Funders › Rhode Island

Mary D Chafee Fund Co Mark Chafee

Little Compton, RI · EIN 05-6006295. Reported 163 grants totalling $783,539 to 62 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$783,539granted, 2021-2025
62recipients, as named on its returns
69%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,951,325assets, 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. Mary D Chafee Fund Co Mark Chafee 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 $3,000 and $6,250; the smallest was $900 and the largest $10,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
1 grant
$1,000 - $5,000
76 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
75 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
11 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
Boys and Girls Club of ProvidenceProvidence, RI$35,000442025
Ellsworth Free Medical ClinicEllsworth, ME$35,000442025
Planned Parenthood of Southern New EnglandProvidence, RI$30,500442025
Frenchman Bay ConservancyHancock, ME$30,000442025
Project Goal IncProvidence, RI$29,000442025
Providence After School AllianceProvidence, RI$29,000442025
Families First Community CenterEllesworth, ME$26,000332025
San Miguel School of ProvidenceProvidence, RI$26,000552025
Boys and Girls Club of PawtucketPawtucket, RI$25,000332025
Providence Preservation SocietyProvidence, RI$25,000552025
Providence Public LibraryProvidence, RI$22,000552025
Church of the RedeemerProvidence, RI$21,750552025
Woonasquatucket River ShedProvidence, RI$21,600552025
Beautiful DayProvidence, RI$21,000332023
Better Lives RiProvidence, RI$21,000442024
Dorcas International Institute of RiProvidence, RI$21,000332025
Lucy's HearthMiddletown, RI$20,000442024
Southside Community Land TrustProvidence, RI$19,750552025
Loaves and Fishes Food PantryProvidence, RI$19,500332025
Next Step Domestic Violence CurrencyEllsworth, ME$18,000222025
Ri Community Food BankProvidence, RI$17,000552025
Rhode Islanders Sponsoring EducationProvidence, RI$15,000552025
Ri Philharmonic Orchestra & MusicEast Providence, RI$15,000332025
Providence Children's MuseumProvidence, RI$12,300222022
College VisionsProvidence, RI$12,000442025
Newportfall River Star Kids Scholarship ProgramMiddletown, RI$12,000442025
East Bay Food PantryBristol, RI$11,500442025
Meals on Wheels of RiProvidence, RI$11,000552025
Save the Bay IncProvidence, RI$10,500222023
Connecting Children and FamiliesWoonsocket, RI$10,039442024
Community Boating Center IncProvidence, RI$10,000222023
Community String Project IncBristol, RI$10,000552025
Nature ConservancyProvidence, RI$10,000112021
Providence Athenaeum CurrencyProvidence, RI$10,000222025
Boysf and Girls Club of ProvidenceProvidence, RI$9,000112022
Children's FriendProvidence, RI$8,000332025
Women's Resource CenterWarren, RI$8,000112025
Planned Parenthood of Southern NeProvidence, RI$7,500112021
Schoodic Arts for AllWinter Harbor, ME$7,000222025
Camp Surefire FoundationBristol, RI$6,000222023
Groundwork of Ri CurrencyPawtucket, RI$6,000222025
Trinity Repertory CompanyProvidence, RI$6,000222025
134 CollaborativeProvidence, RI$5,500222025
Bagaduce MusicBlue Hill, ME$5,000112021
Boys and Girls Club of Northern RiWoonsocket, RI$5,000112021
College Crusade of RiProvidence, RI$5,000112021
Mae Organization IncCranston, RI$5,000222024
Onward We LearnProvidence, RI$5,000112022
Providence County Day SchoolProvidence, RI$5,000112021
Providence Country Day SchoolProvidence, RI$4,000112022
SquashbustersProvidence, RI$3,500112023
Inspiring MindsProvidence, RI$3,000112025
Coggeshall Farm MuseumBristol, RI$2,500112022
Squash Busters IncProvidence, RI$2,500112021
The Mile of History AssociationProvidence, RI$2,500112023
Benjamin Church Senior Center IncBristol, RI$2,000112024
Clothes to Kids RiJohnston, RI$2,000112024
Jdp Theatre CoEast Providence, RI$1,500112022
School OneProvidence, RI$1,500112021
Family Services of RiProvidence, RI$1,200112021
Animal Rescue League of Southern RiPeace Dale, RI$1,000112024
John Clark Senior LivingMiddletown, RI$900112023

40 of 62 (65%) 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 69%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 103 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
17 grants
Education
13 grants
Human Services
13 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
10 grants
Food & Nutrition
9 grants
Health Care
8 grants
Youth Development
8 grants
Recreation & Sports
6 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202131$150,000$5,000
202233$150,000$4,000
202331$165,539$5,000
202435$155,000$4,000
202533$163,000$5,000

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

85% of its giving went to organizations in Rhode Island. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Rhode Island
$663K
Maine
$121K

Get funders for your state and cause by email

We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.

Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.

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.

The Rhode Island Community Foundation32 shared recipientsThe Champlin Foundation26 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund26 shared recipientsUnited Way of Rhode Island Inc24 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc20 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc20 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 Rhode Island.
  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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Mary D Chafee Fund Co Mark Chafee'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: 31 Patten Drive, Little Compton, RI, 02837. 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 05-6006295 · 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.