FundersConnecticut

The Rockfall Foundation

Middletown, CT · EIN 06-6000700. Reported 60 grants totalling $155,808 to 39 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,704median grant
$155,808granted, 2020-2024
39organizations funded
43%of grantees funded again the next year
$6,080,190assets, 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. The Rockfall 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 $2,704. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,800 and $3,000; the smallest was $600 and the largest $6,835. 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
57 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
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
Valley Shore YMCAWestbrook, CT$15,500552024
Everyone Outside IncDurham, CT$13,920552024
Middletown Public SchoolsMiddletown, CT$9,760222023
Bushy Hill Nature CenterDeep River, CT$8,500332024
Connecticut Forest & Park AssociationRockfall, CT$8,500332022
Two Coyotes Wilderness SchoolBridgeport, CT$7,000332023
Connecticut River MuseumEssex, CT$6,950222024
Long Hill Estate Authority Wadsworth MansionMiddletown, CT$6,500222021
Brownstone QuorumPortland, CT$5,300332024
Wesleyan UniversityMiddletown, CT$4,900112024
Ct River MuseumEssex, CT$4,600222021
Old Lyme Open Space CommissionOld Lyme, CT$4,250222023
Connecticut Forest & Park AssocMiddlefield, CT$4,000112024
Town of PortlandPortland, CT$4,000112021
Fountain Hill Cemetary AssociatioDeep River, CT$3,600112024
East Haddam Land TrustEast Haddam, CT$3,500112021
Two Coyotes Wildnerness SchoolNewtown, CT$3,500112024
Russell LibraryMiddletown, CT$3,100112021
ArtfarmMiddletown, CT$2,900112022
Killingworth Land Conservation TrustKillingworth, CT$2,735112022
The EstuaryOld Saybrook, CT$2,674112022
Pathfinders IncKillingworth, CT$2,654112023
Chester Fair Project Fund C/O Middlesex Community FoundationMiddletown, CT$2,540112022
Mxcc FoundationMiddletown, CT$2,500112020
High Hopes Therapeutic Riding IncOld Lyme, CT$2,350112022
Free CenterMiddletown, CT$2,000112022
I-Park Foundation IncEast Haddam, CT$2,000112020
Sea Research Foundation D/B/a Mystic AquariumMystic, CT$2,000112020
Westbrook Garden ClubWestbrook, CT$1,625112022
Camp Hazen YMCAChester, CT$1,500112020
City of MiddletownMiddletown, CT$1,500112021
East Hampton Parks & Recreation DeptEast Hampton, CT$1,500112020
Middletown Garden ClubMiddletown, CT$1,500112021
St Vincent Depaul MiddletownMiddletown, CT$1,500112021
Chester Land TrustChester, CT$1,200112022
Clean Water FundCromwell, CT$1,200112023
Old Saybrook Middle SchoolOld Saybrook, CT$1,050112024
East Hampton Clean Energy Task ForcEast Hampton, CT$900112024
Frederick Brewster Elementary SchooDurham, CT$600112023

11 of 39 (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 43%, across 4 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 23 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Environment
8 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
4 grants
Education
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202011$26,250$2,500
202112$29,900$2,500
202215$35,919$2,540
202311$30,539$3,000
202411$33,200$3,500

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

Middletown, CT
$39K
Westbrook, CT
$17K
Durham, CT
$15K
Deep River, CT
$12K
Essex, CT
$12K
Portland, CT
$9K
Rockfall, CT
$8K
Bridgeport, CT
$7K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund11 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust4 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsDominion Energy Charitable Foundation4 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,704. 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 Connecticut.
  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 The Rockfall Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 27 Washington Street, Middletown, CT, 06457. 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 06-6000700 · 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.