The Mayday Fund
New York, NY · EIN 38-4117113. Reported 54 grants totalling $3,614,115 to 33 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. 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. The Mayday Fund 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 $54,878. Half of everything it gave fell between $23,500 and $93,500; the smallest was $1,150 and the largest $220,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Chicago Medical Center | Chicago, IL | $349,565 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Jackson Laboratories | Farmington, CT | $330,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United States Association for the Study of Pain (usasp) | Annapolis, MD | $330,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ottawa Hospital Research Institute | Ottawa, Ontario | $249,803 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Chapel and York US Foundation - University of South Australia | New York, NY | $199,668 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA | $187,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Stanford University Medical School | Palo Alto, CA | $165,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Regents of the University of California | Davis, CA | $158,988 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | $149,333 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston, MA | $137,232 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation | Toronto, Ontario | $136,326 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | $118,983 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Boston Children's Hospital | Boston, MA | $108,402 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Toronto - University Health Network | Toronto, Ontario | $100,833 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of North Carolina Department of Medicine Psychiatry | Chapel Hill, NC | $97,656 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| University of North Carolina | Chapel Hill, NC | $93,608 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of North Carolina Emergency Medicine | Chapel Hill, NC | $82,608 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Childkind International Inc | Weston, MA | $70,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| University of Toronto | Toronto, Ontario | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of California Davis | Sacramento, CA | $64,178 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine | Raleigh, NC | $55,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Sherbrooke | Quebec, Quebec | $52,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| International Association for the Study of Pain (iasp) | Washington, DC | $48,995 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Ucsf Benioff Children's Hospitals Foundation | Oakland, CA | $48,054 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Bath | Bath | $43,594 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Regents of the University of California UC Davis Center for Family Caregivi | Sacramento, CA | $42,878 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Connecticut Children's Medical Center | Hartford, CT | $33,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation | Halifax, Nova Scotia | $33,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Regents of the University of California (uc Davis) | Davis, CA | $25,311 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Council on Foundations | Washington, DC | $12,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| University of Colorado Foundation | Boulder, CO | $11,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Dalhousie University | Halifax, Nova Scotia | $5,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Philanthropy New York | New York, NY | $4,600 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
15 of 33 (45%) 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 46%, across 3 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 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.
- Jackson Laboratories
DECODING ENDOMETRIOSIS: SPATIAL DYNAMICS AND SYMPTOMS - United States Association for the Study of Pain (usasp)
CLINICAL TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH AWARDS FOR YOUNG INVESTIGATORS - Chapel and York US Foundation - University of South Australia
IDENTIFYING SOCIAL FACTORS THAT STRATIFY HEALTH OPPORTUITIES AND OUTCOMES PROJECT - Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
CANADA PARAMEDIC PROJECT TO ADDRESS PAIN - University of Chicago Medical Center
THE MANER PROJECT: MAXIMIZING ADOPTION OF NERVE BLOCKS IN THE ER - University of Washington
VR ANALGESIA FOR COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 17 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 | $927,644 | $68,616 |
| 2022 | 15 | $1,147,214 | $68,163 |
| 2023 | 16 | $718,902 | $46,189 |
| 2024 | 9 | $820,355 | $93,500 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Mayday Fund has 26 of them, worth $2,145,988. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Jackson Laboratories | Framington, CT | $220,000 |
| University of Chicago Medical Center | Chicago, IL | $175,223 |
| University of Montreal | Montreal, Quebec | $132,173 |
| University of British Columbia | Vancouver, British Columbia | $132,000 |
| University of Sherbrooke | Quebec, Quebec | $130,000 |
| United States Association for the Study of Pain (usasp) | Annapolis, MD | $110,000 |
| United States Association for the Study of Pain (usasp) | Annapolis, MD | $110,000 |
| University of Sherbrooke | Quebec, Quebec | $104,000 |
| Regents of the University of California | Davis, CA | $96,555 |
| North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine | Raleigh, NC | $91,735 |
| University of North Carolina | Chapel Hill, NC | $82,608 |
| Stanford University Medical School | Palo Alto, CA | $82,500 |
| Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA | $82,500 |
| University of Sherbrooke | Montreal, Quebec | $78,000 |
| Ottawa Hospital Research Institute | Ottawa, Ontario | $70,226 |
Where its money goes
16% of its giving went to organizations in ONTARIO. 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 $54,878. 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 New York.
- 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 The Mayday Fund'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: 420 Lexington Avenue 331, New York, NY, 10170. 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 38-4117113 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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