring, MD, 20910.

EIN 52-1172454 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.