Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation
Providence, RI · EIN 05-0504814. Reported 51 grants totalling $19.8M to 36 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. Jonathan M Nelson Family 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $150,000; the smallest was $250 and the largest $6,000,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown University | Providence, RI | $6,510,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Institute for Advanced Study | Princeton, NJ | $3,700,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Rockefeller University | New York, NY | $2,725,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund | New York, NY | $2,300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | $2,020,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| New York Presbyterian Fund | New York, NY | $1,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Foundation to Combat Antiseminism | Foxborough, MA | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Harvard Business School | Cambridge, MA | $400,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Northfield Mount Hermon School | Mount Hermon, MA | $110,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Harc Foundation | Marina Del Rey, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Milken Institute | Santa Monica, CA | $62,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Narragansett Council Boys Scouts of America | East Providence, RI | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Pan Mass Challenge | West Brookline, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Save the Bay | Providence, RI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Gorden School | East Providence, RI | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Community Word Project | New York, NY | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Malaria No More | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Inner City Scholarship Fund | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Iyrs | Newport, RI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Trinity Repertory Company | Providence, RI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Boston Athenaeum | Boston, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Endeavor Global | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Harmony Program | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Fund for Public Schools | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Jamestown Community Farm Inc | Jamestown, RI | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Tourete Association of America | Bayside, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Rhode Island Zoological Society | Providence, RI | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Shawn Thorntor Foundation | Boston, MA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tennis Hall of Fame | Newport, RI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Nature Conservancy of Utah | Arlington, VA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Community Musicworks | Providence, RI | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island | Saunderstown, RI | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Alta Community Enrichment | Alta, UT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Conanicut Island Land Trust | Jamestown, RI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| World Wildlife Fund Inc | Washington, DC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Jamestown Fire Department | Jamestown, RI | $500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
12 of 36 (33%) 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 15%, across 2 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.
- Brown University
TO PROVIDE EDUCATION AND PREPARE STUDENTS TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY, NATION AND THE WORLD BY COMMUNICATING AND PRESERVING KNOWLEDGE - Institute for Advanced Study
THE INSTITUTE EXISTS TO ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT FUNDAMENTAL SCHOLARSHIP THE ORIGINAL, OFTEN SPECULATIVE, THINKING THAT PRODUCES ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE THAT CHANGE THE WAY WE UNDERSTAND THE WORLD. - The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund
TO FOSTER INNOVATIVE IDEAS, SOLVING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES, AND ENABLING PROGRESS IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES GLOBALLY. - Columbia University
TO RAISE AWARENESS AND FUNDING FOR TRANSPLATION RESEARCH ACROSS ALL ORGAN DISCIPLINES. - New York Presbyterian Fund
TO RECEIVE, SOLICIT, AND ADMINISTER FUNDS TO BE APPLIED EXCLUSIVELY FOR CHARITABLE, EDUCATIONAL, AND SCIENTIFIC PURPOSES OF THE NY AND PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL AND ANY OTHER HEALTH CARE RELATED CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS - Harvard Business School
EDUCATIONAL - TO SUPPORT STUDENTS NEEDS
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 28 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 | 11 | $1,078,500 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 2 | $6,010,000 | $3,005,000 |
| 2023 | 24 | $3,930,250 | $22,500 |
| 2024 | 14 | $8,814,750 | $20,000 |
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. Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation has 1 of them, worth $6,000,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Brown University | Providence, RI | $6,000,000 |
Where its money goes
41% 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 $10,000. 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 Jonathan M Nelson Family 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: 50 Kennedy Plaza 18TH Floor, Providence, RI, 02903. 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 05-0504814 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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