Esther Simon 1952 Charitable Trust XXXXX8006
Chicago, IL · EIN 23-6286763. Reported 333 grants totalling $2,077,840 to 84 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. Esther Simon 1952 Charitable Trust XXXXX8006 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 $3,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $114,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Philanthropic Trust | Jenkintown, PA | $384,840 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Metropolitan Opera Assn Inc | New York, NY | $110,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Falmouth Academy Inc | Falmouth, MA | $105,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Central Park Conservancy Inc Attn Sheryl L Jarvis | New York, NY | $90,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Wnetchannel 13 | New York, NY | $90,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Wnyc | New York, NY | $70,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Public Theater | New York, NY | $60,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Carnegie Hall Society Inc | New York, NY | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund | Lockbox, NY | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Falmouth Service Center | Falmouth, MA | $41,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Vassar College | Poughkeepsie, NY | $40,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Morgan Library & Museum | New York, NY | $37,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Food Bank for New York | New York, NY | $35,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Oberlin College Office of Development | Oberlin, OH | $35,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Planned Parenthood of New York City | New York, NY | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| The New York Public Library | New York, NY | $32,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps in | Boston, MA | $30,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Cape Cod Healthcare Inc | Hyannis, MA | $30,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art Ms Nina Diefenbach | New York, NY | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts | New York, NY | $26,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Gsas Columbia University | New York, NY | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Habitat for Humanity | New York, NY | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Minnesota State University at Moorhead College of Humanities & Social Sciences | Moorhead, MN | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Museum of Modern Art | New York, NY | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Naral Pro-Choice America Foundation | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| PBS Newshour Attn Alyson Brokenshire | Arlington, VA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Philharmonic-Symphony Society of Ny | New York, NY | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Salzburg Festival Society Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Greater Boston Food Bank | Boston, MA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Sierra Club Foundation | Oakland, CA | $22,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| City Harvest Inc | New York, NY | $21,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Food for Free | Cambridge, MA | $21,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| American Civil Liberties Union Foundation | New York, NY | $20,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Chamber Music Society | New York, NY | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Woods Hole Public Library | Woods Hole, MA | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| The 300 Committee Land Trust Inc | Falmouth, MA | $17,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Doctors Without Borders USA Inc | New York, NY | $16,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Salvation Army | New York, NY | $16,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Young Concert Artists | New York, NY | $15,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Manhattan Theatre Club Inc | New York, NY | $13,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| King Baudouin Foundation | New York, NY | $12,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| National Trumpet Competition | Arlington, VA | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Southern Poverty Law Center | Montgomery, AL | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Cape Cod Theatre Project Inc | Falmouth, MA | $12,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Woodwell Climate Research Center | Falmouth, MA | $12,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| American Friends Service Committee | Philadelphia, PA | $10,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| National Wildlife Federation | Reston, VA | $10,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Weill Cornell Medicine | New York, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| WGBH Educational Foundation | Boston, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Woods Hole Historical Society | Woods Hole, MA | $10,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| YMCA Cape Cod | West Barnstable, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community Health Center of Cape Cod Inc | Mashpee, MA | $9,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Historic Highfield Attn Director of Development | Falmouth, MA | $9,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Opera Lafayette | Washington, DC | $8,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| American Friends of the Leipzig Bach Archive | Cambridge, MA | $8,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| New York City Ballet Inc New York State Theater | New York, NY | $8,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Friends of Hopewell Quarry | Hopewell, NJ | $7,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| The Doe Fund | New York, NY | $7,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Park Avenue Armory | New York, NY | $6,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Woods Hole Film Festival | Woods Hole, ME | $6,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| American Ballet Theatre | New York, NY | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Aspen Public Radio | Aspen, CO | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Church of the Resurrection | New York, NY | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| City Meals on Wheels | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Compassion & Choices | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Marine Biological Laboratory | Woods Hole, MA | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| National Park Foundation | Washington, DC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New York Historical Society | New York, NY | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation | New York, NY | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Woods Hole Community Association | Woods Hole, MA | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution | Woods Hole, MA | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Church of the Messiah | Woods Hole, MA | $4,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Symphony Space | New York, NY | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Archives of American Art | Washington, DC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Friends of the Muse D'orsay | New York, NY | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| College Light Opera Company Inc | Falmouth, MA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Steppingstone Foundation Inc | Boston, MA | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Buzzards Bay Coalition Inc | New Bedford, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Quissett Harbor Preservation Trust | Falmouth, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Friends of Nobska Light Inc | Falmouth, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Viktor Kalabis & Zuzana Ruzickova Foundation | Washington, DC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Whitney Museum of American Art | New York, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Wikimedia Foundation Inc | San Francisco, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Woods Hole Foundation | Woods Hole, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
69 of 84 (82%) 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 93%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 152 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 | 75 | $399,031 | $2,500 |
| 2022 | 69 | $446,500 | $5,000 |
| 2023 | 66 | $398,559 | $5,000 |
| 2024 | 62 | $386,936 | $2,500 |
| 2025 | 61 | $446,814 | $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
52% of its giving went to organizations in New York. 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 $3,500. 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 New York.
- 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.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Esther Simon 1952 Charitable Trust XXXXX8006'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: 10 S Dearborn IL1-0111, Chicago, IL, 60603. 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 23-6286763 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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