Buckingham Foundation Inc
Indianapolis, IN · EIN 20-2825177. Reported 50 grants totalling $1,666,046 to 38 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Buckingham Foundation Inc, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70).
- How spread out its giving is. 38 distinct organizations, with 48% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 33% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $8,162 and $20,000; the smallest was $5,250 and the largest $400,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis First Baptist Church | Indianapolis, IN | $800,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Friends of Challenging Heights | Davidson, NC | $325,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $70,734 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Homes for Our Troops Inc | Taunton, MA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Herron High School Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Marian University | Indianapolis, IN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Startedup Foundation Inc | Noblesville, IN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Horizon House Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $22,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Seeds of Caring | Worthington, OH | $21,020 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Indianapolis Parks Foundation Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $20,090 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Hoffman Institute Foundation | San Rafael, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| International Center of West Lafayette Inc | W Lafayette, IN | $17,925 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rebuilding Together-Nashville | Nashville, TN | $17,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Girl Scouts of Central Indiana Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| National Crispus Attucks Alumni Association Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| 91 Place Incorporated | Indianapolis, IN | $14,250 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| American Heart Association Inc | Dallas, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Dove Recovery House for Women | Indianapolis, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Indiana Humanities Council Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Indiana University Foundation | Bloomington, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| La Soupe Inc | Cincinnati, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Nashville Repertory Theatre Inc | Nashville, TN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| R C Archdiocese of Indianapolis | Indianapolis, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sigma Chi Fraternity | Evanston, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Johns Villa | Carrollton, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Village of Merici Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Westminster Neighborhood Services Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Conquer Paralysis Now | Las Vegas, NV | $8,162 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Childrens Museum of Indianapolis Incorporated | Indianapolis, IN | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Indiana Symphony Society Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Indianapolis Cultural Trail Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Notre Dame Du Lac | Notre Dame, IN | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Big Car Media Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $6,600 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Indy Design Collaborative Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Second Helpings Inc | Indianapolis, IN | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Nashville Food Project Inc | Nashville, TN | $5,515 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Food Finders Food Bank Inc | Lafayette, IN | $5,250 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
8 of 38 (21%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- First Baptist Athletics
TO SUPPORT YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAMS - Friends of Challenging Heights
TO SUPPORT YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN AFRICA - Startedup Foundation Inc
ENCOURAGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND MENTORSHIP - Herron Classical Schools
PROVIDE SUPPORT IN CLASSICAL AND LIBERAL ARTS AND COLLEGE PREPARATION - Hoffman Institute
TO SUPPORT TRANSFORMATIVE ADULT EDUCATION, SPIRITUAL GROWTH, AND LEADERSHIP - Gleaners Food Bank
TO SUPPORT THE FOOD PANTRY
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 31 of 38 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 | $245,650 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 9 | $369,100 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $426,384 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 18 | $624,912 | $11,260 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
71% of its giving went to organizations in Indiana. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Indiana.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Buckingham Foundation Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 23 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 941 N Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46204.
EIN 20-2825177 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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