Connecticut · Private foundation
Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation
Its FY2026 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $287k
- Granted FY2026(still arriving)
- 30
- Grants FY2026
- 29
- Organizations funded FY2025
- 34%
- First-time grantees FY2025
- Median grant, FY2026
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2026
- $25,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 1 to 29
- FY2020 to FY2025
- States reached, FY2026
- 11
- Total assets, FY2026
- $6.0M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2025, 34% of the organizations Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 31% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $104k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026still arriving | 30 | $287k | 50% |
| FY2025 | 29 | $340k | 34% |
| FY2024 | 27 | $324k | 44% |
| FY2023 | 25 | $339k | 44% |
| FY2022 | 10 | $136k | 60% |
| FY2021 | 12 | $220k | 100% |
| FY2020 | 1 | $5k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2026, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classical Uprising | $123,000 | 6 | 8% |
| Food Bank for New York City | $92,500 | 6 | 0% |
| Words Without Borders Inc | $67,500 | 5 | 3% |
| New England Musicians Resource Fund Inc | $62,500 | 5 | 31% |
| House of Bread | $60,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Keeping Track Inc | $56,100 | 3 | 13% |
| Hunts Point Alliance for Children | $55,000 | 5 | 1% |
| 240 Strings | $55,000 | 4 | 22% |
| Covenant Soup Kitchen Inc | $50,000 | 4 | 1% |
| Harris Center for Conservation Education Inc | $48,000 | 4 | 2% |
Show all 57 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 10 recipients with no EIN on record ($169k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 39 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation · The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut Inc · Chelsea Groton Foundation · Liberty Bank Foundation Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Aetna Foundation Inc · The Ford Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Network for Good · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
How this is measured
Compare Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
About Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation
- How much does Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation give?
- Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation reported 30 grants totaling $286,800 in its FY2026 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 29 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2025.
- What does Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2026, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (36%), Food & Nutrition (21%), International (9%).
- Who are Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2026: Classical Uprising ($123k), Food Bank for New York City ($93k), Words Without Borders Inc ($68k).
- Does Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2025, 34% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation, The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut Inc, Chelsea Groton Foundation.
- Where is Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation based?
- Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation is based in CT.
Play a game based on Cornelia Bessie Memorial’s filings →