Funders › Massachusetts

The Quarterdeck Foundation

Marion, MA · EIN 81-4060929. Reported 39 grants totalling $400,250 to 33 recipients across tax years 2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$400,250granted, 2024
33recipients, as named on its returns
$10.3Massets, 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. The Quarterdeck 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 $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $6,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $140,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
4 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
20 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
7 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants
$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
New Bedford Whaling MeseumNew Bedford, MA$140,000112024
New Bedford Whaling MuseumNew Bedford, MA$100,000412024
Sweet Briar CollageSweet Briar, VA$50,000112024
Marion Art Center IncMarion, MA$26,000412024
St George's SchoolMiddletown, RI$20,000112024
Cathleen Stone Island Outward Bound Education CenterBoston, MA$12,500112024
Duke UniversityDurham, NC$6,500112024
DonorschooseNew York, NY$5,000112024
Ku EndowmentLawrence, KS$5,000112024
Our Sisters' SchoolNew Bedford, MA$5,000112024
The Marion Institute IncMarion, MA$5,000112024
Museum of Fine Arts BostonBoston, MA$3,000112024
Clagett SailingPortsmouth, RI$2,000112024
Friends of Jack FoundationNew Bedford, MA$2,000112024
Rescued Friends Animal SantuaryFort Collins, CO$2,000112024
The Fessenden SchoolNewton, MA$2,000112024
Buzzards Bay Musicfest IncMarion, MA$1,000112024
Cobalt Abortion FundDenver, CO$1,000112024
Elizabeth Tabor LibaryMarion, MA$1,000112024
FmcoaMarion, MA$1,000112024
Marion Natural History MuseumMarion, MA$1,000112024
New Bedford Star Kids ScholarshipNew Bedford, MA$1,000112024
New Beford Symphony OrchestraNew Bedford, MA$1,000112024
Rocky Mountain Raptor ProgramFort Collins, CO$1,000112024
Sippican Historical SocietyMarion, MA$1,000112024
Sippican Lands TrustMarion, MA$1,000112024
The Wild Animal SanctuaryKeenesburg, CO$1,000112024
Woods Hole OceanographicWoods Hole, MA$1,000112024
ZeiterionNew Bedford, MA$1,000112024
Brunswick SchoolGreenwich, CT$500112024
MITCambridge, MA$500112024
Lloyd Center for the EnvironmentSouth Dartmouth, MA$150112024
Coast Guard FoundationStonington, CT$100112024
Plus 89 grants to individuals totalling $948,200 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 26 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
9 grants
Education
7 grants
Environment
3 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant
Science & Technology
1 grant
Animal Welfare
1 grant
Civil Rights
1 grant

Where its money goes

76% of its giving went to organizations in Massachusetts. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Massachusetts
$306K
Virginia
$50K
Rhode Island
$22K
North Carolina
$6K
Colorado
$5K
Kansas
$5K
New York
$5K
Connecticut
$600

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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 Fund18 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc14 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc13 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program10 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust10 shared recipientsThe Ludes Family Foundation9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. 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 Massachusetts.
  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 arts & culture in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding arts & culture in VirginiaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in VirginiaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Quarterdeck 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: Po Box 576, Marion, MA, 02738. 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 81-4060929 · 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.