FundersIndiana

Clara Fairbanks Foundation Inc

Terre Haute, IN · EIN 35-6042734. Reported 71 grants totalling $467,781 to 39 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$467,781granted, 2021-2024
39organizations funded
50%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,501,414assets, 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. Clara Fairbanks Foundation Inc 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $9,500; the smallest was $205 and the largest $22,582. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
27 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
26 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
17 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
Vigo County Education FoundaitonTerre Haute, IN$69,000542024
Terre Haute Boys and Girls ClubTerre Haute, IN$53,394332023
Terre Haute Symphony OrchestraTerre Haute, IN$23,500442024
Happiness Bag IncTerre Haute, IN$22,582112023
Catholic CharitiesTerre Haute, IN$21,500432023
YMCA of the Wabash ValleyTerre Haute, IN$21,335332023
14TH and Chestnut Community CenterTerre Haute, IN$21,243332024
Meals on WheelsTerre Haute, IN$20,000112021
Crisis Pregnancy CenterTerre Haute, IN$17,685742024
Vigo County YMCATerre Haute, IN$15,729212024
Wabash Valley CrewTerre Haute, IN$15,180322023
Chances and Services for YouthTerre Haute, IN$15,000222024
American Red CrossTerre Haute, IN$12,500222024
Terre Haute Childrens MuseumTerre Haute, IN$12,000332023
Next Step FoundationTerre Haute, IN$10,600112021
George Pocock Rowing FoundationSeattle, WA$10,500112022
Manna From Seven IncTerre Haute, IN$10,000112024
Vigo County School CorporationTerre Haute, IN$10,000112021
Vigo County Historical SocietyTerre Haute, IN$9,031222024
Council on Domestic Abuse IncTerre Haute, IN$8,500112023
Terre Haute Catholic CharitiesTerre Haute, IN$8,250112024
Rethink IncTerre Haute, IN$7,350332024
Terre Haute Area Meals on WheelsTerre Haute, IN$7,000112024
Providence Food PantryWest Terre Haute, IN$6,000112024
Operation HeartTerre Haute, IN$5,000112022
Shine Foster Family Resources IncTerre Haute, IN$5,000112023
Team of Mercy IncTerre Haute, IN$5,000112023
Terre Haute Humane SocietyTerre Haute, IN$5,000112021
Girl Scouts of Central IndianaIndianapolis, IN$3,000112022
Wabash Valley Community FoundationTerre Haute, IN$2,697112022
League of Terre Haute IncorporatedTerre Haute, IN$2,000112023
Mana From SevenTerre Haute, IN$2,000112021
Mosaic of Terre HauteTerre Haute, IN$2,000112022
Reach ServicesTerre Haute, IN$2,000112022
Terre Haute Womens ClubTerre Haute, IN$2,000112024
Vigo Co in CeoTerre Haute, IN$2,000112024
Midland Institute for EntrepreneurshipEffingham, IL$1,000112022
Noon Optimist Club of Terre HauteTerre Haute, IN$1,000112023
Trees IncTerre Haute, IN$205112021

13 of 39 (33%) 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 50%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. 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 28 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
7 grants
Youth Development
4 grants
Environment
4 grants
Arts & Culture
3 grants
Mental Health
2 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Community Improvement
1 grant
Recreation & Sports
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202114$120,640$9,167
202221$120,497$5,000
202318$111,762$4,940
202418$114,882$5,864

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. 98% of this one's giving went to organizations in Indiana. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Indiana
$456K
Washington
$10K
Illinois
$1K

Find more foundations like Clara Fairbanks Foundation Inc

We email you newly filed foundations whose giving matches your state and cause, as the IRS publishes them. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

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.

Wabash Valley Community Foundation Inc18 shared recipientsDuke Energy Foundation16 shared recipientsFrederick R Benson Trust12 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsUnited Way of the Wabash Valley Inc11 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 Indiana.
  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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Clara Fairbanks Foundation Inc'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 11088, Terre Haute, IN, 47801. 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 35-6042734 · 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.