Funders › New York

Cecelia Joyce and Seward Johnson

New York, NY · EIN 22-3048720. Reported 107 grants totalling $2,017,375 to 38 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$2,017,375granted, 2021-2025
38recipients, as named on its returns
70%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,357,561assets, 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. Cecelia Joyce and Seward Johnson 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $21,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $454,400. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
11 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
28 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
42 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
15 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
9 grants
$100,000 and Up
1 grant

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
Artists Association of NantucketNantucket, MA$526,900752025
Theatre Workshop of Nantucket IncNantucket, MA$190,3501252025
Key West Literary SocietyKey West, FL$166,000532025
The Forman SchoolLitchfield, CT$150,000332023
Grounds for SculptureHamilton, NJ$120,000442024
Shippensburg University FoundationShippensburg, PA$101,125442025
Sakyong PotrangBoulder, CO$85,000552025
Eugene O'neill Theater CenterWaterford, CT$71,500442025
George Street PlayhouseNew Brunswick, NJ$65,000552025
Kingdom County ProductionsBarnet, VT$65,000222024
Screenwriters ColonyBrooklyn, NY$55,000652025
Nantucket DreamlandNantucket, MA$50,000112021
Nantucket Historical SocietyNantucket, MA$50,000552025
Rowan University Foundation IncGlassboro, NJ$50,000112021
Type Media CenterNew York, NY$50,000552025
Cooke School and InstituteNew York, NY$25,000112021
Mccarter Theatre CenterPrinceton, NJ$25,000552025
Nantucket Film FestivalNew York, NY$25,000332023
Florida Atlantic University Foundation IncBoca Raton, FL$21,000112025
Karme Choling Shambhala Meditation CenterBarne, VT$15,000212021
Key West PlayersKey West, FL$15,000332025
Hopewell Valley Arts CouncilPennington, NJ$10,000112025
Ohu Gift FoundationNew York, NY$10,000112024
The Chubbys ProjectHopewell, NJ$10,000112023
Town of BarnetBarnet, VT$10,000222025
Fractured AtlasNew York, NY$7,500212024
Nantucket Land CouncilNantucket, MA$5,500222023
Curtis Institute of MusicPhiladelphia, PA$5,000112023
Hamilton Area YMCAHamilton, NJ$5,000112021
Parity ProductionsNew York, NY$5,000112021
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (ssaam)Hopewell, NJ$5,000112023
Sustainable NantucketNantucket, MA$5,000112023
Todd Mertz Co Shinzen Young FoundationYardley, PA$5,000112024
Lake Harvey AssociationBarnet, VT$4,000442025
Library of America Dba Literary Classics of the USNew York, NY$3,000112021
Center for Independent DocumentaryNewton, MA$2,500112025
Finger Lakes Land TrustIthaca, NY$2,500112021
Sourland ConservancyHopewell, NJ$500112021

19 of 38 (50%) 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 70%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 75 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.

Arts & Culture
52 grants
Environment
8 grants
Education
7 grants
Religion
5 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Housing & Shelter
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$341,500$10,000
202219$300,925$10,000
202323$394,150$10,000
202423$293,900$10,000
202519$686,900$10,000

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

41% of its giving went to organizations in Massachusetts. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Massachusetts
$830K
New Jersey
$290K
Connecticut
$222K
Florida
$202K
New York
$183K
Pennsylvania
$111K
Vermont
$94K
Colorado
$85K

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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 Fund22 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc19 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program18 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust15 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc10 shared recipientsGs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. 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 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 arts & culture in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in New JerseyEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in ConnecticutEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Cecelia Joyce and Seward Johnson'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: Co Crm Po Box 778, New York, NY, 10013. 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 22-3048720 · 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.