FundersMassachusetts

Burnham Foundation Inc #0726729

Boston, MA · EIN 22-2979498. Reported 124 grants totalling $332,700 to 36 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$332,700granted, 2021-2024
36organizations funded
94%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,011,538assets, latest filing

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. Burnham Foundation Inc #0726729 did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $4,000; the smallest was $800 and the largest $10,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
7 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
98 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
16 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Northern Middlesex Regional High School Scholarship FundTownsend, MA$38,500442024
Friends of Lawrence LibraryLawrence, MA$20,000442024
Nashoba River Watershed AssociationGroton, MA$20,000442024
Santa Catalina SchoolMonterey, CA$20,000442024
Unc Health FoundationChapel Hill, NC$19,500442024
Carolina Tiger RescuePittsboro, NC$16,000442024
Townsend Congregational ChurchTownsend, MA$15,000442024
Ventana Wildlife SocietySalinas, CA$15,000442024
Guiding Eyes for the BlindYorktown Heights, NY$14,000442024
Shubert ClubSaint Paul, MN$14,000442024
United WayBoston, MA$11,500442024
Dana Farber Cancer InstituteBoston, MA$11,000442024
Chatham Outreach Alliance IncPittsboro, NC$9,600442024
Lawrence LibraryLawrence, MA$9,000442024
Manomet IncPlymouth, MA$8,000442024
Peninsula Open Space TrustPalo Alto, CA$8,000442024
Wildlife Rescue and RehabilitationSalinas, CA$8,000442024
Marine Toys for Tots FoundationTriangle, VA$7,400442024
The Nature ConservancyBoston, MA$7,000442024
The Sun Santa FundLowell, MA$6,300332023
Massachusetts Audubon SocietyLincoln, MA$6,000442024
Pepperell Aid From Community to HomePepperell, MA$6,000442024
Wright Museum of World War IIWolfeboro, NH$5,000442024
Battleship CoveFall River, MA$4,600442024
Pepperell Council on AgingPepperell, MA$4,500332023
Fuller Craft MuseumBrockton, MA$4,000222022
Townsend Ecumenical OutreachTownsend, MA$4,000332023
Applewild SchoolFitchburg, MA$3,600442024
Point Lobos Natural History AssnMonterey, CA$3,200442024
Ducks for CancerPepperell, MA$3,000332024
Pepperell 4TH of July CommitteePepperell, MA$3,000332024
Heart of New England BSA IncRutland, MA$2,000222024
Nashua Valley Council Boy Scouts of AmericaLancaster, MA$2,000222022
Friends of the Pepperell Seniors IncPepperell, MA$1,500112024
Lowell Sun Charities IncLowell, MA$1,500112024
Horse Angels RescueUpper Chichester, PA$1,000112024

33 of 36 (92%) 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 94%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 67 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
12 grants
Human Services
12 grants
Environment
12 grants
Animal Welfare
9 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
9 grants
Arts & Culture
6 grants
Medical Research
4 grants
Diseases & Disorders
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202130$76,400$2,000
202232$89,100$2,000
202331$83,600$2,000
202431$83,600$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 58% of this one's giving went to organizations in Massachusetts. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Massachusetts
$192K
California
$54K
North Carolina
$45K
New York
$14K
Minnesota
$14K
Virginia
$7K
New Hampshire
$5K
Pennsylvania
$1K

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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund16 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program10 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc9 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Massachusetts.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

Foundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Burnham Foundation Inc #0726729's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 51400, Boston, MA, 02205. 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 22-2979498 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.