Eden Foundation Ii

Eden Foundation II is not, in practice, a grantmaking resource for outside nonprofits — it is an operating private foundation whose IRS filings and website both describe it primarily as the vehicle for producing its own annual arts-and-sustainability festival in Westmoreland, NH (near Keene), timed to Memorial Day Weekend, plus a newer capital project to build a permanent contemporary art museum and artist-residency facility on the Connecticut River. Across the two fiscal years in its filings (2021-2022), it has made exactly one grant to an outside organization: $1,000 in general support to Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention in Keene, NH. Its Form 990 explicitly notes it funds only 'preselected' organizations, meaning there is no open application process to compete for. For most grant seekers, this rules out treating Eden Foundation II as a source of unrestricted or program grants. The realistic paths in are adjacent to the festival and museum build rather than a grants pipeline: local Monadnock-region nonprofits working in arts education, environmental sustainability, mental/physical health programming, or community development are the closest fit to what the foundation has actually funded or produced (yoga, nature walks, organic farming demonstrations, and community wellness programming were named 2023 festival elements). Organizations that could plausibly perform at, exhibit at, provide services to, or partner logistically with the festival (musicians, visual artists, environmental educators, health/wellness practitioners) have a more concrete entry point than one seeking a check. Given the all-volunteer, uncompensated leadership (President Preston Postlethwaite, Treasurer Harrison Zipper, Secretary Scott Pedersen, with Highpoint Management LLC as foundation manager) and lack of published contact or grants staff, warm introductions through the Monadnock region arts/nonprofit community are far more likely to succeed than a cold LOI. Any outreach should be pitched as a partnership around the festival's mission — rural cultural access, sustainability education, and community wellness — rather than a standard grant request, and expectations for award size should be modest and calibrated to the $1,000 historical grant, not to the foundation's $9.1M asset base.

The financial record here is unusually thin and should be read carefully. Total assets stood at $9,144,657 as of the most recent snapshot, up sharply from $4,458,457 at FY2022 year-end and $565,064 at FY2021 year-end — an roughly 16x increase in reported assets over about three fiscal years, driven by large contributions received ($3,988,600 in FY2022 alone, $619,500 in FY2021) rather than investment returns (net investment income was only $22,112 in FY2022 and $0 in FY2021). This pattern is consistent with an active capital campaign, likely tied to the Connecticut River museum/artist-residency project described on the foundation's site. Despite that asset growth, grants paid to outside organizations were flat and minimal: $1,000 in both FY2021 and FY2022, 100% of it to a single recipient (Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention, Keene, NH, for general support). 'Total giving' as reported ($54,436 in FY2021; $117,319 in FY2022) is overwhelmingly the foundation's direct program spending on its own festival — $116,285 in FY2022 program expenses closely tracks the $117,319 total giving figure — not third-party grants. There is no median, range, or program-area breakdown to report for external grants beyond the single $1,000 data point, because no other external grant exists in the record. Geographically, the only documented grant dollar went to New Hampshire (Keene/Monadnock region), matching the festival's rural New England location in Westmoreland, NH. Grant seekers should not extrapolate the $9.1M asset base into an expectation of a proportional grants budget: on current evidence, over 99% of the foundation's spending funds its own operations (festival production and museum construction), not outside nonprofits.

Eden Foundation II sits among a cluster of similarly small, single-purpose Arts & Culture private foundations in the $9-9.3M asset range, but its behavior — operating its own program rather than funding others — sets it apart even within that peer set.

All six foundations cluster tightly around $9-9.3M in assets and share the same NTEE Arts & Culture classification, which is why Eden Foundation II is grouped with them — but the peer set's detailed giving data was not available in this bundle, so a direct dollar-for-dollar giving comparison isn't possible. What is clear from Eden Foundation II's own filings is that it is best understood as an 'operating foundation' analog (it self-identifies as operating, `is_operating: true`, in both years of financials) that channels nearly all spending into running its own festival and building a facility, rather than a pass-through grantmaker like a typical arts funder of its asset size. Grant seekers evaluating this peer cluster should verify each foundation's actual grant history individually rather than assuming asset size predicts grantmaking capacity, since Eden Foundation II's $9.1M in assets has produced only $1,000 in cumulative external grants on record.

The most concrete recent-activity signal is the foundation's own site confirming its annual festival continues on Memorial Day Weekend in both 2025 and 2026 in Westmoreland, New Hampshire — a rural town in the Keene/Monadnock area of the state, consistent with its one documented grant to a Keene-based nonprofit. The FY2023 program description on file (the most detailed narrative available) describes a four-day event with daytime wellness and nature programming (yoga, nature walks, forest excursions, birdwatching, mushroom hunting, Pilates, drawing 10-20 attendees per session) and nightlife programming (effigy burn, fireworks, live music, stilt walking, aerialists, fire spinning, drawing 80-100 attendees nightly) — a small-scale, community-oriented event rather than a large festival. Beyond the recurring festival, the foundation's website describes an active capital project: a contemporary art museum and artist-residency facility on the Connecticut River, originally targeted for a spring 2024 completion, which appears to explain the roughly 8x jump in contributions received between FY2021 ($619,500) and FY2022 ($3,988,600). No leadership changes were found — the same three uncompensated directors (Preston Postlethwaite, President; Harrison Zipper, Treasurer; Scott Pedersen, Secretary) and Highpoint Management LLC as foundation manager appear consistently across the filings reviewed. No press coverage, award announcements, or new external grants for 2025 or 2026 turned up in web search; the foundation's primary public communication channel is Instagram rather than a press or news page, which limits visibility into its most current activity.

Given the evidence, the single most important tip is to recalibrate expectations: Eden Foundation II's Form 990 states it funds only preselected organizations, it has no published grant guidelines, application form, deadline, or grants-page URL, and its website contains no 'How to Apply' or grants section — only donation buttons (PayPal, at $100/$250/$500/$1,000 preset levels) for people wanting to give to the foundation, not for the foundation to give to others. A cold LOI or general-support proposal mailed to the Newton, MA address (1150 Walnut St) is unlikely to reach a review process, since there is no evidence one exists. Instead: (1) Engage where the money actually flows — the annual Memorial Day Weekend festival in Westmoreland, NH — as a performing artist, visual artist, environmental educator, wellness practitioner (yoga/Pilates instructors were part of 2023 programming), or local vendor; these are the foundation's actual, recurring points of spending. (2) If based in the Monadnock/Keene, NH region, note that the foundation's only recorded external grant went to a Keene-based violence-prevention nonprofit for general support — organizations serving that same rural New Hampshire community, particularly in health, safety, environment, or arts education, are the closest documented fit. (3) Track the Connecticut River museum/artist-residency project (originally slated for spring 2024) for future artist-in-residence opportunities rather than grant dollars — this looks like the foundation's growth vector. (4) Because leadership is three uncompensated volunteer directors with no listed public contact email, a warm introduction through the Monadnock-area nonprofit or arts community is far more likely to work than an unsolicited written proposal. (5) Do not lead with a large ask — the foundation's entire documented external-grants history is one $1,000 gift, so pitch modest, mission-aligned collaboration (in-kind partnership, festival participation, co-programming) ahead of a cash grant request.