Davis Educational Foundation
Yarmouth, ME · EIN 04-2864042. Reported 92 grants totalling $13.7M to 66 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 Davis Educational Foundation, by its IRS classification it raises and distributes funds for education (NTEE B120).
- How spread out its giving is. 66 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 14% 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 $140,852. Half of what it reported fell between $25,000 and $240,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $735,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vermont State University | Randolph, VT | $753,108 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Boston Consortium for Higher Education Inc | Auburndale, MA | $735,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Massachusetts | Lowell, MA | $727,312 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| University System of New Hampshire | Concord, NH | $610,378 | 4 | 2 | 2024 |
| Lasell University | Newton, MA | $540,345 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Babson College | Wellesley, MA | $425,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Vermont and State Agricultural College | Burlington, VT | $413,328 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| American Association of Colleges and Universities | Washington, DC | $372,757 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Southern New Hampshire University | Manchester, NH | $352,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bennington College | Bennington, VT | $350,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Eastern Connecticut State University | Willimantic, CT | $335,413 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| College of Our Lady of the Elms | Chicopee, MA | $327,627 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rhode Island School of Design | Providence, RI | $325,247 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Maine System Inc | Bangor, ME | $319,801 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Simmons University | Boston, MA | $309,750 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Merrimack College | North Andover, MA | $300,257 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Westfield State University | Westfield, MA | $298,710 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Connecticut Foundation Incorporated | Storrs, CT | $297,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Champlain College Inc | Burlington, VT | $281,704 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Salem State University | Salem, MA | $274,374 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Northeastern University | Boston, MA | $249,998 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Marine Biological Laboratory | Woods Hole, MA | $249,898 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bowdoin College | Brunswick, ME | $249,300 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Albertus Magnus College | New Haven, CT | $248,800 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Johnson & Wales University | Providence, RI | $237,345 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| Rivier University | Nashua, NH | $233,749 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New England College | Henniker, NH | $225,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Boston Library Consortium | Franklin, MA | $215,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Emerson College | Boston, MA | $213,713 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Husson University | Bangor, ME | $207,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bridgewater State University | Bridgewater, MA | $192,555 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Cambridge College Inc | Boston, MA | $184,729 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Southern Connecticut State University | New Haven, CT | $172,474 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Brown University of Providence | Providence, RI | $168,494 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Trustees of Boston University | Boston, MA | $165,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Montserrat College of Art Inc | Beverly, MA | $160,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Boston College Trustees | Chestnut Hill, MA | $159,790 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Franklin W Olin College of Engineering Inc | Needham, MA | $153,561 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| President & Fellows of Middlebury College | Middlebury, VT | $143,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Western New England University | Springfield, MA | $141,704 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Thomas College | Waterville, ME | $137,362 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Stonehill College Inc | Easton, MA | $108,200 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| New England Board of Higher Education | Boston, MA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Quinnipiac University | Hamden, CT | $93,265 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Landmark College Inc | Putney, VT | $89,362 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Five Colleges Incorporated | Amherst, MA | $84,700 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of New England | Biddeford, ME | $80,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sacred Heart University | Fairfield, CT | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sterling College | Craftsbury Cm, VT | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Trustees of St Josephs College | Standish, ME | $44,100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sisters of Saint Ann Anna Maria College | Paxton, MA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Trustees of Tufts College | Medford, MA | $23,700 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mitchell College | New London, CT | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Salve Regina University | Newport, RI | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| American International College | Springfield, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bryant University | Smithfield, RI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| College of the Atlantic | Bar Harbor, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Connecticut College | New London, CT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Curry College | Milton, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Endicott College | Beverly, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Franklin Pierce University | Rindge, NH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium Inc | Burlington, VT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Saint Michaels College | Colchester, VT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The University of Rhode Island Foundation & Alumni Engagement | Kingston, RI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Saint Joseph | West Hartford, CT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
15 of 66 (23%) 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.
- The Boston Consortium for Higher Education Inc
TBC and edHEALTH Enterprise Risk Management Captive and Risk Management Captive - Phase II - University of Massachusetts
The Leading, Engaging and Advising Fellows (LEAF) Program: A Strategy for Improving Student Engagement and Faculty Pedagogy - Association of American Colleges & Universities
Open Educational Resources as the Means to Enhance Integrative Learning - University of Vermont
Study CATS: Empowering Learners for Long Term Educational Success - College of Our Lady of the Elms
SOLE: Strengthening Online Learning and Engagement - Rhode Island School of Design
Expanding the Impact of RISD's Teaching & Learning Lab
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 54 of 66 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 | 31 | $4,167,298 | $143,000 |
| 2022 | 23 | $3,939,696 | $153,561 |
| 2023 | 16 | $2,159,831 | $82,680 |
| 2024 | 22 | $3,424,085 | $149,895 |
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
49% of its giving went to organizations in Massachusetts. 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 $140,852 -- 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 Massachusetts.
- 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 Davis Educational Foundation'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 20 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: 30 Forest Falls Dr Ste 5, Yarmouth, ME, 04096.
EIN 04-2864042 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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