Funders › Kansas

Lois & Max Beren Foundation

Wichita, KS · EIN 48-6107224. Reported 112 grants totalling $934,873 to 53 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$7,000median grant
$934,873granted, 2021-2025
53recipients, as named on its returns
62%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,862,697assets, 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. Lois & Max Beren 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 $7,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $7,500; the smallest was $144 and the largest $38,497. 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
13 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
77 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
18 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 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
Emporia State UniversityEmporia, KS$106,012442024
Wichita State UniversityWichita, KS$75,000552025
Kansas State UniversityManhattan, KS$62,800442025
Washburn UniversityTopeka, KS$50,250442025
University of KansasLawrence, KS$47,750332025
Southeastern Baptist Theological SeminaryWake Forest, NC$32,000552025
Newman UniversityWichita, KS$30,000222025
Gonzaga UniversitySpokane, WA$29,000442025
University of Colorado BoulderBoulder, CO$29,000442025
Boston UniversityBoston, MA$26,000332023
Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health SciencesMiami, FL$25,000552025
Miami Dade College Mdc Padron CampusMiami, FL$22,000332025
University at Albany State University of New YorkAlbany, NY$22,000332025
University of Alaska AnchorageAnchorage, AK$22,000332025
University of MassachusettsAmherst, MA$22,000332025
Northeastern UniversityBoston, MA$21,500332024
University of Kansas Medical CenterKansas City, KS$21,500332024
Community College of AuroraAurora, CO$19,150332024
Queens CollegeFlushing, NY$16,606332024
University of CharlestonCharleston, WV$15,400222023
George Mason UniversityPhiladelphia, PA$15,000222025
Baruch CollegeNew York, NY$14,000222023
St John's UniversityQueens, NY$14,000222022
CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & PolicyNew York, NY$11,000222024
Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn, NY$10,000222022
College of WoosterWooster, OH$10,000222022
CUNY York CollegeJamaica, NY$8,663222024
Buena Vista UniversityStorm Lake, IA$7,500112025
Central CollegePella, IA$7,500112025
Colorado School of MinesGolden, CO$7,500112025
Colorado State UniversityFort Collins, CO$7,500222022
Nassau Community CollegeBoston, MA$7,500112025
Southwestern CollegeWinfield, KS$7,500112024
Stony Brook UniversityStony Brook, NY$7,500112024
University of DenverDenver, CO$7,500112025
University of EdinburghEdinburgh, Scotland$7,500112025
Wake Forest University School of MedicineWinston Salem, NC$7,500112025
Weber State UniversityOgden, UT$7,448222023
Fort Hays State UniversityHays, KS$7,000112021
Neosho County Community CollegeOttawa, KS$7,000112021
University of AlbanyAlbany, NY$7,000112022
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAurora, CO$7,000112021
Webster State UniversityOgden, UT$7,000112021
Baker UniversityBaldwin City, KS$5,000112021
Boston CollegeChestnut Hill, MA$5,000112021
Mount Holyoke CollegeSouth Hadley, MA$5,000112021
Rhode Island School of DesignProvidence, RI$5,000112021
Columbia UniversityNew York, NY$4,900112023
Flint Hills Technical CollegeEmporia, KS$3,750112024
Palm Beach Atlantic UniversityWest Palm Beach, FL$3,644222022
Santa Fe CollegeGainesville, FL$2,500112021
University of ConnecticutStorrs, CT$2,500112021
University of IowaIowa City, IA$2,500112021

30 of 53 (57%) 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 62%, 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 47 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
47 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$151,644$5,000
202222$200,497$7,000
202323$187,488$7,000
202423$214,494$7,500
202521$180,750$7,500

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

45% of its giving went to organizations in Kansas. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Kansas
$424K
New York
$116K
Massachusetts
$87K
Colorado
$78K
Florida
$53K
North Carolina
$40K
Washington
$29K
Alaska
$22K

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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 Fund20 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc19 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc17 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program14 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust14 shared recipientsFolds of Honor Foundation13 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $7,000. 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 Kansas.
  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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in New YorkEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Lois & Max Beren Foundation'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: 100 N Main Suite 700, Wichita, KS, 67202. 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 48-6107224 · 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.

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