Alexander Eastman Foundation

Alexander Eastman Foundation (AEF) is a small, tightly geo-fenced conversion foundation — it was born from the 1983 sale of Derry's Alexander Eastman Hospital, and its entire giving universe is six towns in Rockingham County, NH (Derry, Londonderry, Windham, Chester, Hampstead, Sandown). Every one of the 92 grants in AEF's tracked grantee history went to an NH organization; there is no out-of-region exception to plan around. The Foundation strongly favors organizations already embedded in that six-town network — Greater Derry Community Health Services ($596,250 across 5 awards combined under two name variants), The Upper Room ($422,000 across 5 awards), and Greater Derry Oral Health Collaborative ($425,950 across 5 awards) collectively account for a large share of total dollars, indicating AEF builds long relationships rather than spreading one-time gifts thin. First-time applicants should expect a multi-cycle courtship: the typical pattern in the grantee data is 2-5 grants per organization rather than a single large award, so a first ask should be modest and framed as the opening move in an ongoing relationship, not a one-shot capital request. The Foundation runs a single annual competitive cycle (opens ~March 1, closes ~May 10, awards late June) via its online GrantInterface portal, supplemented by two faster off-cycle paths: Chair Grants (up to $10,000, urgent/unplanned need) and Micro Grants ($5,000 and under). With a 2025-launched Nonprofit Management Incubator Program, AEF has also signaled it wants to fund organizational capacity, not just programs — smaller or newer grassroots groups in the service area should consider applying for incubator support as an entry point rather than competing immediately for the main cycle. Executive Director David McPherson (the only compensated staff member, $58,846 in the most recent filing) runs day-to-day grantmaking under a 12-14 member volunteer Board chaired by Dr. Christopher Peterson MD, with grant administration handled through the outsourced nonprofit-services firm 501Hub (contact: Paul Herbert, 603-864-0207). Fiscal soundness and application clarity are explicitly named evaluation criteria — come with clean, current financials.

AEF's own reported typical grant size is a median of $25,000 (average $42,667), ranging from $7,000 to $195,000 across 15 recently tracked awards — but the fuller 92-grant historical dataset shows a lower blended average of $33,567 per grant (grant_count and dollars are frequently split across 2-5 awards per year to the same grantee, so per-grant size understates typical relationship value). Annual Grant Awards are formally capped 'up to $30,000, with exceptions at Board discretion,' which explains why most tracked grants cluster well under six figures even though a handful of outliers (Boys & Girls Club of Greater Derry's $217,670 combined bus-purchase awards, Greater Derry Community Health Services' $400,000 combined healthcare-access awards) reach much higher via multi-year or Board-exception funding. By purpose, health and human-service access dominates: healthcare access/community health networks ($596,250+), adolescent/family wellness ($422,000), dental/oral health ($425,950), and food security (soup kitchens, food pantries, Meals on Wheels collectively exceeding $230,000) are the largest categories, with smaller allocations to homelessness/housing services (Isaiah 58, Family Promise — roughly $171,000 combined), senior services, and community infrastructure. Geographically, 100% of tracked grants (92 of 92) went to New Hampshire organizations, confirming zero out-of-region flexibility. Total giving has been remarkably stable over the long run — $605,000-$939,000 annually from 2010 through 2022 (peak $938,967 in 2021, boosted by strong 2021 investment income of $773,695) — but 2025 marked a sharp step down to $386,434 across roughly 15 awards, which the Foundation itself attributes to a deliberate narrowing toward food/housing insecurity rather than a capacity problem: total assets remain healthy at $12.1 million (income $1,144,331 in the latest filing), so the compression reflects strategy, not scarcity.

AEF sits at the small end of New Hampshire's health-conversion-foundation peer set — a cohort of foundations created when local hospitals or health plans were sold or restructured, all of which retain geographically or thematically narrow health mandates.

AEF is roughly one-tenth the asset size of Endowment for Health and gives at a fraction of the dollar volume, but it is also the only foundation in this set with a hyper-local, six-town mandate rather than a regional or statewide one — for a Derry-area nonprofit, that concentration means comparatively low competition and a funder motivated to know grantees personally rather than review proposals at arm's length. Applicants who can also credibly serve the wider Seacoast or statewide NH footprint should consider Seacoast Health or Endowment for Health as complementary, larger-dollar targets once an AEF relationship is established.

AEF's most consequential recent move is strategic rather than a single splashy grant: across 2025 and into 2026 the Foundation narrowed its stated priorities to food insecurity, housing insecurity, and nonprofit capacity-building, a shift the Foundation attributes directly to grantee feedback about 'shifting state and federal budgets.' The 2025 cycle (opened March 2, 2025) was the first to explicitly fold general operating support in alongside project/capital grants — a direct response to nonprofit financial stress reported by its own grantee base. Total 2025 awards came to $386,434 across roughly 15 grants, notably lower than any year in the 2018-2022 financial history, with named 2025 recipients including The Upper Room ($50,000 for its Family Wellness Program) and Family Promise of Southern NH ($30,000 for Derry home operations) — both established, multi-year AEF grantees per the DB's grantee history. On October 16, 2025, AEF also launched a Nonprofit Management Incubator Program, moving beyond check-writing into organizational-development and management support for emerging or existing nonprofits in its six-town service area — a notable expansion of the Foundation's operating model. The 2026 cycle followed AEF's now-standard calendar: online applications opened March 1, 2026, closed May 10, 2026, with awards made in late June 2026 — meaning the main annual window for the year in progress has already closed as of this report; the next full cycle should be expected to open around March 2027, with the off-cycle Chair Grant (up to $10,000) and Micro Grant (under $5,000) paths remaining available in the interim for urgent, smaller needs. No leadership changes were surfaced in available announcements; David McPherson continues as Executive Director and Dr. Christopher Peterson MD as Board Chair.

Time it right: AEF runs one annual competitive window (opened March 1, closed May 10 in 2026, awards late June) — missing it means either waiting roughly a year or pivoting to the off-cycle Chair Grant (urgent needs, up to $10,000) or Micro Grant (under $5,000) tracks, both of which run outside the main calendar. Apply exclusively through the Foundation's GrantInterface portal (grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=alexef) — there is no email or paper alternative, and the site notes the inquiry form can be temporarily paused between cycles, so confirm it's live before drafting. Match the current priority language precisely: as of the 2025-2026 cycles, AEF is explicitly seeking proposals addressing food insecurity and housing insecurity, alongside its longer-standing health/wellness/access mandate — a proposal framed purely around traditional 'health education' or 'wellness promotion' language without a food/housing/access tie-in is competing against the Foundation's stated current focus, not with it. Geography is a hard filter, not a preference: confirm and state explicitly how the project serves residents of Derry, Londonderry, Windham, Chester, Hampstead, or Sandown — organizations based elsewhere but serving these towns should lead with the service-area data, not their headquarters address. Come with clean financials: 'fiscal soundness of the project and applicant' is a named evaluation criterion, so include current budgets, audited financials if available, and a clear use-of-funds breakdown even for a modest ask. Write for the portal's own questions, not a freeform narrative — the Foundation flags 'clear, thorough and concise answers' as the top lever for a strong review, so answer exactly what's asked rather than padding with mission statements. If this is a repeat relationship, resolve any outstanding Final Grant Report first — unresolved reporting from a prior award blocks new submissions. Common mistake to avoid: requesting well above the Foundation's stated $30,000 Annual Grant ceiling without an explicit, justified case for a Board exception — most large historical awards (e.g., Boys & Girls Club's $217,670 for a new bus, Greater Derry Community Health's $400,000 access-to-care support) were built up over 2-5 separate annual awards, not a single ask. New or smaller grassroots organizations should consider applying to the Nonprofit Management Incubator Program (launched October 2025) as a lower-barrier entry point into the AEF relationship before competing for full grant dollars. For direct questions, contact grant administrator Paul Herbert at 501Hub, (603) 864-0207 / pherbert@501hub.org, or the Foundation directly at grants@alexandereastman.org / (603) 685-4275.