GrantmakersConnecticut

Ridgefield Thrift Shop Inc

Ridgefield, CT · EIN 06-0643072. Reported 131 grants totalling $2,032,020 to 54 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

54organizations funded
$12,000median reported grant
$2,032,020granted, 2020-2024
76%of grantees funded again the next year
12%of dollars to its largest recipient

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:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Ridgefield Thrift Shop Inc, the IRS classifies it under human services rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE P29Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 54 distinct organizations, with 12% 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.
  3. How much its list changes. 76% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $12,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $80,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
32 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
81 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
15 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
The Center for Empowerment and Education IncDanbury, CT$239,000842024
Ridgefield Social ServicesRidgefiled, CT$132,000332023
Ridgefield Volunteer Fire DeptRidgefield, CT$113,000632024
Boys & Girls Club of RidgefieldRidgefield, CT$80,000442024
Founders Hall Foundation IncRidgefield, CT$72,500442024
Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts IncRidgefield, CT$70,000442024
Regional Hospice and Home Care of Western Connecticut IncDanbury, CT$63,500442024
Ridgefiled Conservation CommissionRidgefiled, CT$60,200442024
Town of Ridgefield$58,500112024
Daily Bread - An Ecumenical Food Pantry IncDanbury, CT$52,500332023
Kids in Crisis IncCos Cob, CT$52,500442024
Sphere IncRidgefield, CT$52,300442024
Anns Place IncDanbury, CT$52,000332024
Act of Connecticut IncRidgefield, CT$50,000442024
Keeler Tavern Preservation Society IncRidgefield, CT$47,000332024
Prospects Opportunity and Enrichment IncRidgefield, CT$45,000332024
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum IncRidgefield, CT$45,000332024
Ridgefield Library Association IncRidgefield, CT$43,500442024
Ridgefield Workshop for the Performing Arts IncRidgefield, CT$41,020332024
Meals on Wheels of RidgefieldRidgefield, CT$40,000332024
Ridgefield Historical SocietyRidgefield, CT$40,000332024
Rock N Rescue IncSouth Salem, NY$40,000222024
ChirpRidgefiled, CT$38,000332024
Dorothy Day Hospitality House IncDanbury, CT$37,000332024
Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Association IncRidgefield, CT$35,000112024
Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra IncRidgefield, CT$30,500332024
Association of Religious Communities IncDanbury, CT$30,000222024
A Better Chance in Ridgefield IncRidgefield, CT$27,500222024
Ridgefield Youth Service Bureau IncRidgefield, CT$26,000332024
Family and Childrens Aid IncDanbury, CT$25,000222024
Homefront IncStamford, CT$22,500222024
Rides for Ridgefield IncRidgefield, CT$22,500332024
Catholic Charities of FairfieldShelton, CT$21,500332024
Ability Beyond Disability IncBethel, CT$20,000222024
Pet Animal Welfare Society of ConnecticutNorwalk, CT$20,000112024
Ridgefield Housing AuthorityRidgefield, CT$18,100222023
Ridgefield Fathers Club IncRidgefield, CT$15,000112021
Friends of Ridgefield Parks and Recreation Commission IncRidgefield, CT$14,500112023
Ridgefield Operation for AnimalRidgefield, CT$12,500112023
Newtown Underwater Search and RescueNewtown, CT$11,800222024
Ridgefield Graveyard Restoration CommitteeRidgefield, CT$11,000112023
Ridgefield Police Department FundRidgefield, CT$11,000112024
Amos House IncDanbury, CT$10,000112024
Building One Community CorpStamford, CT$10,000112024
Guiding Eyes for the Blind IncYorktown Hts, NY$10,000112023
Molly Ann Tango Memorial Foundation IncRidgefield, CT$10,000112024
Renewal House IncDanbury, CT$9,000112024
Global Peht CorpCos Cob, CT$7,500112024
Ridgefield Special OlympicsRidgefield, CT$7,500112024
Land Conservancy of Ridgefield IncRidgefield, CT$7,000112024
Off the Streets IncBethel, CT$6,000112024
Ridgefield Independent Film Festival IncorporatedRedding, CT$6,000112024
Interfaith AIDS Ministry of Greater Danbury IncDanbury, CT$5,100112024
Arc Food PantryDanbury, CT$5,000112020

34 of 54 (63%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

It also reported 5 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 37 of 54 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.

Human Services
13 orgs
Arts & Culture
8 orgs
Animal Welfare
3 orgs
Food & Nutrition
2 orgs
Housing & Shelter
2 orgs
Youth Development
1 org
Education
1 org
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202018$151,000$6,250
202125$320,300$10,000
20222$22,000$11,000
202339$847,600$20,000
202447$691,120$11,400

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

97% of its giving went to organizations in Connecticut. 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.

Connecticut
$1.9M
New York
$50K

Down to the city

Ridgefield, CT
$987K
Danbury, CT
$528K
Ridgefiled, CT
$230K
Cos Cob, CT
$60K
South Salem, NY
$40K
Stamford, CT
$32K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund28 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc24 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc21 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust17 shared recipientsThe Ayco Charitable Foundation16 shared recipientsFairfield County's Community Foundation16 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. 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.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $12,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Connecticut.
  4. 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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Ridgefield Thrift Shop Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 21B Governor Street, Ridgefield, CT, 06877.

EIN 06-0643072 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.