Funders › Maine

Clarence E Mulford Trust

Fryeburg, ME · EIN 01-0247548. Reported 100 grants totalling $3,805,550 to 35 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$6,082median grant
$3,805,550granted, 2021-2025
35recipients, as named on its returns
69%of grantees funded again the next year
$19.0Massets, 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. Clarence E Mulford Trust 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 $6,082. Half of everything it gave fell between $3,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $548,511. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
12 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
21 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
32 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
17 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
8 grants
$100,000 and Up
5 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Fryeburg AcademyFryeburg, ME$2,475,175552025
Fryeburg Recreation Dept IncFryeburg, ME$399,000552025
Town of Fryeburg MaineFryeburg, ME$169,415552025
Eastern Slope Aviation AuthorityFryeburg, ME$134,000332025
White Mountain Community Health CenterConway, NH$75,000552025
Fryeburg Rescue AssociationFryeburg, ME$51,700552025
Eastern Slope Aviation AcademyFryeburg, ME$49,664222023
Saco Valley Fire AssociationFryeburg, ME$48,047332025
Izg Airport AuthorityFryeburg, ME$43,500112025
First Congregational ChurchFryeburg, ME$40,545222024
Upper Saco Valley Land TrustConway, NH$30,000222024
Sunshine Backpack ProgramFryeburg, ME$27,000332025
Mt Washington Valley Adult Day CenterCenter Conway, NH$25,000332025
The First Congregational Church of Fryeburg UccFryeburg, ME$23,608112023
Church of the New JerusalemFryeburg, ME$21,500552025
Fryeburg Beautification ProgramFryeburg, ME$20,000442024
Tin Mountain Community CenterAlbany, NH$20,000442025
Pine Grove Cemetery AssociationFryeburg, ME$19,500222025
Fryeburg Historical SocietyFryeburg, ME$19,247552025
North Fryeburg Riverside Cemetery AssociationFryeburg, ME$17,500222025
Pequawket Valley Health InitiativesFryeburg, ME$14,000222023
Brownfield Fire DepartmentBrownfield, ME$13,089222025
Southwest Oxford County Nutrition IncBrownfield, ME$11,000332024
Summer Concert SeriesFryeburg, ME$10,050442024
Denmark Congregational ChurchDenmark, ME$10,000112024
North Fryeburg Community ChapelFryeburg, ME$9,000222025
New Suncook PTALovell, ME$7,000112024
Lovell Area Food PantryLovell, ME$5,000112025
Austin Bemis Cemetery AssociationFryeburg, ME$4,000552025
Brownfield Public LibraryBrownfield, ME$3,760222025
Bradley United Methodist ChurchConway, NH$2,500332025
Friends of the Conway Public LibraryConway, NH$2,500112025
Greenhill South Chatham Cemetery AssociationSouth Chatham, NH$2,000442025
Charlotte Hobbs Memorial LibraryLovell, ME$1,750112022
Friends of Porter 569Parsonsfield, ME$500112023

27 of 35 (77%) 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 69%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 27 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.

Education
7 grants
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
5 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Mental Health
2 grants
Religion
2 grants
Mutual Benefit
2 grants
Arts & Culture
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202117$699,500$5,000
202218$740,000$6,250
202321$723,300$5,000
202421$832,750$7,445
202523$810,000$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

96% of its giving went to organizations in Maine. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Maine
$3.6M
New Hampshire
$157K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund5 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program3 shared recipientsDavis Family Foundation3 shared recipientsHelen R Coe Trust3 shared recipientsNew Hampshire Charitable Foundation3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $6,082. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Maine.
  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 Clarence E Mulford Trust'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 290, Fryeburg, ME, 04037. 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 01-0247548 · 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.

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