FundersGeorgia

Mills Bee Lane Memorial Foundation

Savannah, GA · EIN 58-6033043. Reported 107 grants totalling $1,867,939 to 48 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$1,867,939granted, 2021-2024
48organizations funded
73%of grantees funded again the next year
$11.0Massets, 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. Mills Bee Lane Memorial 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $16,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $83,520. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
22 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
19 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
41 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
6 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
19 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
Preservation Society of CharlestonCharleston, SC$233,520442024
Battlefield TrustWashington, DC$205,000442024
Ashley Hall School Or FoundationCharleston, SC$175,000442024
Bethesda Home for BoysSavannah, GA$175,000332023
Lowcountry Land TrustCharleston, SC$140,000442024
Southern Environmental Law CenterCharlottesville, VA$95,000442024
Ducks UnlimitedSavannah, GA$62,000442024
Coastal Conservation LeagueCharleston, SC$55,043442024
St Andrews on the MarshSavannah, GA$51,500222024
The Nature ConservancyColumbia, SC$50,000442024
The Savannah Country Day SchoolSavannah, GA$50,000112021
Open Space InstituteNew York, NY$46,000442024
Lord Berkeley Conservation TrustMoncks Corner, SC$40,000442024
Sc Independent Colleges & UniversitColumbia, SC$40,000442024
South Carolina Environmental Law PrGeorgetown, SC$40,000332024
Open Land TrustBeaufort, SC$36,000112021
Conservation Voters of South CaroColumbia, SC$35,000332024
Vision to LearnLos Angeles, CA$30,000112023
Matthew Reardon Center for AutismSavannah, GA$29,000222022
Dorchester Heritage CenterSt George, SC$25,000112024
James Island Christian SchoolCharleston, SC$25,000112024
South Carolina Historical SocietyCharleston, SC$25,000112024
Audobon Society of SouthCharleston, SC$20,000442024
Beaufort County Open Land TrustBeaufort, SC$20,000222024
One Hundred MilesSavannah, GA$20,000442024
Health Sciences FoundationAugusta, GA$15,000112024
Center for Humans and NatureChicago, IL$11,376222024
Charleston Literary FestivalCharleston, SC$10,000222024
Mount Vernon Ladies Association ofMount Vernon, VA$10,000222023
Nemours Wildlife FoundationYemassee, SC$10,000112024
Santee Delta Cultural SurveyCharleston, SC$10,000112023
The Village MuseumMcclellanville, SC$10,000112024
Tulane School of ArchitectureNew Orleans, LA$10,000112022
National Wild Turkey FdnEdgefield, SC$7,500222024
Gibbes Museum of ArtCharleston, SC$5,000112023
Kent SchoolKent, CT$5,000222023
Salisbury SchoolSalisbury, CT$5,000222024
South Carolina Farm Bureau Land TruCayce, SC$5,000112024
Tudor Place FoundationWashington, DC$5,000222024
Unc Chapel Hill LibrariesChapel Hill, NC$5,000112021
Washington & Lee Univ Law SchoolLexington, VA$4,500332024
The National Wild Turkey FederationEdgefield, SC$3,500112021
Wesleyan CollegeMacon, GA$3,000112021
Hammond SchoolColumbia, SC$2,500112022
SmithsonianWashington, DC$2,500112024
Merrie Woode FoundationSapphire, NC$2,000222024
University of ViriginiaCharlottesville, VA$2,000222024
Carolina Therapuetic RidingColumbia, SC$1,000112022

29 of 48 (60%) 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 73%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 28 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
10 grants
Arts & Culture
8 grants
Environment
6 grants
Health Care
1 grant
Animal Welfare
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$411,000$10,000
202225$426,520$10,000
202327$481,500$10,000
202433$548,919$10,000

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. 55% of this one's giving went to organizations in South Carolina. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

South Carolina
$1.0M
Georgia
$406K
District of Columbia
$212K
Virginia
$112K
New York
$46K
California
$30K
Illinois
$11K
Connecticut
$10K

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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 Fund19 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program12 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc11 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. 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 South Carolina.
  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 District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding environment in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Mills Bee Lane Memorial 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: P O Box 188, Savannah, GA, 31402. 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 58-6033043 · 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.