Eureka Foundation Inc.

Eureka Foundation Inc. (EIN 13-4148244) is not a conventional pass-through grantmaker — IRS and enrichment data flag it as an operating foundation (`is_operating: true`, `preselected_only: true`), and independent research confirms why: it is the private foundation, founded by Michael D. McCarthy roughly two decades ago, that underwrites GREAT MUSEUMS, a television and new-media documentary series 'promoting the educational power of television and new media' for the global museum world. Most of its annual spending funds that in-house program rather than external grants. Its board is a tight, uncompensated three-person circle — Michael D. McCarthy, Deborah Berg McCarthy, and Kathryn Edmundson — with no program officer, no public grants page, and blank application instructions in the record (`application_instructions: "__none__"`), all consistent with a closely-held, invitation-only vehicle rather than a funder soliciting proposals. When it does make discretionary grants outside the GREAT MUSEUMS program, the observed pattern points to Philadelphia, PA community organizations: College Settlement of Philadelphia (a long-running settlement house/camp) and Farmerjawn & Friends Foundation Fund (Philadelphia urban agriculture and food justice) each received two grants as unrestricted 'general support' — suggesting personal or geographic board ties drive these awards rather than an open competitive process. First-time, cold applicants should set expectations accordingly: a generic LOI is unlikely to be read, let alone funded. The higher-percentage path in is through the museum and public-television ecosystem — cultural institutions, documentary producers, or museum-education nonprofits with a credible connection to GREAT MUSEUMS or the wider American Alliance of Museums network — or through an existing relationship with a current Philadelphia grantee who can make a warm introduction to the board. Critically, do not confuse this foundation with the similarly named organization at eureka-foundation.org, a Lackawanna County, PA family foundation founded by the Mackie family that is a completely different EIN and board; its published 'Apply' page and $5,000-$15,000 grant range describe that unrelated funder, not this one.

Financial filings for this foundation reveal a two-track spending pattern that grant seekers need to separate: 'total giving' (which includes the foundation's own GREAT MUSEUMS production costs) versus 'grants paid' (true third-party grants). In FY2023, total giving was $454,300 against total assets of $12,042,550, but only $500 of that was paid out as an external grant — effectively all spending funded the foundation's own program. FY2022 showed a similar tilt: $404,036 in total giving versus $93,500 in third-party grants paid (about 23%). FY2019 was the outlier in the other direction, with $103,465 in total giving and $100,000 in grants paid (96%) — the strongest year on record for external grantmaking. FY2020 and FY2021 saw giving collapse to $0 and $9,902 respectively, alongside negative total revenue (-$55,749 and -$50,753), likely reflecting pandemic-era investment losses and program disruption. Assets have stayed remarkably stable and slow-declining, from $12,303,512 in FY2019 to $12,042,550 in FY2023, with contributions received rebuilding to $458,600 in FY2023 after several thin years. Across the sampled grantee-level records, only 4 discrete third-party grants total $187,000, averaging $46,750 per grant, with 100% of dollars and recipients based in Pennsylvania. The two known recipients are Farmerjawn & Friends Foundation Fund ($127,000 across 2 grants, averaging $63,500) and College Settlement of Philadelphia ($60,000 across 2 grants, averaging $30,000) — both classified as 'general support' rather than program-restricted or capital funding. There is no evidence of geographic diversification beyond Pennsylvania, and no breakdown by program area is possible beyond noting the mismatch between the IRS NTEE classification (B60, adult/continuing education) and the foundation's actual documented activity (museum/media production plus occasional Philadelphia general-support grants). Grant seekers should read the modest, uneven grants-paid figures — not the larger total-giving figure — as the realistic ceiling for what a new, unconnected applicant could hope to receive.

Eureka sits squarely in the middle of this ~$11.8M-$12.2M asset band, and like four of its five peers it maintains essentially no public grant-seeking infrastructure — no listed website in the foundation database for four of the five peers, and no application portal or guidelines found for Eureka itself. That pattern reinforces the read that this entire peer tier is dominated by small, closely-held family or single-purpose vehicles (scholarship funds, an endowment, an operating program) rather than open competitive grantmakers, so a cold outreach strategy that works for larger education funders is unlikely to succeed with any foundation in this table, Eureka included.

No 2025-2026 press releases, leadership changes, or new grant-cycle announcements were found for this specific entity (EIN 13-4148244, Michael D. McCarthy / Deborah Berg McCarthy / Kathryn Edmundson). Search results for 'Eureka Foundation' news are dominated by two unrelated organizations that share the name: an Atlanta, GA 'Eureka Foundation Inc.' (EIN 59-3414369, ~$694,674 in assets, reportedly $19,000 disbursed across six grantees in 2025) and a Lackawanna County, PA 'Eureka Foundation' at eureka-foundation.org founded by the Mackie family — neither is this funder. For the confirmed entity, the most recent verifiable data point is the FY2023 Form 990-PF, showing total giving of $454,300 on $12,042,550 in assets, an increase from $404,036 in FY2022 and a sharp recovery from the near-zero giving years of FY2020-FY2021. As detailed under Funding Patterns, that FY2023 increase reflects program spending on GREAT MUSEUMS, not an expansion of third-party grantmaking. GREAT MUSEUMS' own site references past special initiatives — including a museum-exchange trip to Cuba and support for Cuban museum professionals attending an American Alliance of Museums annual meeting — but these are undated in available sourcing and appear to predate the current filing period rather than represent recent activity. Given the foundation's three-person, uncompensated board, its lack of any dedicated news or press page, and its 'preselected only' grantmaking posture, the absence of recent public activity is itself the relevant signal: this is a quiet, low-volume funder that does not promote new initiatives, and grant seekers should not expect a public announcement of new funding opportunities.

There is no public application process for this foundation — `application_instructions` is blank in the record, no LOI portal or grant guidelines were located, and the foundation is flagged as preselected/invitation-only. The single most important tip is disambiguation: do not use the 'Apply' page at eureka-foundation.org. That site, despite matching the foundation's name, belongs to a different, unrelated Lackawanna County, PA family foundation (Mackie family board, $5,000-$15,000 grant range, Scranton-area focus) — a submission there will never reach this foundation's actual board. The only verifiable public contact channel tied to this entity is greatmuseums.org (info@greatmuseums.org), the site for the GREAT MUSEUMS documentary series this foundation underwrites. Given that, the realistic entry points are: (1) organizations in the museum, public-television, or documentary-production world with a credible reason to connect to GREAT MUSEUMS' educational mission, and (2) Philadelphia-based community and human-services organizations, since both confirmed grantees on record — College Settlement of Philadelphia and Farmerjawn & Friends Foundation Fund — are Philadelphia nonprofits that received unrestricted general-support grants, suggesting a personal or geographic tie to a board member rather than a themed program. A warm introduction from an existing grantee, a museum-sector contact, or someone connected to Michael D. McCarthy, Deborah Berg McCarthy, or Kathryn Edmundson is far more likely to matter than proposal quality alone. Because disbursements to outside organizations have been small and erratic — $0 in FY2020 and FY2021, $100,000 in FY2019, $93,500 in FY2022, and just $500 in FY2023 — applicants should treat this as a low-probability, low-dollar prospect (observed average $46,750 per grant across only 4 recorded awards) rather than a reliable annual funding source, and should not build a budget around receiving funding here. Framing requests as general operating support, in line with both known past grants, is likely to align better than a narrowly restricted or capital-campaign ask, though this cannot be confirmed as a stated policy since no formal guidelines exist.