Funders › Connecticut

The Rockfall Foundation

Middletown, CT · EIN 06-6000700. Reported 60 grants totalling $155,808 to 39 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,704median grant
$155,808granted, 2020-2024
39recipients, as named on its returns
43%of grantees funded again the next year
$6,080,190assets, 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 Rockfall 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 $2,704. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,800 and $3,000; the smallest was $600 and the largest $6,835. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
2 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
57 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
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
Valley Shore YMCAWestbrook, CT$15,500552024
Everyone Outside IncDurham, CT$13,920552024
Middletown Public SchoolsMiddletown, CT$9,760222023
Bushy Hill Nature CenterDeep River, CT$8,500332024
Connecticut Forest & Park AssociationRockfall, CT$8,500332022
Two Coyotes Wilderness SchoolBridgeport, CT$7,000332023
Connecticut River MuseumEssex, CT$6,950222024
Long Hill Estate Authority Wadsworth MansionMiddletown, CT$6,500222021
Brownstone QuorumPortland, CT$5,300332024
Wesleyan UniversityMiddletown, CT$4,900112024
Ct River MuseumEssex, CT$4,600222021
Old Lyme Open Space CommissionOld Lyme, CT$4,250222023
Connecticut Forest & Park AssocMiddlefield, CT$4,000112024
Town of PortlandPortland, CT$4,000112021
Fountain Hill Cemetary AssociatioDeep River, CT$3,600112024
East Haddam Land TrustEast Haddam, CT$3,500112021
Two Coyotes Wildnerness SchoolNewtown, CT$3,500112024
Russell LibraryMiddletown, CT$3,100112021
ArtfarmMiddletown, CT$2,900112022
Killingworth Land Conservation TrustKillingworth, CT$2,735112022
The EstuaryOld Saybrook, CT$2,674112022
Pathfinders IncKillingworth, CT$2,654112023
Chester Fair Project Fund C/O Middlesex Community FoundationMiddletown, CT$2,540112022
Mxcc FoundationMiddletown, CT$2,500112020
High Hopes Therapeutic Riding IncOld Lyme, CT$2,350112022
Free CenterMiddletown, CT$2,000112022
I-Park Foundation IncEast Haddam, CT$2,000112020
Sea Research Foundation D/B/a Mystic AquariumMystic, CT$2,000112020
Westbrook Garden ClubWestbrook, CT$1,625112022
Camp Hazen YMCAChester, CT$1,500112020
City of MiddletownMiddletown, CT$1,500112021
East Hampton Parks & Recreation DeptEast Hampton, CT$1,500112020
Middletown Garden ClubMiddletown, CT$1,500112021
St Vincent Depaul MiddletownMiddletown, CT$1,500112021
Chester Land TrustChester, CT$1,200112022
Clean Water FundCromwell, CT$1,200112023
Old Saybrook Middle SchoolOld Saybrook, CT$1,050112024
East Hampton Clean Energy Task ForcEast Hampton, CT$900112024
Frederick Brewster Elementary SchooDurham, CT$600112023

11 of 39 (28%) 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 43%, 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 23 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.

Environment
8 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
4 grants
Education
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202011$26,250$2,500
202112$29,900$2,500
202215$35,919$2,540
202311$30,539$3,000
202411$33,200$3,500

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

Middletown, CT
$39K
Westbrook, CT
$17K
Durham, CT
$15K
Deep River, CT
$12K
Essex, CT
$12K
Portland, CT
$9K
Rockfall, CT
$8K
Bridgeport, CT
$7K

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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 Fund11 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust5 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsDominion Energy Charitable Foundation4 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,704. 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 Connecticut.
  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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Rockfall Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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: 27 Washington Street, Middletown, CT, 06457. 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 06-6000700 · 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.