Funders › Massachusetts

Clara B Winthrop Charitable Trust

Boston, MA · EIN 04-6039972. Reported 139 grants totalling $1,193,123 to 30 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$8,640median grant
$1,193,123granted, 2021-2025
30recipients, as named on its returns
100%of grantees funded again the next year
$6,132,179assets, 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. Clara B Winthrop 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 $8,640. Half of everything it gave fell between $7,000 and $10,350; the smallest was $1,440 and the largest $15,840. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
10 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
81 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
48 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
Manchester Public LibraryManchesterbythesea, MA$66,165552025
Town of Manchester-By- the-SeaManchesterbythesea, MA$60,150552025
Vna Care NetworkDanvers, MA$60,150552025
Beverly HospitalBeverly, MA$54,135552025
Boston Children's Hospital TrustBoston, MA$54,135552025
Bowdoin CollegeBrunswick, ME$54,135552025
Library of the Boston Athenaeum IncBoston, MA$54,135552025
Massachusetts Historical SocietyBoston, MA$54,135552025
St John's Episcopal ChurchBeverly, MA$54,135552025
Trustees of ReservationsBoston, MA$51,738552025
Brigham & Women's HospitalBoston, MA$48,120552025
Museum of ScienceBoston, MA$44,393552025
New England AquariumBoston, MA$44,393552025
Wenham MuseumWenham, MA$43,180552025
Boys & Girls Clubs of BostonBoston, MA$42,105552025
Historic New EnglandBoston, MA$42,105552025
St Peter's Episcopal ChurchBeverly, MA$42,105552025
The Epiphany SchoolDorchester, MA$36,593552025
Harvard College FundCambridge, MA$36,090552025
Friends of Manchester Trees IncManchesterbythesea, MA$32,575552025
Manchester Community CtrManchesterbythesea, MA$32,025442024
Manchester Historical SocietyManchesterbythesea, MA$32,025442024
Home for Little WanderersBoston, MA$30,075552025
WGBH Educational FoundationBoston, MA$30,075552025
Winsor SchoolBoston, MA$30,075552025
New England Conservatory of MusicBoston, MA$28,863552025
Manchester By the Sea MuseumManchester, MA$10,080112025
The Navigator FoundationBeverly Farms, MA$9,730442025
Seed Global HealthBoston, MA$8,303552025
National Public RadioWashington, DC$7,200112025

28 of 30 (93%) 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 100%, 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 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 89 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
34 grants
Education
30 grants
Environment
5 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Human Services
5 grants
Youth Development
5 grants
Health Care
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202127$230,200$8,625
202228$200,000$7,250
202328$210,000$7,350
202428$275,003$9,625
202528$277,920$10,080

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

95% 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
$1.1M
Maine
$54K
District of Columbia
$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 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 Fund18 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program15 shared recipientsBoston Foundation Inc15 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust14 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc13 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $8,640. 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 group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Clara B Winthrop 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: 45 School St 5TH Floor, Boston, MA, 02108. 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 04-6039972 · 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.