Lester E Foster & Phyllis M Foster
Hampton, CT · EIN 81-0630150. Reported 80 grants totalling $2,703,405 to 53 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. Lester E Foster & Phyllis M Foster 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 $1,545 and $35,500; the smallest was $250 and the largest $332,250. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covenant Soup Kitchen | Willimantic, CT | $451,485 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Ecsu Foundation Inc | Willimantic, CT | $305,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Windham No Freeze Project | Willimantic, CT | $275,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Windham Hospital Foundation | Willimantic, CT | $273,250 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Horizons Inc | South Windham, CT | $269,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Town of Windham | Willimantic, CT | $199,100 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz | Hartford, CT | $152,650 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Hampton Fire Co | Hampton, CT | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Our Companions Animal Rescue | Manchester, CT | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Temple Bnai Israel | Willimantic, CT | $98,625 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Generations Family Health Center | Willimantic, CT | $71,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| First National Niu Foudation | Dekalb, IL | $57,800 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Chakour Music Institute | Amherst, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Mike Finnigan School of Music | Salina, KS | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Windham Theatre Guilde | Willimantic, CT | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Good Hope Country Day School | Kingshill, VI | $41,700 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Waim | Willimantic, CT | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Salvation Army | Willimantic, CT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Windham - Willimantic Car | Willimantic, CT | $10,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters | Hartford, CT | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Eastern Connecticut State Univ | Willimantic, CT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Ct Audubon Society | Fairfield, CT | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Willimantic Renaissance | Willimantic, CT | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Windham Hospital Golf Cla | Willimantic, CT | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Windham Hospital Golf Classic | Willimantic, CT | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Community Risingteam Inc | Waterbury, CT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jorgensen Center for the Performing | Storrs, CT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| St Joseph's Church | Willimantic, CT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Mary's Church | Willimantic, CT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Willimantic VFW Post 1724 | Willimantic, CT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Soroptimist International | Willimantic, CT | $4,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Kitty Angels of Ct | Coventry, CT | $3,700 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Connecticut Audubon Society | Fairfield, CT | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Ct Audubon Society - Rtpec | Old Lyme, CT | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Horizons Inc - Golf Tournament | South Windham, CT | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts | Old Saybrook, CT | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Willimantic Rotary Club | South Windham, CT | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mystic Aquarium | Mystic, CT | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Holiday Hill Day Camp | Prospect, CT | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jolly Johns Keep You Truckin | North Windham, CT | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Mansfield Lions Club | Mansfield, CT | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Mary's Ukrainian Greek | Willimantic, CT | $1,545 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Caring Families Pregnancy | Willimantic, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Escu Foundation Inc | Willimantic, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Jolly John's Keep You Truckin' Fund | North Windham, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Musicians Lifeline Inc | Simsbury, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Soroptomist International of Willi | Mansfield Center, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Ct Blues Society | Uncasville, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Thread City Hop Fest | Willimantic, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Fletcher Memorial Library | Hampton, CT | $800 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hampton Fire Company | Hampton, CT | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Scotland Fire Department | Scotland, CT | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Windham Public Art | Willimantic, CT | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
15 of 53 (28%) 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 36%, 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.
- Covenant Soup Kitchen
GENERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | $277,975 | $4,250 |
| 2022 | 22 | $2,073,795 | $50,500 |
| 2023 | 11 | $172,650 | $3,500 |
| 2024 | 14 | $83,035 | $3,000 |
| 2025 | 15 | $95,950 | $3,000 |
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
93% of its giving went to organizations in Connecticut. 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 Connecticut.
- 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 Lester E Foster & Phyllis M Foster'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: 716 Pudding Hill Road, Hampton, CT, 06247. 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 81-0630150 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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