M W Murphy Foundation
El Dorado, AR · EIN 71-0802701. Reported 91 grants totalling $2,338,125 to 41 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. 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. M W Murphy 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 $30,000; the smallest was $800 and the largest $125,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tulane University | New Orleans, LA | $440,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| MD Anderson Cancer Center | Houston, TX | $280,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| St Thomas Community Health Center | New Orleans, LA | $260,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Hope Enterprise Corporation | Jackson, MS | $245,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Greater New Orleans Foundation | New Orleans, LA | $175,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Ellis Marsalis Center for Music | New Orleans, LA | $120,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Hendrix College | Conway, AR | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sonoma Valley Education Foundation | Sonoma, CA | $90,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Community Foundation for Mississippi | Jackson, MS | $80,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation | Sonoma, CA | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Louisiana Music & Heritage Exp | New Orleans, LA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| New Orleans Book Fest at Tulane | New Orleans, LA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Human Needs Project Inc | San Rafael, CA | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Mississippi Center for Justice | Jackson, MS | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| New Orleans Jazz Museum | New Orleans, LA | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Trombone Shorty Foundation | New Orleans, LA | $27,250 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Backbeat Foundation Roots of Music | New Orleans, LA | $25,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Tougaloo College | Tougaloo, MS | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Coastal Conservation Association | Houston, TX | $23,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Deep South Today | Ridgeland, MS | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| MD Anderson Caring Fund | Houston, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation | New Orleans, LA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Teach for America-Mississippi Delta | Oxford, MS | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Southern University and A&m College | Baton Rouge, LA | $12,575 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Land Trust for the Ms Coastal Plain | Biloxi, MS | $10,800 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Coahoma Community College | Clarksdale, MS | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Teach for America Greater Delta Mississippi Region | Atlanta, GA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Nature Conservancy of La | Baton Rouge, LA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pass Christian Public Library | Pass Christian, MS | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Ogden Museum of Southern Art | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sonoma Film Festival | Sonoma, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sonoma Valley Museum of Art | Sonoma, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Nature Conservancy of Ms | Madison, MS | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sonoma Plein Air Foundation | Sonoma, CA | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Community Foundation of Washington County | Greenville, MS | $3,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| New Orleans Center for Creative Arts | New Orleans, LA | $3,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Lower Delta Partnership | Rolling Fork, MS | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Springhill Missionary Baptist Church | Marion, LA | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Pass Christian Reserve Police | Pass Christian, MS | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Jazz in the Pass | Pass Christian, MS | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Newhaven Counseling & Health | El Dorado, AR | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
23 of 41 (56%) 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 76%, 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.
- The Greater New Orleans Foundation
GENERAL FUND; PLEDGE FOR GREATER TOGETHER FUND FOR RACIAL EQUITY - Tougaloo College
DR. BEVERLY W. HOGAN ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP - Southern University and A&m College
SCHOLARSHIP FOR AUINYEA L. BIGGS - Pass Christian Public Library
2024 SUMMER READING PROGRAM
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 60 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 | 16 | $463,375 | $20,000 |
| 2022 | 29 | $651,000 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 4 | $87,750 | $21,375 |
| 2024 | 18 | $436,500 | $10,000 |
| 2025 | 24 | $699,500 | $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
53% of its giving went to organizations in Louisiana. 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 Louisiana.
- 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 M W Murphy Foundation'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: 200 N Jefferson, El Dorado, AR, 71730. 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 71-0802701 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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