Funders › Rhode Island

Ashaway Charitable Trust

Westerly, RI · EIN 05-6003255. Reported 145 grants totalling $316,500 to 41 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$316,500granted, 2021-2025
41recipients, as named on its returns
89%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,411,228assets, 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. Ashaway Charitable Trust 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 $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $3,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $15,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
29 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
94 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
20 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
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
Westerly Land TrustWesterly, RI$27,000552025
Wood River Health Services IncHope Valley, RI$25,500442025
The Jonnycake Center of WesterlyWesterly, RI$25,000552025
United Way of Rhode Island IncProvidence, RI$21,000552025
Warm IncWesterly, RI$20,000442025
Nature ConservancyProvidence, RI$19,000552025
Save the BayProvidence, RI$15,000552025
Meals on Wheels of Ri IncProvidence, RI$12,000442025
Stand Up for AnimalsWesterly, RI$12,000552025
The Gordon SchoolEast Providence, RI$12,000332025
Ocean Community YMCA Attn Maureen Fitzgerald CeoWesterly, RI$11,000332023
St Paul's SchoolConcord, NH$11,000222025
Ri Center Assisting Those in NeedCarolina, RI$9,000332023
Dana Hall SchoolWellesley, MA$7,000552025
Ashaway Free LibraryAshaway, RI$6,000552025
Hopehealth Attn PhilanthropyProvidence, RI$6,000332023
Oak Grove Cemetery AssociationAshaway, RI$6,000552025
Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed AssociationHope Valley, RI$6,000552025
Connecticut College FundNew London, CT$5,000552025
Fall River Deaconess HomeFall River, MA$5,000332025
Trinity CollegeHartford, CT$5,000552025
Warm ShelterWesterly, RI$5,000112021
Audubon Society of Rhode IslandSmithfield, RI$4,000552025
Denison Pequotsepos Nature CenterMystic, CT$4,000552025
RicanCharlestown, RI$4,000222025
Ashaway Volunteer Fire DepartmentAshaway, RI$3,500552025
Babcock-Smith House MuseumWesterly, RI$3,500552025
Literacy Volunteers of Washington CountyWesterly, RI$3,000442024
Meals on Wheels of Rhode IslandProvidence, RI$3,000112021
Memorial & Library Association of WesterlyWesterly, RI$3,000222025
St Paul's SchoolCranston, RI$3,000332023
Ocean Community Chamber FoundationWesterly, RI$2,500442025
Ocean Community YMCAWesterly, RI$2,000222025
Chorus of WesterlyWesterly, RI$1,500332023
Hope Valley Fire DepartmentHope Valley, RI$1,500332023
International Tennis Hall of FameNewport, RI$1,500222023
Langworthy Public LibraryHope Valley, RI$1,500332023
Memorial & Library Association of Westerly Attn Executive DirectorWesterly, RI$1,500332023
HopehealthProvidence, RI$1,000112024
Rocky Hill Country Day SchoolEast Greenwich, RI$1,000112022
Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers AssociationWesterly, RI$1,000112024

36 of 41 (88%) 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 89%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 84 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
31 grants
Environment
15 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants
Food & Nutrition
5 grants
Mutual Benefit
5 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Health Care
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202130$68,500$1,000
202230$54,500$1,000
202332$66,500$1,000
202427$67,000$1,000
202526$60,000$2,000

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

88% of its giving went to organizations in Rhode Island. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Rhode Island
$280K
Connecticut
$14K
Massachusetts
$12K
New Hampshire
$11K

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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 Fund19 shared recipientsThe Rhode Island Community Foundation16 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program14 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsWashington Trust Co Charitable Fdn12 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. 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 Rhode Island.
  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 Ashaway Charitable Trust'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: 23 Broad Street, Westerly, RI, 02891. 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 05-6003255 · 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.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.