Maeve Foundation Inc.

Maeve Foundation Inc. is a small, closely-held family foundation run out of Summit, New Jersey by three unpaid trustees — Michael E. Farrell (President), Taylor C. Farrell (Vice President/Secretary), and Caitlin Leigh Ann Farrell (Treasurer). With roughly $1.6-1.8 million in assets and about $128,000-$150,000 in annual grants paid (FY2021-FY2023), it operates less like an institutional funder with published guidelines and more like a family giving vehicle that channels money to organizations the trustees already know. The platform's own data flags it as 'preselected_only,' and independent grant databases (Instrumentl, GrantRush, Grantable) reach the same conclusion: funding goes to a fixed circle of prior grantees rather than through open competition. There is no grants_page_url, no application_form_url, and no published application_deadline on file — and the foundation's listed website, maeve.org, is a parked DreamHost placeholder with zero content, confirming there is no self-serve online channel at all. For a first-time applicant, the realistic path is not a cold LOI but a warm introduction: the grantee list is dominated by New Jersey Catholic and independent schools (Oratory Prep, Catholic Partnership Schools), the trustees' likely alma maters (Wake Forest University, Seton Hall University), and a small set of health/disability nonprofits (The Seeing Eye, Ronald McDonald House, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research). Twenty-nine grants over the tracked period, averaging $13,815 each, went to just 11 distinct named recipients plus a pool of sub-$5,000 miscellaneous gifts — a portfolio this concentrated almost never expands through unsolicited proposals. Organizations with an existing board, alumni, or family connection to the Farrells — particularly in K-12 Catholic education, literacy, or cancer/medical research — have by far the best odds. Absent that connection, the most productive use of effort is a brief, personal letter of inquiry to the foundation's IRS-registered contact (c/o Michael A.J. Farrell, 117 Beekman Rd, Summit, NJ 07901) rather than a full proposal, since there is no indication the foundation reviews unsolicited full applications at all.

Maeve Foundation's giving is modest and tightly banded. Per the platform's typical_grant_size calculation across 14 sized grants, awards range from $2,100 to $46,100, with a median of $5,650 and an average of $9,214 — a right-skewed distribution where a handful of larger, recurring gifts pull the average well above the median. Looking at the fuller 29-grant/11-recipient history (total $400,645 disbursed, averaging $13,815 per grantee relationship), the single largest beneficiary is 50CAN ($140,000 across 3 grants, tagged 'Education Fund'), followed by a pooled 'Contributions Paid Less Than $5,000' bucket ($78,574 across 3 grants) and The Seeing Eye ($42,971 across 3 grants, general operating support for the Morristown, NJ guide-dog organization). Wake Forest University ($35,000/3 grants) and Ronald McDonald House ($30,000/3 grants, tagged medical research) round out the top five. By purpose, education-tagged giving (50CAN, Wake Forest, Catholic Partnership Schools, Oratory Prep, Seton Hall) accounts for roughly $205,600 of the $400,645 tracked — about 51% of total dollars — with general-operating and medical-research gifts splitting most of the remainder. Geographically, New Jersey dominates recipient count (18 of the tracked grants), consistent with the foundation's own geographic_focus tags of NJ and NY; DC, NC, and WA each host a handful of grants tied to specific national organizations (50CAN is DC-based; Wake Forest is NC; Fred Hutchinson is WA). On the balance-sheet side, total assets grew steadily from $982,563 (FY2019) to $1,567,155 (FY2023), and a 2026-filed return puts current net assets near $1.63-1.83 million. Annual total giving tracked the same slow upward trend: $132,064 (2019) → $138,710 (2020) → $134,344 (2021) → $165,881 (2022) → $153,255 (2023). Contributions received have been flat at exactly $244,110/year since 2019, suggesting the Farrell family makes a fixed annual contribution to fund the payout rather than the foundation raising outside money — reinforcing that this is a closed, family-funded vehicle rather than a growth-oriented grantmaker.

These five peers were matched on near-identical asset size (all within a few thousand dollars of Maeve's $1.83M) and the same broad NTEE classification (Philanthropy & Grantmaking, T20). None publish grants pages, application portals, or public funding priorities in the available data — a pattern typical of sub-$2M family foundations and trusts, which are legally required to file a 990-PF but face no obligation to solicit or publicize applications. Maeve stands out from this peer set only in that its 29-grant history and typical_grant_size figures ($2,100-$46,100, median $5,650) are visible at all; most peers of this size leave no discoverable grant-level detail. The practical takeaway for applicants is that this entire tier of foundations — asset-matched but geographically scattered from MO to CA — behaves the same way: closed, relationship-driven, and effectively invisible to cold outreach.

No news releases, leadership changes, or new program announcements were found for Maeve Foundation Inc. in 2025 or 2026 — expected for an organization with no website content, no press function, and three unpaid family trustees who have held the same roles (Michael E. Farrell as President, Taylor C. Farrell as Vice President/Secretary, Caitlin Leigh Ann Farrell as Treasurer) across every filing year in the platform's records. The most current documented activity is financial rather than programmatic: a Form 990-PF filed May 18, 2026 (per Instrumentl's filing index) reporting $315,596 in revenue, $168,233 in expenses, and net assets of roughly $1.63 million, which tracks with the steady multi-year asset growth from $982,563 (FY2019) to $1,567,155 (FY2023) already on file. Grants paid have fluctuated modestly year to year without a clear directional trend: $123,100 (2019), $129,000 (2020), $122,324 (2021), $150,000 (2022, the high-water mark), and $128,321 (2023). Because the foundation's website (maeve.org) is an unclaimed, parked domain with no content, and no social media presence was located, there is effectively no public channel through which the foundation would announce new priorities even if it had them. The most useful signal for grant seekers is the fact that the underlying grantee relationships — 50CAN, The Seeing Eye, Wake Forest, Ronald McDonald House, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, and several New Jersey Catholic schools — have persisted across multiple consecutive filing years (each shows 2-3 grant instances), indicating durable, multi-year commitments rather than a rotating portfolio open to new entrants.

There is no formal, published application process for Maeve Foundation Inc. — application_form_url, application_deadline, and grants_page_url are all blank in IRS and platform data, and the foundation's own website is a parked placeholder with no content whatsoever. Given the preselected_only designation and a 29-grant history concentrated among just 11 named recipients, the most important 'tip' is calibrating expectations: this is not a funder that reviews open LOIs on a cycle, and a generic cold proposal is very unlikely to be read. That said, a few concrete moves improve the odds for an aligned organization: (1) Target the demonstrated priorities precisely — K-12 Catholic/independent education in New Jersey (Oratory Prep, Catholic Partnership Schools), national education-reform work (50CAN), disability/guide-dog services (The Seeing Eye), pediatric family support (Ronald McDonald House), and cancer research (Fred Hutchinson) — rather than a broad human-services pitch. (2) Look for an alumni or board connection to Wake Forest University or Seton Hall University, both of which appear as recurring grantees and likely reflect a trustee's personal or educational tie; a warm referral through either institution's development office is more promising than any written proposal. (3) If no connection exists, send a short (one-page) letter of inquiry rather than a full grant application, addressed to the foundation's IRS-of-record contact, Michael A.J. Farrell, at 117 Beekman Rd, Summit, NJ 07901 — phone (908) 918-1286 — since the foundation has no digital intake mechanism. (4) Keep any ask modest and specific: the median grant is $5,650 and the average is $9,214, with the $46,100 ceiling reserved for a handful of top relationships, so a request framed as a defined, small-dollar project (not general operating support at scale) matches the foundation's actual giving pattern. (5) Avoid the common mistake of treating this as a rolling-deadline institutional funder — there is no fiscal-year cycle or notification timeline on record, and grant database aggregators consistently classify it as closed to unsolicited applicants, so persistence via repeated cold applications is unlikely to change the outcome without an underlying relationship.