Melissa and John V Ceriale Family
Boca Raton, FL · EIN 27-1262041. Reported 98 grants totalling $8,522,852 to 61 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation told the IRS it does not accept unsolicited requests: it contributes only to organizations it selects itself.
Does this foundation accept applications?
No -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation to check a box if it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds". Melissa and John V Ceriale Family checked it on its most recent filing, as 78% of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered did. An unsolicited request is unlikely to go anywhere.
Organizations it funds that make grants of their own
4 of the organizations Melissa and John V Ceriale Family funded make grants themselves, and it reported 5 grants totalling $65,000 to them. That is 2% of the $4,040,743 of its giving we could match to a registered organization. Each is classified by the IRS as a philanthropy or grantmaking organization, reported grants to at least 25 organizations of its own, and has at least 10 funders behind it.
All of them file Form 990, which never asks whether an organization funds only groups it picks, so there is no answer on record either way.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application to any of them reaches this foundation's money. A private foundation's grant to a community foundation or a federated campaign is often a donor-advised fund or a gift designated for a purpose the foundation chose, and has nothing to do with any open programme the receiving organization runs. Its return's purpose text sometimes names a family fund or a designated purpose, which is the plainest case of money no applicant can reach; where it names none, neither return says which. The list is who this foundation paid that also makes grants. Whether any of them would fund you is a question for its own page.
| Grantmaker | Kind | State | Received | Grants | Years | Last | Only funds organizations it picks? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coregiving Co | grantmaking organization | Illinois | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 | Its form does not ask |
| United Way of Palm Beach County Inc | federated giving programme | Florida | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 | Its form does not ask |
| Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County Inc | federated giving programme | Florida | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 | Its form does not ask |
| Tides Foundation | grantmaking organization | California | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 | Its form does not ask |
A floor, not a full list. A grantmaker appears here only where this foundation's return named it clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows, and only where that grantmaker has a page on this site. There may be more. Dollars here are summed by EIN across every spelling on its returns, so a figure can differ from the matching row in the full list below, which groups names as written. And the IRS classification cannot tell a grantmaker from a funders' association or a donor-advised fund sponsor, so a payment to one of these may be dues or an account rather than support for a grants programme.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $37,500; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $1,341,345.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John & Melissa S Ceriale Cornell University Foundation | Ithaca, NY | $2,249,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| John & Melissa S Ceriale Cornell University Foundation - Donor Advised Fund | Ithaca, NY | $1,787,609 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Albert Einstein College of Medicine | Bronx, NY | $1,309,150 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | $975,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Montefiore | Bronx, NY | $318,352 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| John Hopkins University | Baltimore, MD | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Montefiore Medical Center | Bronx, NY | $226,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Loyola University Maryland | Baltimore, MD | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Metropolitan Opera Association Inc | New York City, NY | $115,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Palm Beach Cultural Innovation Center Inc | Palm Beach, FL | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Upenn Medicine | Philadelphia, PA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Aspen Institute | Washington, DC | $82,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Their Stories Foundation Inc | Point Pleasant, NJ | $75,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness | West Palm Beach, FL | $62,991 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Unlv Foundation | Las Vegas, NV | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| National Alliance for Eating Disorders | West Palm Beach, FL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Jazz at Aspen-Snowmass | Aspen, CO | $48,250 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Society of the Four Arts | Palm Beach, FL | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Palm Beach Civic Association | Palm Beach, FL | $35,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Coregiving | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Palm Beach Country Club Foundation | Palm Beach, FL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Metropolitan Opera | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Garden Conservancy | Garrison, NY | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Washington Institute for Near East Policy | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Theatre Aspen | Aspen, CO | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| United Way of Palm Beach County Inc | West Palm Beach, FL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| University of Nevada Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Washington Institute | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Anderson Ranch Arts Center | Snowmass Village, CO | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| American Friends of Israel Museum | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Aspetuck Land Trust | Fairfield, CT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Breaking Ground | New York City, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Breaking Ground Housing Development Fund Corporation | New York City, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Children's Museum of Manhattan | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Communities in School of Nevada Inc | Las Vegas, NV | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Emergency Assistance Foundation Inc | West Palm Beach, FL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Good Neighbors Community Outreach Agency Inc | Bronx, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County | West Palm Beach, FL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Lupus Research Alliance | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Promise Fund of Florida Inc | West Palm Beach, FL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Syracuse University | Syracuse, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tides Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Uja Federation of New York | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| 1199SEIU Home Care Industry Education Fund | New York City, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Fair Fund | Washington, DC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County Inc | Delray Beach, FL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jgive - Friends of Asor Fund USA Inc | Jerusalem | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Miami City Ballet | Miami Beach, FL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Move Nyc Foundation | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Rema Hort Mann Foundation | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Rothko Chapel | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tech Kids Unlimited | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Herbert F Johnson Museum (cornell) | Ithaca, NY | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Long Lots Preserve | Westport, CT | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Alzheimer's Association | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Palm Beach Orthodox Synagogue | Palm Beach, FL | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Abilis Inc | Greenwich, CT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church | West Palm Beach, FL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tampa General Hospital Foundation Inc | Tampa, FL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation Inc | Palm Beach, FL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
20 of 61 (33%) 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 51%, across 4 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, and this foundation told the IRS it does not.
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.
- John & Melissa S Ceriale Cornell University Foundation - Donor Advised Fund
GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSES
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 79 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 | 14 | $1,091,852 | $17,500 |
| 2022 | 17 | $1,926,500 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $1,878,150 | $20,000 |
| 2024 | 21 | $1,811,586 | $10,000 |
| 2025 | 28 | $1,814,764 | $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
84% of its giving went to organizations in New York.
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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. Unlike this foundation, none of them is on record as funding only organizations it picks, and each page says what its filings show.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Melissa and John V Ceriale Family'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: 1825 Nw Corporate Blvd 110, Boca Raton, FL, 33431. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS.
EIN 27-1262041 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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