FundersMassachusetts

Trustees of the Ayer Home

Lowell, MA · EIN 04-2157061. Reported 94 grants totalling $269,400 to 27 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$3,000median grant
$269,400granted, 2021-2024
27organizations funded
100%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,837,377assets, 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. Trustees of the Ayer Home 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 $3,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $3,600; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $4,600. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
94 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
Girls Inc Girls IncLowell, MA$15,800442024
Lowell Boys & Girls Club Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell IncLowell, MA$15,800442024
Lowell Day Nursery Assoc Lowell Day Nursery AssociationLowell, MA$15,800442024
Lowell Assoc for the Blind Lowell Association for the BlindLowell, MA$15,200442024
Acre Family Day Care Acre Family Day CareLowell, MA$14,800442024
Acs Inc Adolescent Consultation Services IncCambridge, MA$14,800442024
Lowell Community Health Center Lowell Community Health CenterLowell, MA$14,800442024
Merrimack Repertory Theatre Merrimack Repertory TheatreLowell, MA$14,800442024
Project Learn Project LearnLowell, MA$14,800442024
The Wish Project the Wish ProjectLowell, MA$14,800442024
Merrimack Valley Food Bank Merrimack Valley Food BankLowell, MA$12,400442024
Alternative House Alternative HouseLowell, MA$12,200442024
House of Hope House of HopeLowell, MA$12,200442024
International Inst of New England International Inst of New EnglandLowell, MA$11,400442024
On the Move Inc on the Move IncMethuen, MA$8,500442024
Challenge Unlimited Challenge Unlimited at Ironstone FarmAndover, MA$8,400442024
Greater Lowell Family YMCA Greater Lowell Family YMCALowell, MA$8,050442024
The Center for Hope and Healing the Center for Hope and HealingLowell, MA$8,050442024
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Assoc Cambodian Mutual Assistance AssocLowell, MA$7,400442024
Reach Out & Read Reach Out & ReadBoston, MA$7,400442024
Mill City Grows Mill City GrowsLowell, MA$6,000332024
Coalition for a Better Acre Coalition for a Better AcreLowell, MA$5,600442024
Project Kompass Project KompassNo Chelmsford, MA$4,000222024
Community Teamwork Inc Community TeamworkLowell, MA$3,200222022
African Community Center of Lowell African Community Center of LowellLowell, MA$1,200112024
Kids in Tech Inc Kids in Tech IncLowell, MA$1,000112024
Lowell Youth Leadership Program Lowell Youth Leadership ProgramLowell, MA$1,000112024

24 of 27 (89%) 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 100%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 49 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
13 grants
Housing & Shelter
10 grants
Youth Development
9 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Mental Health
4 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Human Services
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$71,500$4,000
202223$60,400$2,700
202323$62,000$2,700
202426$75,500$3,200

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

Lowell, MA
$226K
Cambridge, MA
$15K
Methuen, MA
$8K
Andover, MA
$8K
Boston, MA
$7K
No Chelmsford, MA
$4K

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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.

Eastern Bank Foundation14 shared recipientsGreater Lowell Community Foundation12 shared recipientsWe Share a Common Thread Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsThe Saab Family Foundation11 shared recipientsCummings Foundation Grants Inc (fka Oneworld Boston Inc)9 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,000. 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 education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Trustees of the Ayer Home'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: 41 Wellman Street, Lowell, MA, 01851. 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 04-2157061 · 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.