FundersMaryland

Kershner Sisters Foundation

Williamsport, MD · EIN 52-1238390. Reported 32 grants totalling $121,291 to 25 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$3,375median grant
$121,291granted, 2021-2024
25organizations funded
25%of grantees funded again the next year
$612,901assets, 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. Kershner Sisters 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 $3,375. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $5,000; the smallest was $826 and the largest $12,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
2 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
22 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
6 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
2 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
Star Community IncHagerstown, MD$20,000332024
Boys and Girls Club of Washington CountyHagerstown, MD$12,500112022
Childrens Village of Washington CountyHagerstown, MD$9,900332023
Children in Need IncHagerstown, MD$8,500222024
United Way of Washington CountyHagerstown, MD$6,933332023
Horizon Goodwill IndustriesHagerstown, MD$5,000112022
Mason-Dixon Council BSAHagerstown, MD$5,000112021
Meritus Healthcare FoundationHagerstown, MD$5,000112021
Sharpsburg Volunteer Fire Company IncSharpsburg, MD$4,850112023
The Arc of Washington CountyHagerstown, MD$4,800112024
Washington County Museum of Fine ArtsHagerstown, MD$4,000112021
Humane Society of Washington CountyHagerstown, MD$3,932112021
Friends of Washington County Rural Heritage MuseumBoonsboro, MD$3,900112024
Brook Lane Health Services IncHagerstown, MD$3,500112023
The Interfaith Service CenterHancock, MD$3,250112023
Community Free Clinic IncHagerstown, MD$2,500112022
Girls Inc of Washington CountyHagerstown, MD$2,500112021
Hagerstown YMCAHagerstown, MD$2,500112022
Hancock Rescue SquadHancock, MD$2,500112021
Washington County Leadership Development Program IncHagerstown, MD$2,500112021
Washington County Leadership Developmt ProgramHagerstown, MD$2,500112023
Fellowship of Christian AthletesHagerstown, MD$1,900112023
Washington County Historical SocietyHagerstown, MD$1,500112024
Hagerstown Neighborhood Development PartnershipHagerstown, MD$1,000112021
Boonsboro Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Service IncBoonsboro, MD$826112023

4 of 25 (16%) 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 25%, 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 22 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
6 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants
Health Care
3 grants
Arts & Culture
3 grants
Youth Development
2 grants
Mental Health
1 grant
Education
1 grant
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202111$34,785$2,500
20228$36,980$3,490
20238$24,826$3,125
20245$24,700$4,500

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

Hagerstown, MD
$106K
Hancock, MD
$6K
Sharpsburg, MD
$5K
Boonsboro, MD
$5K

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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 Community Foundation of13 shared recipientsAlbert E & Naomi B Sinnisen Foundation10 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsAlice V & David W Fletcher8 shared recipientsRichard N Funkhouser Foundationinc8 shared recipientsFirstenergy Foundation5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,375. 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 Maryland.
  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 Kershner Sisters 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: 9735 Lock Tender Lane, Williamsport, MD, 21795. 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 52-1238390 · 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.