Burpee Foundation
Lenox, MA · EIN 74-3047509. Reported 67 grants totalling $1,962,764 to 46 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Burpee 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $15,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $4,380 and the largest $275,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Horticultural Society of New Yo | New York, NY | $275,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bard College | Hudson Valley, NY | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Bridge | New York, NY | $220,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Horticultural Society of New York | New York, NY | $210,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Pennyslvania Horticultural Society | Philadelphia, PA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Fortune Society | Long Island, NY | $66,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Crown Community Garden | New Orleans, LA | $60,350 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Trust for Public Land | Los Angeles, CA | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties | Doylestown, PA | $51,900 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Backyard Growers Inc | Gloucester, MA | $42,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Smithsonian Institution | Washington, DC | $41,667 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Smithsonian Libraries | Washington, DC | $41,667 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Grow Nyc | New York, NY | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Queens Botanical Garden Society Inc | Flushing, NY | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture | Columbia, MO | $32,400 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Bartlett Arboretum Association Inc | Stamford, CT | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Garden Time Inc | Queensbury, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Services for the Underserved | New York, NY | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Giving Grove | Kansas, MO | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Allies Inc | Hamilton Township, NJ | $23,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Environmental Volunteers Org | Palo Alto, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Friends of National Arboretum | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Goddard Riverside Community Center | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sky High Farm | Pine Plains, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tri State Bird Rescue & Research | Newark, DE | $17,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Brooklyn Botanic Garden | Brooklyn, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Brooklyn Botanical Garden | Brooklyn, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bucks County Audobon Society | New Hope, PA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| City Parks Foundation | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Columbia Center for Urban Argicultural | Columbia, MO | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Garden Time Inc | Providence, RI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Island Harvest Inc | Melville, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| New York Restoration Project | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Columbia Center for Urban | Columbia, MO | $14,400 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of the Natioanl Arboretum | Washington, DC | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mianus River Gorge Inc | Bedford, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Presbyterian Senior Service | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Presbyterian Senior Services | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Riverview Gardens Inc | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Guidance Center of Westchester Inc | Mount Vernon, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Andalusia Foundation | Andalusia, PA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bucks County Foodshed Alliance | Doylestown, PA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Gregory's Church | New York, NY | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Zane Trace Local School District | Chillicothe, OH | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kidspeace National Center of New England | Schnecksville, PA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Osamequin Farm Inc | Seekonk, MA | $4,380 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
13 of 46 (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 43%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
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.
- The Horticultural Society of New York
$75,000 RESTRICTED TO GREEN HOUSE/GREEN TEAM PROGRAMS, $75,000 TO ITS NYDIGS PRGRAMS AT THE EDUCATION CENTER AND KITCHEN GARDEN IN DENNY FARRELL RIVERBANK STATE PARK. - The Pennyslvania Horticultural Society
RESTRICTED TO HORTICULTURAL PROGRAMS - The Bridge
RESTRICTED TO HORTICULTURE PROGRAMS - Smithsonian Libraries
PREPARATION OF ARCHIVAL HISTORY - Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture
RESTRSICTED TO THE CONSCTRUCTION - Crown Community Garden
RESTRICTED TO THE HIRING A PART TIME GARDNER
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 40 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | $369,850 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 15 | $293,567 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 14 | $301,800 | $15,000 |
| 2024 | 25 | $997,547 | $15,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Burpee Foundation has 1 of them, worth $83,333. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Smithsonian Libraries | Washington, DC | $83,333 |
Where its money goes
67% of its giving went to organizations in New York. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Burpee Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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: Po Box 1763, Lenox, MA, 01240. 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 74-3047509 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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