Funders › Massachusetts

Russell-Davidson Foundation

Orleans, MA · EIN 04-3198713. Reported 81 grants totalling $241,600 to 27 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$500median grant
$241,600granted, 2021-2024
27recipients, as named on its returns
81%of grantees funded again the next year
$785,195assets, 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. Russell-Davidson 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 $500. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $1,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
46 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
27 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
3 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
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
Mt Vernon VirtuosiBaltimore, MD$106,000442024
Fidelity Charitable FoundationCovington, KY$59,500332023
Saint Bani SchoolSanbornton, NH$25,600442024
Pyareo HomeSanbornton, NH$5,000442024
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY$4,500442024
Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD$4,000442024
Lower Cape OutreachOrleans, MA$3,500442024
Habitat for Humanity Cape CodYarmouth Port, MA$3,000442024
Cape Cod ChamberN Eastham, MA$2,500332024
Cape Rep TheaterBrewster, MA$2,500442024
Homeless Prevention CouncilOrleans, MA$2,500442024
Housing Assistance CorpHyannis, MA$2,500442024
Outer Cape Health ServicesWellfleet, MA$2,500442024
Alice Lloyd CollegePippa Passes, KY$2,000332024
Cape Cod Community College Educational FoundationWest Barnstable, MA$2,000442024
Cape Cod Theatre CompanyWest Harwich, MA$1,500332023
Community Development PartnershipEastham, MA$1,500222023
Eventide Theatre CoDennis, MA$1,500332024
Harbor StageWellfleet, MA$1,500332024
Lighthouse Chamber PlayersAmherst, MA$1,500332024
Meeting House Chamber Music FestivalBrewster, MA$1,500112021
Pine Cobble SchoolWiliamstown, MA$1,500332024
Cape Cod SymphonyHyannis, MA$1,000222022
WGBHBoston, MA$1,000112021
Cape Cod Chamber Musical FestivalN Eastham, MA$500112021
Kids in CrisisCos Cob, CT$500112021
Orleans Historial SocietyOrleans, MA$500112023

22 of 27 (81%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 81%, across 3 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 36 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
Housing & Shelter
10 grants
Human Services
8 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Community Improvement
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202120$45,500$750
202222$41,000$500
202321$39,100$500
202418$116,000$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

46% of its giving went to organizations in Maryland. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Maryland
$110K
Kentucky
$62K
Massachusetts
$34K
New Hampshire
$31K
New York
$4K
Connecticut
$500

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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 Inc7 shared recipientsCape Cod Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsMutual Bancorp Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $500. 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 Maryland.
  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 MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Russell-Davidson Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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: 18 Colony Drive, Orleans, MA, 02653. 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 04-3198713 · 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.