Funders › New York

Orville Cook Scholarship Fund 001550

Olean, NY · EIN 16-6404075. Reported 24 grants totalling $71,865 to 20 recipients across tax years 2023-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,400median grant
$71,865granted, 2023-2025
20recipients, as named on its returns
17%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,060,468assets, 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. Orville Cook Scholarship Fund 001550 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 $2,400. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,710 and $4,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $9,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
22 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
2 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
Finger Lakes Community CollegeCanandaigua, NY$9,000112025
SUNY BrockportBrockport, NY$8,500112025
Binghamton UniversityBinghamton, NY$6,210222025
Rochester Institute of TechnologyRochester, NY$5,280222024
Temple UniversityPhiladelphia, PA$4,500112025
University of RichmondRichmond, VA$4,500112025
SUNY OswegoOswego, NY$4,280222024
Slippery Rock UniversitySlippery Rock, PA$4,000112025
St John Fisher UniversityRochester, NY$3,400222024
Long Island UniversityBrooklyn, NY$3,280112024
Syracuse UniversitySyracuse, NY$3,280112024
Arcadia UniversityGlenside, PA$2,400112024
SUNY CantonCanton, NY$2,400112024
SUNY FredoniaFredonia, NY$2,400112024
Clarkson UniversityPostdam, NY$1,750112023
Dominican UniversityRiver Forest, IL$1,710112023
Monroe Community CollegeRochester, NY$1,575112024
Hobart and William Smith CollegesGeneva, NY$1,200112023
SUNY CortlandCortland, NY$1,200112023
St Bonaventure UniversitySt Bonaventure, NY$1,000112023

4 of 20 (20%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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 17%, 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 11 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.

Education
11 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20239$12,570$1,200
20249$24,295$2,400
20256$35,000$4,500

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

76% 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.

New York
$55K
Pennsylvania
$11K
Virginia
$4K
Illinois
$2K

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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 Fund9 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America9 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust8 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,400. 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 New York.
  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 education in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in PennsylvaniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Orville Cook Scholarship Fund 001550's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2023-2025). 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: 201 North Union St, Olean, NY, 14760. 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 16-6404075 · 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.