Funders › Massachusetts

Davis Publications Charitable Trust

Worcester, MA · EIN 04-6880358. Reported 118 grants totalling $91,450 to 40 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$500median grant
$91,450granted, 2021-2025
40recipients, as named on its returns
83%of grantees funded again the next year
$284,615assets, 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. Davis Publications 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 $500. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $1,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $4,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
74 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
44 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
United WayWorcester, MA$9,000332025
Worcester Historical MuseumWorcester, MA$8,000552025
United Way of Central MassachusettsWorcester, MA$6,000222022
Joy of Music ProgramWorcester, MA$5,700552025
African Community EducationWorcester, MA$5,000552025
CentroWorcester, MA$5,000552025
Worcester Animal Rescue LeagueWorcester, MA$5,000552025
Worcester Art MuseumWorcester, MA$4,000552025
WicnWorcester, MA$3,250552025
Worcester Youth CenterWorcester, MA$3,250552025
ArtsworcesterWorcester, MA$3,000332025
Texas Art Education Association (taea)Dallas, TX$3,000332024
American Antiquarian SocietyWorcester, MA$2,500552025
Crocodile River MusicWorcester, MA$2,500552025
Edward Street Child ServicesWorcester, MA$2,500552025
Main Idea WorcesterWorcester, MA$2,500552025
Mechanics Hall Portrait ProjectWorcester, MA$2,500112023
Worcester Center for CraftsWorcester, MA$2,500552025
Arts WorcesterWorcester, MA$2,000222022
Fitchburg Art MuseumFitchburg, MA$2,000442025
Creative Hub WorcesterWorcester, MA$1,250332023
Naea FoundationAlexandria, VA$1,250552025
California Art Education Association (caea)Sierra Madre, CA$1,000112022
Florida Arts Education Association (faea)Tallahassee, FL$1,000112022
Old Sturbridge VillageSturbridge, MA$1,000222023
Worcester Regional Research BureauWorcester, MA$1,000222025
Bell Tower Cultural Center at Three Church Hill Arts and Cultural CeterMartins Creek, PA$500112024
IntrahealthChapel Hill, NC$500112021
Mass Cultural CouncilBoston, MA$500222024
Massachusetts Cultural CouncilBoston, MA$500222022
No Loose BraidsEast Hardwick, VT$500112025
No Loose Braids Co Tiny Seed ProjectEast Hardwick, VT$500112024
WcuwWorcester, MA$500112025
Worcester Educ Dev Foundation (arts)Worcester, MA$500222024
Worcester Educational Development Foundation (arts)Worcester, MA$500222022
Regional Environmental CouncilWorcester, MA$300332025
Common Ground WorcesterWorcester, MA$250112025
Massachusetts After School ProgramBoston, MA$250112021
Reggio Emilia FoundationReggio Emilia$250112021
Regional Environmental Council (rec)Worcester, MA$200222022

29 of 40 (72%) 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 83%, 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 74 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
37 grants
Human Services
10 grants
Environment
8 grants
Education
7 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Youth Development
4 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
2 grants
Housing & Shelter
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$19,600$500
202225$19,450$750
202324$19,950$625
202424$16,850$500
202522$15,600$500

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

91% 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
$83K
Texas
$3K
Virginia
$1K
Vermont
$1K
Florida
$1K
California
$1K
Pennsylvania
$500
North Carolina
$500

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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.

Greater Worcester Community Foundation20 shared recipientsThe George I Alden Trust15 shared recipientsStoddard Charitable Trust14 shared recipientsThe Fletcher Foundation14 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund14 shared recipientsUnited Way of Central Massachusetts Inc13 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $500. 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 human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Davis Publications 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: 50 Portland Street, Worcester, MA, 01608. 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 04-6880358 · 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.