FundersPennsylvania

Charlotte Cushman Foundation

Berwyn, PA · EIN 23-1280780. Reported 69 grants totalling $148,300 to 37 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,100median grant
$148,300granted, 2021-2024
37organizations funded
56%of grantees funded again the next year
$372,905assets, 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. Charlotte Cushman 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.

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 $2,100. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $3,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $3,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
5 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
64 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
Shakespeare in Clark ParkPhiladelphia, PA$11,500442024
Egopo Classic TheaterPhiladelphia, PA$9,100442024
Quintessence Theatre GroupPhiladelphia, PA$8,000332024
Inis Nua Theatre CompanyPhiladelphia, PA$7,500332024
University of the ArtsPhiladelphia, PA$7,500332023
Wilma Theatre CompanyPhiladelphia, PA$7,500332024
1812 ProductionsPhiladelphia, PA$7,000332024
Theatre HorizonNorristown, PA$7,000442024
Tiny DynamitePhiladelphia, PA$7,000332024
Theater ExilePhiladelphia, PA$6,500332023
Bristol Riverside TheatreBristol, PA$6,000332024
Lantern Theatre CompanyPhiladelphia, PA$5,000222024
ArdenPhiladelphia, PA$4,500222023
Philadelphia Artist CollectivePhiladelphia, PA$4,100222023
People's LightMalvern, PA$4,000222024
Lantern TheaterPhiladelphia, PA$3,500112021
Philadelphia Young PlaywrightsPhiladelphia, PA$3,250112024
Azuka Theatre CoPhiladelphia, PA$3,000222024
Bearded Ladies CabaretPhiladelphia, PA$3,000112024
Philadelphia Theatre CoPhiladelphia, PA$3,000112022
Pig Iron Theatre CoPhiladelphia, PA$3,000112022
Plays and PlayersPhiladelphia, PA$3,000112024
The Producer Hub IncNew York, NY$3,000112024
Act II ProductionsAmbler, PA$2,500112023
Interact Theater CompanyPhiladelphia, PA$2,500222022
Fractured AtlasNew York, NY$2,000112021
Pig IronPhiladelphia, PA$2,000112024
Team SunshinePhiladelphia, PA$2,000112022
Theatre ArielPenn Valley, PA$2,000112024
Headlong Danceapplied MechanicsPhiladelphia, PA$1,500112022
Headlong Danceninth PlanetPhiladelphia, PA$1,500112022
Hedgerow TheatreRose Valley, PA$1,500112023
Philanthropy Network Greater PhilaPhiladelphia, PA$1,250222022
Fractured AtlasinfluxHartsdale, NY$1,000112023
Headlong DancePhiladelphia, PA$1,000112021
Intercultural Journeys IncPhiladelphia, PA$500112023
Long Fellow ChorusPortland, ME$100112022

18 of 37 (49%) 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 56%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 31 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
29 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202113$22,725$2,000
202218$34,225$1,750
202320$45,600$2,500
202418$45,750$2,750

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. 96% of this one's giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Pennsylvania
$142K
New York
$6K
Maine
$100

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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.

The William Penn Foundation13 shared recipientsThe Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc8 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsIndependence Foundation8 shared recipientsConnelly Foundation7 shared recipientsThe Philadelphia Foundation7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,100. 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 Pennsylvania.
  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 arts & culture in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Charlotte Cushman Foundation'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: 675 Lancaster Avenue, Berwyn, PA, 19312. 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 23-1280780 · 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.