Bolger Foundation
Ridgewood, NJ · EIN 23-7418090. Reported 84 grants totalling $3,047,580 to 58 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. 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. Bolger 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 $14,746. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $916 and the largest $255,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Servants Heart | Wyckoff, NJ | $255,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Brownsville Ambulance Services | Brownsville, PA | $226,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| New Hope Community Ministries | Prosepct Park, NJ | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Valley Hospital Foundation | Ridgewood, NJ | $150,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Pine Tree State 4-H Club Foundation | Bridgton, ME | $130,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Midland Park Ambulance Corp | Midland Park, NJ | $129,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Dawn Treader Christian School | Paterson, NJ | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Greater Bergen Community Action | Hackensack, NJ | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| New York City Relief Inc | Clifton, NJ | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Boston House | Brookline, MA | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mote Marine Laboratory | Sarasota, FL | $105,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ridgewood Emergency Services | Ridgewood, NJ | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Phoenix Center | Nutley, NJ | $80,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Friends of the Hermitage | Hohokus, NJ | $75,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Evas Kitchen Inc | Paterson, NJ | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Our House Foundation Inc | New Providence, NJ | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation | St Petersburgh, FL | $57,216 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ridgewood Historical Society | Ridgewood, NJ | $54,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Push to Walk | Oakland, NJ | $53,267 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| New York-New Jersey Trail Conference | Mahwah, NJ | $52,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Assistance Dogs of the West | Santa Fe, NM | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greater Newark Conservancy Inc | Newark, NJ | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Joy Dew | Ridgewood, NJ | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Passaic County College Foundation | Paterson, NJ | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Saint Marys Hospital for Children | Bayside, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| USA Cares Inc | Louisville, KY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lincoln Cooperative Pre-School | Lincoln, VT | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Arc of Essec County Inc | Livingston, NJ | $32,010 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| West Bergen Mental Healthcare | Ridgewood, NJ | $30,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Spectrum for Living Development Inc | Riverdale, NJ | $28,212 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Center for Hearing and Communication | New York, NY | $28,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bergen County Historical Society | River Edge, NJ | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| God's Kitchen | Palatka, FL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Montclair Historical Society | Montclair, NJ | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| My Possibilities | Plano, TX | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Our Lady of Mercy Academy | Syosset, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fairytale Farm Miniature Donkey and Pony Rescue | Morgan Hill, CA | $24,015 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Metrolpolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church | Ridgewood, NJ | $22,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Shelter Partnership Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wells Mountain Foundation | Bristol, VT | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Fieldstone Farm Therapeutic Riding Center | Chagrin Falls, OH | $15,360 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Inspire Sports Camps Inc | Maywood, NJ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Camp Dudley Foundation Inc | Westport, NY | $12,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Selah Freedom Inc | Sarasota, FL | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Fritz Behnke Historical Museum | Paramus, NJ | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Children's Therapy Center | Fair Lawn, NJ | $10,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Eastern Christian School Association | North Haledon, NJ | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hands in 4 Youth | West Milford, NJ | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Dallas Dog Network Inc | Dallas, TX | $9,967 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| SPCA of Texas | Dallas, TX | $9,117 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Midland Park Volunteer Fire | Midland Park, NJ | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pro Bono Counseling | Baltimore, MD | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| US Life Saving Station 30 | Ocean City, NJ | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ctc Academy | Fair Lawn, NJ | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fos Feminista | New York, NY | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of Wallisch Homestead | West Milford, NJ | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| National Center for Family Philanthropy | Washington, DC | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Life Long Rescue | Tyler, TX | $916 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
15 of 58 (26%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 44%, across 3 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.
- Servants Heart
TO ASSIST THE ORG. IN ITS CHARITABLE FUNCTION - The Arc of Essec County Inc
TO ASSIST THE ORG IN ITS CHARITABLE FUNCTION
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 44 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 | 7 | $30,000 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 16 | $454,750 | $6,250 |
| 2023 | 27 | $920,051 | $15,000 |
| 2024 | 34 | $1,642,779 | $25,250 |
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
65% of its giving went to organizations in New Jersey. 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 $14,746. 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 New Jersey.
- 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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Bolger Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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: 79 Chestnut Street, Ridgewood, NJ, 07450. 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 23-7418090 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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