FundersConnecticut

The Ahearn Family Foundation

New Canaan, CT · EIN 06-1413251. Reported 92 grants totalling $268,320 to 56 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,908median grant
$268,320granted, 2021-2024
56organizations funded
46%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,206,726assets, 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 Ahearn Family 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 $2,908. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $3,500; the smallest was $340 and the largest $6,600. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
6 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
75 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 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
Hands on HartfordHartford, CT$16,531442024
Southington Community Cultural ArtsSouthington, CT$13,100332024
Prudence Crandall CenterNew Britain, CT$12,653332024
Hartford Interval House IncHartford, CT$11,105332024
Riverfront RecaptureHartford, CT$11,014442024
Knox IncHartford, CT$10,479332023
Read to Grow IncBranford, CT$10,000222023
Girl Scouts of Connecticut IncHartford, CT$9,051332024
Connectikids IncHartford, CT$9,000332024
Bristol Brass and Wind EnsembleBristol, CT$8,862222024
South Park InnHartford, CT$8,235332024
American School for the DeafWest Hartford, CT$8,113332024
Healing Meals Foundation CorporationBloomfield, CT$5,941332024
Ballet Theatre CompanyWest Hartford, CT$5,600222023
American Clock & Watch MuseumBristol, CT$5,400222024
Hartford Youth ScholarsHartford, CT$5,250112022
YWCA Hartford Region IncHartford, CT$5,143222023
The Children's MuseumWest Hartford, CT$5,126222024
The Open Hearth AssociationHartford, CT$5,035222023
Connecticut Children's FoundationHartford, CT$5,000112024
Reach Out and Read IncBoston, MA$5,000112022
AIDS Ct Advancing Ct TogetherHartford, CT$4,634112022
The Village for Families and ChildrenHartford, CT$4,250222022
Chrysalis Center IncHartford, CT$3,998112021
Integrated Health ServicesNewington, CT$3,917112024
4-H Eduction Center at AuerfarmBloomfield, CT$3,598112022
Greater New Britain Teen Pregnancy Prevention IncNew Britain, CT$3,500112022
Justice Dance Performance ProjectHartford, CT$3,500222023
St Vincent De Paul Mission of BristolBristol, CT$3,500112023
YWCA New BritainNew Britain, CT$3,500112023
The Childrens Museum IncWest Hartford, CT$3,499112021
Adelbrook Behavioral & Development ServicesCromwell, CT$3,300112021
The Family Center Dba Imagine NationBristol, CT$3,275222024
Connecticut Association for Human ResourcesHartford, CT$3,250112021
Connecticut Association for Human Services IncHartford, CT$3,250112022
Big Brothers Big Sisters Connecticut IncHartford, CT$3,210112023
Connecticut Women's Education and Legal FundHartford, CT$3,000112022
Princen Sammy Eduful & Herty FoundationNew Britain, CT$3,000112022
University of Saint JosephWest Hartford, CT$2,900112023
Network Against Domestic Abuse IncEnfield, CT$2,680112021
The Carousel MuseumBristol, CT$2,527112023
Family Life Education IncHartford, CT$2,500112021
The Bridge Family Center IncBristol, CT$2,500112024
The New England Carousel MuseumBristol, CT$2,479112022
Ct Institution for Refugees and ImmigrantsBridgeport, CT$2,100112021
Mcc Foundation IncManchester, CT$2,000112023
Channel 3 Kids CampAndover, CT$1,798112021
Mental Health ConnecticutNewington, CT$1,700112024
Arts for Learning ConnecticutHartford, CT$1,500112024
Connecticut Invention ConventionHartford, CT$1,500112023
Greater New Britiain Teen Preganancy Prevention IncNew Britain, CT$1,300112024
The Cove Center for Grieving ChildrenCheshire, CT$1,237332024
Arts for Learning CtHamden, CT$1,000112021
Boys & Girls Club of BristolBristol, CT$1,000112024
Nutmeg Symphony OrchestraBristol, CT$1,000112024
Connecticut Institute for the BlindHartford, CT$780112023

22 of 56 (39%) 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 46%, 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 48 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
11 grants
Arts & Culture
10 grants
Education
8 grants
Recreation & Sports
8 grants
Housing & Shelter
5 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Youth Development
2 grants
Science & Technology
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202116$46,049$2,950
202227$90,385$3,000
202326$65,231$2,570
202423$66,655$2,635

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. 98% of this one's giving went to organizations in Connecticut. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Connecticut
$263K
Massachusetts
$5K

Find more foundations like The Ahearn Family Foundation

We email you newly filed foundations whose giving matches your state and cause, as the IRS publishes them. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

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.

Hartford Foundation for Public Giving29 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund23 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc21 shared recipientsJ Walton Bissell Foundation Inc17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc17 shared recipientsFarmington Bank Community17 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,908. 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 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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in ConnecticutEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Ahearn Family 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: 42 Beacon Hill Lane, New Canaan, CT, 06840. 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 06-1413251 · 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.