FundersGeorgia

The Train Foundation

St Marys, GA · EIN 58-6369886. Reported 71 grants totalling $32,654 to 42 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$90median grant
$32,654granted, 2021-2024
42organizations funded
80%of grantees funded again the next year

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 Train 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 $90. Half of everything it gave fell between $50 and $125; the smallest was $20 and the largest $7,665. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
65 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
4 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
2 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
St Peters ChurchFernandina Beach, FL$14,600222022
Saint Peter ChurchFernandina Beach, FL$4,910112024
University of Georgia FoundationAthens, GA$3,500112022
Center for Sustainable CoastSt Simons Island, GA$2,150222022
Fellowship of Catholic University SGolden, CO$1,500112022
Stmarys Little Theater IncSt Marys, GA$700222022
Episcopal High SchoolAlexandria, VA$500222022
Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT$470222022
Humane Society of USWashington, DC$280222022
Thiokol Memorial ProjectKingsland, GA$250222022
Ocean ConservancyWashington, DC$240222022
Riverbanks SocietyColumbia, SC$234332024
Environmental Defense FundWashington, DC$215222022
Cato InstituteWashington, DC$200222022
Nature ConservancyArlington, VA$200222022
The Whale MuseumFriday Harbor, WA$200222022
World Wildlife FundWashington, DC$170222022
Georgia River NetworkAthens, GA$165222022
National Wildlife FederationReston, VA$150222022
Florida Wildlife FederationTallahassee, FL$140222022
Asscfor FrontotemporaldegenerationKing of Prussia, PA$130222022
Rails 2 Trails ConservancyWashington, DC$130222022
Sierra ClubWashington, DC$130222022
Defenders of WildlifeWashington, DC$125112021
The Colony FoundationNew Haven, CT$125222022
Yale Divinity SchoolNew Haven, CT$125222022
Compassion & ChoicesDenver, CO$100112021
Glynn Environmental ConservancyBrunswick, GA$100112021
Ossabaw Island FoundationSavannah, GA$100222022
Safe Harbor AcademyJacksonville, FL$100222022
Studentconservationassociation IncArlington, VA$100222022
The Coastal Georgia Film AllianceStmarys, GA$100112021
Wilderness SocietyWashington, DC$80112021
Green PeaceWashington, DC$75222022
American RiversWashington DC, DC$65222022
Disabled American VetsCincinnati, OH$60112022
United Service Organizations IncArlington, VA$60222022
Berkeley Divinity SchoolNew Haven, CT$50112021
Clean CoastSavannah, GA$50112022
National Park FoundationWashington, DC$30112021
St Timothy's ChurchWest Hartford, CT$25112022
St Anne's Episcopal ChurchTifton, GA$20112022

28 of 42 (67%) 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 80%, across 1 year-to-year transition. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 66 grants to individuals totalling $24,077 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 33 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Environment
14 grants
Animal Welfare
10 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
4 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Education
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202135$10,994$90
202234$16,650$75
20242$5,010$2,505

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. 60% of this one's giving went to organizations in Florida. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Florida
$20K
Georgia
$7K
District of Columbia
$2K
Colorado
$2K
Virginia
$1K
Connecticut
$795
South Carolina
$234
Washington
$200

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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 Fund11 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program7 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation7 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $90. 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 Florida.
  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 animal welfare in FloridaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in FloridaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Train 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: 803 Seminole Avenue, St Marys, GA, 31558. 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 58-6369886 · 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.