FundersIllinois

Palmer and Jane D Davenport Foundation

Chicago, IL · EIN 20-7210080. Reported 57 grants totalling $684,000 to 36 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$684,000granted, 2021-2024
36organizations funded
70%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,654,203assets, 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. Palmer and Jane D Davenport 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
12 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
27 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
11 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
6 grants
$100,000 and Up
1 grant

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
The Cape Cod Foundation IncSouth Yarmouth, MA$160,000432023
Cape Cod Healthcare IncHyannis, MA$100,000112022
Cape Area Pilots AssociationWaquoit, MA$50,000112024
Cape Cod Healthcare FoundationHyannis, MA$50,000112023
Seaside Lemans FundSouth Yarmouth, MA$50,000112024
Cape Wellness CollaborativeSouth Yarmouth, MA$35,000532024
Cape Cod Council of Churches IncHyannis, MA$28,000332024
Cape Abilities IncHyannis, MA$25,000222023
Penikese Island SchoolWoods Hole, MA$25,000332024
Champ HomesHyannis, MA$17,500442024
Gosnold Behavioral HealthFalmouth, MA$15,000222024
Belonging to Each Other IncFalmouth, MA$12,500332023
Cape Cod Times Needy FundHyannis, MA$12,500332023
Elder Services of Cape Cod & the IslandsSouth Dennis, MA$12,500222024
Brazilian Resource CenterHyannis, MA$10,000112024
Boys & Girls Club of Cape CodMashpee, MA$5,000112023
Cape & Islands Veterans Outreach CenterHyannis, MA$5,000112023
Cape Cod Times Neighbors FundHyannis, MA$5,000112024
Cape Kid MealsOsterville, MA$5,000112024
Community Health Center of Cape CodMashpee, MA$5,000112023
Dream Day on Cape CodBrewster, MA$5,000112023
Duffy Health CenterHyannis, MA$5,000112023
Family Pantry of Cape CodHarwich, MA$5,000112023
Gosnold IncFalmouth, MA$5,000112022
Harbor Health Services IncHyannis, MA$5,000112023
Sharing Kindness IncSouth Harwich, MA$5,000112023
Tedys TeamPlainville, MA$5,000112022
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape CodHyannis, MA$4,500112023
Behavioral Health Innovators IncSouth Chatham, MA$3,000112023
Ma Military Support Foundation IncSandwich, MA$3,000112023
Falmouth Service Center IncFalmouth, MA$2,500112024
Kennedy-Donovan Center IncWest Yarmouth, MA$2,500112023
YMCA Cape CodWest Barnstable, MA$2,500112024
Cape Cod Foster ClosetOrleans, MA$1,000112024
Harwich Historical SocietyHarwich, MA$1,000112023
Historical Society of Old YarmouthYarmouth Port, MA$1,000112023

10 of 36 (28%) 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 70%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 40 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Health Care
8 grants
Housing & Shelter
7 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Education
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Crime & Legal
3 grants
Mental Health
2 grants
Arts & Culture
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20216$75,000$5,000
202210$200,500$6,500
202325$230,000$5,000
202416$178,500$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

Hyannis, MA
$272K
South Yarmouth, MA
$240K
Waquoit, MA
$50K
Falmouth, MA
$35K
Woods Hole, MA
$25K
South Dennis, MA
$12K
Mashpee, MA
$10K
Harwich, MA
$6K

Find more foundations like Palmer and Jane D Davenport Foundation

We email you newly filed foundations whose giving matches your state and cause, as the IRS publishes them. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund22 shared recipientsCape Cod Foundation Inc22 shared recipientsMutual Bancorp Foundation Inc20 shared recipientsCape Cod Healthcare Inc & Affiliates14 shared recipientsEastern Bank Foundation14 shared recipientsRockland Trust Charitable Foundation10 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 Massachusetts.
  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 human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Palmer and Jane D Davenport 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: C/O Northern Trust Po Box 803878, Chicago, IL, 60680. 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 20-7210080 · 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.