Grantmakers › Virginia

United Way of Southwest Virginia Inc

Abingdon, VA · EIN 54-0739250. Reported 50 grants totalling $5,051,658 to 47 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

47organizations funded
$19,447median reported grant
$5,051,658granted, 2020-2024
0%of grantees funded again the next year
30%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 United Way of Southwest Virginia Inc, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 47 distinct organizations, with 30% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 0% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 1 year-to-year transition. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below 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 $19,447. Half of what it reported fell between $6,100 and $50,806; the smallest was $5,215 and the largest $1,500,156. 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
20 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
10 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
7 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
3 grants
$250,000 Or More
6 grants

1 of those grants was non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $1,979 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

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
United Way of East Tennessee HighlandsJohnson City, TN$1,500,156112024
Washington County VirginiaAbingdon, VA$628,972112024
Pulaski County Virginia Board of SupervisorsPulaski, VA$590,986112024
Eo CompaniesAbingdon, VA$501,979222024
Giles County Board of SupervisorsPearisburg, VA$384,846112024
Smyth County VirginiaMarion, VA$247,276112024
Big Prater Christian Foundation IncVansant, VA$175,133112024
Greene County United Way IncGreeneville, TN$128,214112024
Wise County VirginiaWise, VA$98,732112024
Tazewell County Board of SupervisorsTazewell, VA$95,497112024
Grayson County Board of SupervisorsIndependence, VA$85,871112024
United Way of Sevier CountySevierville, TN$50,806112024
Russell County TreasurerLebanon, VA$48,106112024
Scott County VirginiaGate City, VA$46,307112024
City of Galax VirginiaGalax, VA$42,261112024
United Way of Unicoi CountyErwin, TN$31,120112024
Womens Resource Center of the New River ValleyRadford, VA$30,159112020
Wythe County Board of SupervisorsWytheville, VA$28,324112024
Dickenson County VirginiaClintwood, VA$25,451112024
Carroll County Econcomic Development AuthorityHillsville, VA$22,030112024
MceapChristiansburg, VA$21,775112021
Womens Resource CenterRadford, VA$21,254112021
Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program IncChristiansbrg, VA$20,805112020
Montgomery County VirginiaChristiansburg, VA$19,578112024
United Way of Hamblen CountyMorristown, TN$19,317112024
Blacksburg Interfaith Food PantryBlacksburg, VA$17,869112021
Bland County Board of SupervisorsBland, VA$17,392112024
New River Community Action IncRadford, VA$16,817312020
Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue SquadBlacksburg, VA$11,492112021
New River Valley Child Advocacy Resources Education and ServicesChristiansbrg, VA$10,507112020
Habitat for HumanityChristiansburg, VA$9,853112021
Literacy Volunteers of the New River ValleyChristiansbrg, VA$9,083112020
Literacy Volunteers of the NrvChristiansburg, VA$8,400112021
St Michael LutheranBlacksburg, VA$8,018112021
Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue SquadBlacksburg, VA$7,418112020
Boy Scouts of AmericaRoanoke, VA$6,782112020
Community Health Center NrvChristiansburg, VA$6,100112020
New River Family Shelter IncBlacksburg, VA$6,008112020
Beans and Rice IncRadford, VA$5,923112020
To Our HouseChristiansburg, VA$5,892112021
New River Valley Senior Services IncPulaski, VA$5,868112020
Nrv Senior ServicesRadford, VA$5,828112021
Blue Ridge Mountains CouncilRoanoke, VA$5,811112021
Radford-Fairlawn Daily Bread IncRadford, VA$5,616112020
Homeless and Housing ProgramRadford, VA$5,532112021
Intellectual Disabilities Agency of the New River ValleyChristiansbrg, VA$5,279112020
Community Health Center of the NrvChristiansburg, VA$5,215112021

1 of 47 (2%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

It also reported 1 group of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

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 47 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.

Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 orgs
Human Services
4 orgs
Religion
1 org
Crime & Legal
1 org
Food & Nutrition
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202015$136,365$6,100
202112$126,939$8,209
20231$250,000$250,000
202422$4,538,354$68,338

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

66% of its giving went to organizations in Virginia. 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.

Virginia
$3.3M
Tennessee
$1.7M

Down to the city

Johnson City, TN
$1.5M
Abingdon, VA
$1.1M
Pulaski, VA
$597K
Pearisburg, VA
$385K
Marion, VA
$247K
Vansant, VA
$175K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund9 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc6 shared recipientsCarilion New River Valley Medical Center5 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation of the New River Valley Inc5 shared recipientsCelanese Foundation5 shared recipientsUnited Way of Greater Kingsport Inc4 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 $19,447 -- 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 Virginia.
  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 United Way of Southwest Virginia Inc'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 17 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: Po Box 644, Abingdon, VA, 24212.

EIN 54-0739250 · 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.