FundersRhode Island

Joan V Winiarski & Teresa W Merrill

Newport, RI · EIN 87-6657554. Reported 90 grants totalling $196,745 to 68 organizations across tax years 2022-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$500median grant
$196,745granted, 2022-2024
68organizations funded
41%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,418,785assets, 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. Joan V Winiarski & Teresa W Merrill 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 $250 and $1,250; the smallest was $50 and the largest $16,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
56 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
19 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
6 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
9 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Haitian Health FoundationNorwich, CT$43,000332024
Dr Martin Luther King JR Community CenterNewport, RI$41,000332024
Wcsu Career Success CenterDanbury, CT$20,000222024
Newport Hospital FoundationNewport, RI$18,750222024
Boys Clubs & Girls Clubs of Newport CountyNewport, RI$11,700222024
St Augustin's ChurchNewport, RI$7,175112024
Boys Clubs and Girls Clubs of Newport CountyNewport, RI$5,000112022
Butler Hospital FoundationProvidence, RI$5,000112024
St Augustin ChurchNewport, RI$3,600222023
Sisters of the Holy Family of NazarethDes Plaines, IL$3,050332024
Trustees of Tuft CollegeBoston, MA$2,750112024
St Mary's ChurchNewport, RI$2,250332024
The Williams SchoolNew London, CT$2,250332024
Child and Family Services of Newport County IncMiddletown, RI$2,000222023
Girl Scouts of Southeastern New EnglandWarwick, RI$2,000112024
St George's SchoolMiddletown, RI$2,000222024
Newport County YMCAMiddletown, RI$1,500222024
Potter League for AnimalsMiddletown, RI$1,500112024
Enders IslandMystic, CT$1,000112023
Legacy TheatreBranford, CT$1,000112024
Lightbridge Hospice Community FoundationSan Diego, CA$1,000222024
Lucy's HearthMiddletown, RI$1,000112022
Newport HospitalNewport, RI$1,000112022
Ri Zoological SocietyProvidence, RI$1,000112024
St Stanislaus Scholarship FundFall River, MA$1,000112023
Three Angels FundMiddletown, RI$1,000112024
NewportfilmNewport, RI$700112024
Edward King House Senior CenterNewport, RI$650112023
Kiwanis Club of NewportNewport, RI$600332024
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterBoston, MA$500112023
City HarvestBrooklyn, NY$500112023
Community CookeryNewport, RI$500112024
East Lyme Regional TheaterNiantic, CT$500112023
FabnewportNewport, RI$500222024
Green ChimneysBrewster, NY$500112024
Hope & MainWarren, RI$500112024
International Festivals & Events AssociationBoise, ID$500112024
National Sailing Hall of Fame & Museum IncNewport, RI$500112022
Norwich Arts CenterNorwich, CT$500112023
St Philip & St James ParishSt James, NY$500112024
Yellow Tulip ProjectPortland, ME$500112023
St Barnabas ChurchPortsmouth, RI$450112024
St Barnabas CurchPortsmouth, RI$420112023
Florida Recreation & Park AssociationTallahassee, FL$350112024
Addison County Home Health & HospiceNew Haven, VT$250112024
Better Bay AllianceNewport, RI$250112024
Catholic Charity AppealProvidence, RI$250112023
Cluny SistersNewport, RI$250112024
Fierce for Shannon FoundationHarrisville, RI$250112023
Florida Recreation & Park Association FoundationTallahassee, FL$250112022
Looking UpwardsPortsmouth, RI$250112024
Make a Difference FoundationProvidence, RI$250222023
Newport Tartan ClubNewport, RI$250112023
Rhode Island Community Food Bank AssociationProvidence, RI$250112022
Rise Above ParalysisWoburn, MA$250112022
Sarah Lawrence CollegeBronxville, NY$250112024
Seaman's Church Institute of NewportNewport, RI$250112022
St Mary of the Bay Food PantryWarren, RI$250112023
Stew Leonard III Water Safety FoundationNorwalk, CT$250112023
Visiting Nurse Home & HospicePortsmouth, RI$250112023
Women Transforming Women ScholarshipKingston, RI$250112024
Robert Potter League for Animals IncMiddletown, RI$150112022
St Philip & James ParishSt James, NY$150112022
Green OceansLittle Compton, RI$100112024
Our Lady of Mercy ChapelNewport, RI$100112024
RiscpaWarwick, RI$100112023
Roman Catholic Diocese of NorwichNorwich, CT$100112023
South Shore Walk to End Alzheimer'sPlymouth, MA$100112023

16 of 68 (24%) 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 41%, across 2 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

Plus 2 grants to individuals totalling $700 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 44 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
9 grants
Recreation & Sports
5 grants
Human Services
5 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Youth Development
3 grants
International Affairs
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202220$42,400$375
202333$70,120$500
202437$84,225$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 59% of this one's giving went to organizations in Rhode Island. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Rhode Island
$116K
Connecticut
$69K
Massachusetts
$5K
Illinois
$3K
New York
$2K
California
$1K
Florida
$600
Maine
$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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund28 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc19 shared recipientsThe Rhode Island Community Foundation17 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust16 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc15 shared recipientsGs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund13 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Rhode Island.
  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 ConnecticutEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Joan V Winiarski & Teresa W Merrill's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2022-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 23 Damon Street, Newport, RI, 02840. 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 87-6657554 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.