The Ben May Charitable Trust

• The trust's stated themes are scientific and educational purposes, and its grants also reach schools, scientific research institutions, religious, arts and cultural, community and environmental organisations, so a small charity should check that its work sits within one of these fields.
• Its typical grant falls between $5,000 and $50,000, with a median of $10,000 and half its grants at $10,000 or less, so a request near that median fits its usual pattern, though its largest grant was $250,000 and the band is not a ceiling.
• Applications are rolling, and its website says written requests from 501(c)(3) or tax-exempt eligible entities may be mailed to the trust at Hancock Whitney Bank in Mobile with a copy of your IRS tax-exemption letter, so organisations outside those categories are not in its stated scope.
• The filing shows that 91% of its grant dollars went to organisations it had also funded in earlier years, which suggests that existing grantees are well placed and a first approach may take time to build.
• Its grants appear mainly in New York, Alabama, Illinois and District of Columbia, but no geographic focus is stated, so location should not be treated as a rule about who may apply.

The largest grants to organisations in the foundation’s latest filing:

• University of Chicago · Cancer research funding
  $250,0002025 tax year
• American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science · Ben may center for chemical theory and computation
  $250,0002025 tax year
• Order of St John · Research genetic eye disease
  $75,0002025 tax year
• Azalea Center for the Arts · Tickets for teachers program
  $55,0002025 tax year
• American Friends of the Peres Institute for Peace · General purposes
  $50,0002025 tax year
• Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience · Research library and reading room
  $50,0002025 tax year
• Fuse Project · General purposes
  $40,0002025 tax year
• Anti-Defamation League · General purposes
  $36,0002025 tax year

Grants to organisations listed in the foundation’s Form 990-PF filings. Grants to individuals are not shown.

Figures from the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF filings. Assets are at fair market value at year end. The document icon links to each year’s filing on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.