Clara Fairbanks Foundation Inc
Terre Haute, IN · EIN 35-6042734. Reported 86 grants totalling $587,781 to 46 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. 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. 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,885 and $10,000; 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vigo County Education Foundaiton | Terre Haute, IN | $69,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club | Terre Haute, IN | $53,394 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Vigo County YMCA | Terre Haute, IN | $28,229 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Terre Haute Childrens Museum | Terre Haute, IN | $27,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra | Terre Haute, IN | $23,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Happiness Bag Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $22,582 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Catholic Charities | Terre Haute, IN | $21,500 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| YMCA of the Wabash Valley | Terre Haute, IN | $21,335 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| 14TH and Chestnut Community Center | Terre Haute, IN | $21,243 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Next Step Foundation | Terre Haute, IN | $20,600 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Meals on Wheels | Terre Haute, IN | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Crisis Pregnancy Center | Terre Haute, IN | $17,685 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| Terre Haute Catholic Char | Terre Haute, IN | $16,700 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Wabash Valley Crew | Terre Haute, IN | $15,180 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| American Red Cross | Terre Haute, IN | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Chances and Services for Youth | Terre Haute, IN | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Vigo County Education | Terre Haute, IN | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Vigo County Historical Society | Terre Haute, IN | $13,831 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Providence Food Pantry | West Terre Haute, IN | $13,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Rethink Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $12,350 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| George Pocock Rowing Foundation | Seattle, WA | $10,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Manna From Seven Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| St Joseph Univ Parish Coda | Terre Haute, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Vigo County School Corporation | Terre Haute, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Council on Domestic Abuse Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Terre Haute Catholic Charities | Terre Haute, IN | $8,250 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Terre Haute Area Meals on Wheels | Terre Haute, IN | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chances and Services for | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Maple Center - Integrative Health | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Operation Heart | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Shine Foster Family Resources Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Team of Mercy Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Terre Haute Humane Society | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Western Indiana Community | Terre Haute, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Crossroads Care Clinic - Earn While | Terre Haute, IN | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Terre Haute Womens Club | Terre Haute, IN | $4,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Girl Scouts of Central Indiana | Indianapolis, IN | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wabash Valley Community Foundation | Terre Haute, IN | $2,697 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| League of Terre Haute Incorporated | Terre Haute, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mana From Seven | Terre Haute, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mosaic of Terre Haute | Terre Haute, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Reach Services | Terre Haute, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Vigo Co in Ceo | Terre Haute, IN | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship | Effingham, IL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Noon Optimist Club of Terre Haute | Terre Haute, IN | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Trees Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $205 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
17 of 46 (37%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 45%, across 4 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.
- Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club
POSITIVE ACTIVITIES AND MENTORS PROGRAM - Vigo County Education Foundaiton
INFUSING CLASSROOMS - INNOVATION - 14TH and Chestnut Community Center
PLAYGROUND UPDATE PROJECT - Vigo County School Corporation
WABASH VALLEY CREW-ERG ED PROGRAM - Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra
AUDIO AND VISUAL RECORDING EQUIPMENT - Vigo County Historical Society
PURCHASE OF LAPTOPS FOR SHARE YOUR STORY
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 32 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 | 14 | $120,640 | $9,167 |
| 2022 | 21 | $120,497 | $5,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $111,762 | $4,940 |
| 2024 | 18 | $114,882 | $5,864 |
| 2025 | 15 | $120,000 | $5,000 |
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
98% of its giving went to organizations in Indiana. 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 $5,000. 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 Indiana.
- 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.
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 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). 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: 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
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