Funders › Massachusetts

Lucia P Fulton Foundation

Boston, MA · EIN 04-6617090. Reported 124 grants totalling $930,400 to 29 recipients across tax years 2020-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$930,400granted, 2020-2025
29recipients, as named on its returns
95%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,818,546assets, 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. Lucia P Fulton 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.

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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $9,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $55,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
56 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
39 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
23 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
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
Peabody Essex MuseumSalem, MA$110,000662025
Northern Light Health FoundationBangor, ME$91,000322022
Good Shepherd Food BankAuburn, ME$69,000662025
Connecticut Food BankWallingford, CT$66,000662025
Northern Light HealthBangor, ME$63,500222025
Little Saplings LLCPortage, ME$55,000112022
Penobscot Marine MuseumSearsport, ME$52,900662025
Maine Tree FoundationAugusta, ME$40,700662025
Maine Coast Heritage TrustTopsham, ME$40,500662025
Robert Abbe MuseumBar Harbor, ME$37,500662025
Healthreach Community Health CentersWaterville, ME$35,000212020
Northern Maine Community CollegePresque Isle, ME$35,000112025
Community Foundation for Greater New HavenNew Haven, CT$34,600662025
Cushingwhitney Medical Library Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT$34,600662025
The Children's Museum IncWest Hartford, CT$29,500662025
Loaves and Fishes EllsworthEllsworth, ME$28,000542025
Maine Forest and Logging Museum IncBradley, ME$17,300662025
New Haven Museum & Historical SocietyNew Haven, CT$17,300662025
Rangeley Lakes Regional Historical SocietyRangeley, ME$11,200662025
Rangeley Public LibraryRangeley, ME$11,200662025
Bridgeport Rescue MissionBridgeport, CT$7,650552025
Downtown Evening Soup KitchenNew Haven, CT$7,650552025
Loaves and Fishes New HavenNew Haven, CT$7,650552025
Operation Hope of Fairfield IncFairfield, CT$7,650552025
Camp KassemCulver City, CA$6,000222021
Hope and Justice ProjectPresque Isle, ME$5,000112025
Ashland Food PantryAshland, ME$3,000112025
Camp KesemCulver City, CA$3,000112022
Connecticut AudubonFairfield, CT$3,000112025

22 of 29 (76%) received money in more than one year over the 6 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 95%, across 5 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 52 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.

Food & Nutrition
12 grants
Arts & Culture
12 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
6 grants
Environment
6 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Housing & Shelter
5 grants
Health Care
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202023$173,000$6,000
202121$164,000$5,000
202222$197,000$5,000
202314$74,000$4,000
202420$125,000$5,000
202524$197,400$5,250

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

64% of its giving went to organizations in Maine. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Maine
$596K
Connecticut
$216K
Massachusetts
$110K
California
$9K

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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 Fund12 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc11 shared recipientsGe Aerospace Foundation10 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc10 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 Maine.
  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 group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Lucia P Fulton Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 6 returns (tax years 2020-2025). 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: Acadia Mgmt Co 45 School St 402, 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 04-6617090 · 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.