Carr Family Foundation

The Carr Family Foundation is a small, unstaffed, family-run private foundation in Staunton, Virginia, and its own IRS filings state it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications for funds." This is not a foundation built around a competitive RFP process — it is governed entirely by the Carr family (Mitchell O. Carr, President/Treasurer; Iris T. Carr, Secretary; Todd M. Carr, Vice President) plus one outside board member, David W. Didawick, none of whom draw compensation. With no program officers and no formal grants management staff, decisions almost certainly flow through personal relationships and community visibility rather than written proposals. The 990-PF submission method is listed simply as "verbal requests accepted," with no deadline and "no restrictions on awards" — confirming that a phone call, an introduction through an existing grantee, or a face-to-face meeting in the Shenandoah Valley community is the realistic path in, not a portal or LOI. First-time applicants should note the foundation's giving is hyper-local: 92 of 93 tracked grants (99%) went to Virginia organizations, and the recipient list is dominated by Staunton, Waynesboro, Augusta County, and Charlottesville-area institutions (Augusta Health Foundation, Staunton-Augusta YMCA, United Way of Greater Augusta, Crozet Volunteer Fire Department, Blue Ridge Community College). Organizations located outside this immediate geography — or without any existing local visibility — are unlikely to be considered regardless of mission fit. The foundation favors a repeat-grantee model: most top recipients (Virginia Tech Foundation, St. John's Methodist Church, Blue Ridge Community College, James Madison University, Valley Mission) show 3 recorded gifts apiece, suggesting the Carrs re-fund organizations annually once a relationship is established rather than making one-off awards to new applicants. For an organization not yet in that circle, the realistic strategy is to build local presence and reputation in the Staunton/Augusta County nonprofit community, seek a warm introduction (through a current grantee, Blue Ridge Community College, or a shared community board), and lead with concrete, modest funding requests — the median grant is $5,000 — rather than a large capital ask.

Across the 93 grants captured in the data bundle, the foundation has distributed $704,100 total at an average of $7,571 per grant; the foundation's own 990-PF reports a typical grant size with a $5,000 median, a $7,903 average, and a range from $100 to $40,000 (external filers report the top end closer to $51,000 in a single year). Annual grantmaking has fluctuated in a fairly narrow band over the past decade: $107,800 paid in 2013, rising steadily to $260,800 in 2021 (the recent peak), then easing to $226,300 (2022) and $218,950 (2023) as net investment income normalized post-pandemic. Total assets have hovered near $4.0-4.3M for a decade, closing FY2024 at $4,215,085 on total revenue of $300,216 — a small, steady endowment rather than a growing one. By program category, the foundation's own IRS filing splits spending into three buckets: education promotion ($101,300, roughly 45% of program spend), benefiting community organizations ($85,000, about 37%), and assisting the poor and underprivileged with food, clothing and shelter ($40,000, about 18%). The grantee-level data confirms this weighting: the largest single relationships are education-focused (Virginia Tech Foundation at $141,000 across 3 grants, Blue Ridge Community College and James Madison University at $75,000 and $45,000 respectively), while community-benefit grants ($27,500 each to United Way of Greater Augusta, Augusta Health Foundation, and Staunton-Augusta YMCA) and poverty-relief grants ($40,000 to Valley Mission, plus $15,000 each to Salvation Army-adjacent groups, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and Augusta Free Clinic) round out the portfolio. Geographically, giving is almost entirely Virginia-based (92 of 93 grants, 99%) with a single Florida exception; within Virginia, the pattern clusters tightly around the Shenandoah Valley (Staunton, Waynesboro, Augusta County) and nearby Charlottesville/Albemarle County — there is no evidence of national or even statewide-diffuse giving.

The bundle's peer set was selected on near-identical asset size (all approximately $4.2M) within the same NTEE "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" classification, but public data on the peers' actual giving levels and application posture is limited — a common condition for small, unstaffed family foundations that don't maintain public profiles.

Carr stands out among this peer group as one of the few with a documented, itemized grant history (93 tracked grants, three named program areas) and a clearly stated preselected-only application posture — most peers of this size file minimal-disclosure 990-PFs with no public grants list, suggesting Carr is comparatively more transparent even though it remains closed to unsolicited applicants. Grant seekers should expect all six of these foundations to behave similarly: family-trustee governed, no paid staff, and reachable only through personal or community connections rather than formal RFPs.

No foundation-specific news coverage, leadership changes, or new program announcements for the Staunton, VA Carr Family Foundation (EIN 31-1629566) turned up in web searches for 2025-2026 — this is expected for a foundation with no communications staff and no public grants portal. The most recent verifiable activity is the FY2024 Form 990-PF, filed around December 2025, reporting total assets of $4,215,085 and total revenue of $300,216, both broadly consistent with the foundation's decade-long pattern of steady, modest scale. Board leadership has been stable across every filing reviewed (2012-2024): Mitchell O. Carr as President/Treasurer, Iris T. Carr as Secretary, Todd M. Carr as Vice President, and David W. Didawick as the sole outside board member — no turnover or new appointments were found. One important research finding for anyone evaluating this funder: the website listed in public records and on file (carrfamilyfoundation.org) does not belong to this foundation. It is the site of an unrelated Carr Family Foundation Scholarship program serving Dickson and Hickman Counties, Tennessee (EIN 26-0149937), with its own distinct application process, essay requirements, and Jacob Akers Memorial Scholarship. No independent web presence could be located for the Staunton, VA foundation, reinforcing that this is a low-visibility, relationship-driven funder rather than one running active public communications or a live grants calendar.

This foundation does not run a competitive, open application process, so conventional grant-writing tactics (polished LOIs, portal submissions, generic alignment language) will largely miss the mark. The foundation's own 990-PF states it accepts "verbal requests" with no deadline, and independent grant databases confirm it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations." In practice, this means: (1) Do not attempt a cold written proposal — call the foundation directly at (540) 886-1835 or write to 502 Willoughby Lane, Staunton, VA 24401, and ask how the foundation prefers to be approached; a warm introduction from an existing grantee (e.g., United Way of Greater Augusta, Augusta Health Foundation, Blue Ridge Community College, or Valley Mission) is far more likely to work than an unsolicited letter. (2) Geography is a hard filter — organizations should be based in, or serving, the Staunton/Waynesboro/Augusta County/Charlottesville corridor; the single Florida-based grant in the data set is the outlier, not a template. (3) Lead with one of the foundation's three stated purposes in plain language: helping underprivileged students afford college or vocational training, benefiting a charitable community organization, or providing direct food/clothing/shelter assistance to the poor — do not stretch a proposal to fit unrelated causes. (4) Anchor funding requests near the realistic band: median grant $5,000, average $7,571-$7,903, with a practical ceiling around $40,000-$51,000 reserved for long-standing relationships like Virginia Tech Foundation ($141,000 across 3 gifts). A first-time ask above $15,000-$20,000 is unlikely to match observed behavior. (5) Expect multi-year renewal rather than one-time awards — most top recipients show exactly 3 recorded grants, suggesting the foundation commits to a recurring cadence once it funds an organization, so treat a first grant as the opening of an ongoing relationship, not a single transaction. (6) A common mistake to avoid: assuming the Tennessee-based carrfamilyfoundation.org website (with its own essay-based scholarship application) applies here — it does not, and referencing its requirements to this foundation will signal a lack of due diligence.