FundersNew York

Mclain Foundation

Clarence Center, NY · EIN 16-6032078. Reported 85 grants totalling $254,051 to 46 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$254,051granted, 2021-2024
46organizations funded
44%of grantees funded again the next year
$969,336assets, 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. Mclain 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 $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $18,250. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
27 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
36 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
15 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 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
Holy Family CommunicationsWilliamsville, NY$56,251442024
Roswell Park AllianceBuffalo, NY$30,000442024
Friends of the World Food ProgramWashington DC, DC$16,000222022
UnicefNew York, NY$12,125222024
David Lawrence Center for Behavioral HealthNaples, FL$12,000222024
The Childrens Hospital of Buffalo FoundationBuffalo, NY$12,000222024
Oxfam AmericaBoston, MA$11,000112023
World Food Program USAFederal Way, WA$8,500112024
Ub Foundation IncBuffalo, NY$7,000222022
Case Western ReserveCleveland, OH$6,000222022
Hearts for the HomelessBuffalo, NY$6,000112023
Doctors Without BordersNew York, NY$5,000112023
Haven HouseBuffalo, NY$5,000112024
Specialisterne USANew York, NY$5,000332024
St Matthew's HouseNaples, FL$5,000112023
Women and Children's Hospital of BuffaloBuffalo, NY$4,450222022
Chesterton Academy of BuffaloBowmansville, NY$4,000112023
Buffalo Dream CenterBuffalo, NY$3,500222022
Autism Services IncWilliamsville, NY$3,000222022
The Salvation ArmyBuffalo, NY$3,000222022
World VisionFederal Way, WA$3,000222022
Zion Lutheran ChurchClarence Center, NY$2,625222022
Hospice FoundationBuffalo, NY$2,550222022
Alzheimer's Association of WnyWilliamsville, NY$2,500222022
CareAtlanta, GA$2,000112021
Cattauraugus Community FoundationOlean, NY$2,000222022
Project Learning & Earning ExperiencesCircleville, WV$2,000222022
Sisters of Saint FrancisStella Niagara, NY$2,000222022
United States Association for UnhcrWashington DC, DC$2,000112021
Buffalo PhilharmonicBuffalo, NY$1,550222022
Autism Society of WnyWilliamsville, NY$1,500222022
Buffalo ZooBuffalo, NY$1,500222022
Holy Trinity Lutheran ChurchBuffalo, NY$1,500222022
YMCABuffalo, NY$1,500222022
Buffalo Niagara WaterkeepersBuffalo, NY$1,000222022
Lake Chautauqua Lutheran CenterBemus Point, NY$1,000222022
Lothlorian TrcEast Aurora, NY$1,000222022
Lounsbury Adaptive Ski ProgramEllicotville, NY$1,000222022
Mercy FlightBuffalo, NY$1,000222022
National Parks FoundationWashington DC, DC$1,000222022
Niagara Frontier Radio Reading ServiceBuffalo, NY$1,000222022
Smile TrainNew York, NY$1,000222022
University of Miami Bascom Palmer Eye InstituteMiami, FL$1,000112022
Wings Flights of HopeOrchard Park, NY$1,000222022
Bascom Palmer Eye InstituteMiami, FL$500112021
Leukemialymphoma SocietyAmherst, NY$500112021

34 of 46 (74%) 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 44%, across 3 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.

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 32 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Philanthropy & Grantmaking
8 grants
Religion
6 grants
Diseases & Disorders
4 grants
International Affairs
3 grants
Education
2 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Recreation & Sports
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202136$66,500$750
202232$60,551$1,000
20239$64,000$6,000
20248$63,000$7,750

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. 72% of this one's giving went to organizations in New York. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

New York
$184K
District of Columbia
$19K
Florida
$18K
Washington
$12K
Massachusetts
$11K
Ohio
$6K
West Virginia
$2K
Georgia
$2K

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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 Fund10 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation for Greater Buffalo6 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc6 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc5 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. 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 New York.
  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 religion in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding diseases & disorders in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding international affairs in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Mclain Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 562, Clarence Center, NY, 14032. 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 16-6032078 · 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.