Mjpm Foundation

The MJPM Foundation is a tightly place-based, invitation-only private foundation anchored in Salisbury, Connecticut. Founded in April 1999 and operating as a 501(c)(3) private non-operating foundation (EIN: 13-4043598), it does not accept unsolicited grant applications. All grants go to preselected charitable organizations the foundation has chosen to support — most of them relationships extending across multiple fiscal years — making relationship proximity the single most important factor for any organization seeking MJPM funding.

The foundation's giving philosophy centers on sustained, repeated investment in a small cluster of regional organizations rather than broad philanthropic diversification. Of the top 20 grantees tracked in IRS filings, virtually every major recipient appears across two or three separate grants: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation received three grants totaling $675,000; Housatonic Valley Association received three grants totaling $437,500; Sharon Land Trust, Connecticut Farmland Trust, and Land Trust Alliance each received multiple awards. This multi-year repeat pattern signals that MJPM thinks in terms of long-term institutional relationships, not one-off project funding.

The foundation operates through a five-person, all-volunteer board: Samuel Posey (President), David Moore (Treasurer), Nicholas Moore (Secretary), Emily Vail (Assistant Treasurer), and Garett Batten (Director). No staff are employed, and no officer receives compensation — a structure typical of a family-controlled foundation. Administrative correspondence runs through Ackerly Brown LLP, a Salisbury law firm at 5 Academy Street, which handles fiduciary and administrative functions. This lean, counsel-managed structure means grant decisions are made personally by board members rather than staff program officers.

There is no formal application cycle, published RFP, LOI requirement, or review timeline. No submission portal exists. First-time applicants cannot write a proposal and expect a response. The realistic path to MJPM funding begins with becoming a visible, trusted participant in the Litchfield Hills civic community — appearing at conservation events, sharing grantee networks, and earning board members' awareness through peer endorsements.

Organizations with the strongest alignment share three traits: they serve Litchfield County, Connecticut (particularly the Sharon/Salisbury/Housatonic Valley area); they pursue environmental conservation, agricultural land preservation, or local civic infrastructure; and they seek operational or general support funding. MJPM has explicitly funded "general support," "operational support," and "general operations" across nearly every listed grantee, signaling a preference for institutional trust over project oversight.

The MJPM Foundation's financial profile reveals an investment-dependent funder whose annual giving fluctuates with portfolio performance. Over ten fiscal years of IRS 990-PF filings, grants paid have ranged from $496,650 (FY2012) to $1,157,500 (FY2021), with no consistent upward trajectory — the foundation distributes what its investment income supports in a given year. Total assets have grown from $14.66M (FY2012) to $20.81M (FY2024), reflecting strong long-term portfolio performance despite consistent annual distributions.

Annual grant history (grants paid): FY2012 — $496,650; FY2013 — $630,300; FY2014 — $1,036,650; FY2015 — $746,600; FY2019 — $589,760; FY2020 — $732,500; FY2021 — $1,157,500; FY2022 — $715,000; FY2023 — $1,103,000; FY2024 — $760,000. Simple average over these ten fiscal years: approximately $797,000. A bimodal pattern is visible — alternating higher and lower distribution years — suggesting the board actively calibrates giving in response to asset performance.

Grant size analysis across 40 documented awards totaling $2,550,500 shows an average of $63,763 per grant. The recorded typical range is $5,000 (minimum) to $330,000 (maximum), with a median of $30,000. In FY2024 specifically, 14 grants were awarded with a maximum of $238,000 and a median of $30,000 — consistent with prior-year patterns.

Program area breakdown (estimated from top 20 grantee data): - Environmental conservation and land protection: ~38% — Housatonic Valley Association, Sharon Land Trust, Connecticut Farmland Trust, Land Trust Alliance, Connecticut Land Conservation Trust, American Farmland Trust, Audubon Sharon - Community foundations and regranting: ~26% — Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation - Local civic infrastructure and emergency services: ~9% — Sharon Fire Department ($135,000), Sharon Volunteer Fire Department ($100,000 for Air Pack systems) - Education and libraries: ~8% — Hotchkiss Library of Sharon ($170,000 across 2 grants), Indian Mountain School ($45,000) - Arts and culture: ~4% — Sharon Playhouse, Sharon Historical Society, TriArts Sharon Playhouse - Healthcare: ~3% — Save Sharon Hospital ($75,000) - Faith-based: ~2% — Christ Church Episcopal ($45,000, including Parish Hall Renovation)

Geographic concentration is near-total: 100% of the 40 tracked grants went to Connecticut organizations, virtually all serving Litchfield County — primarily the Sharon/Salisbury/Housatonic Valley cluster. Revenue is entirely from net investment income (dividends and portfolio returns); no external contributions have been received in any documented year.

The five foundations identified as MJPM peers share one defining trait: approximately $20.8 million in assets, placing all six in the same asset tier within the NTEE Philanthropy & Grantmaking category (T20). Beyond asset size, meaningful comparison data for these privately held family foundations is limited, as most do not publish annual reports or maintain active public websites.

Among this asset-comparable cohort, MJPM distinguishes itself through its unusually clear geographic and thematic identity: virtually all grants serve a 20-mile radius around Salisbury/Sharon, CT, with conservation and farmland protection as the dominant through-line. Steinmetz Foundation (steinmetzfoundation.org) and The Homestead Foundation (thehomestead.org) maintain active websites suggesting slightly more public-facing operations, while MJPM's website is currently inactive. Peers located outside New England (California, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Georgia) suggest different geographic communities and program priorities, making direct programmatic comparison difficult without their 990-PF grant schedules. MJPM's hyper-local concentration in a single Connecticut county is the defining differentiator in this cohort.

In FY2024, MJPM Foundation distributed $760,000 across 14 grants — a moderate year relative to recent history, down 31% from the $1,103,000 paid in FY2023 and meaningfully below the FY2021 peak of $1,157,500. The FY2024 Form 990-PF was filed January 28, 2026, and represents the most current publicly available financial snapshot. Total assets grew to $20.81M by fiscal year-end, up $1.83M from the $18.98M reported at end of FY2023 — reflecting investment gains that more than offset the foundation's $396,949 net operating loss (expenses of $864,474 exceeded revenue of $467,525).

Confirmed FY2024 grantees include Connecticut Farmland Trust (two separate grants of $60,000 each, totaling $120,000 for the year) and Sharon Land Trust ($50,000). The maximum single grant in FY2024 was $238,000. Revenue for FY2024 was $467,525, entirely from dividends and investment returns — higher than the $422,603 in FY2023 and $368,950 in FY2022, continuing a slow upward trend in investment income.

No press releases, news announcements, or media coverage specific to MJPM Foundation were identified for 2025 or 2026. The foundation maintains no active public web presence — mjpm.org resolves to a web hosting service page, confirming the organization's intentionally low profile. Board composition appears unchanged: Samuel Posey (President), David Moore (Treasurer), Nicholas Moore (Secretary), Emily Vail (Assistant Treasurer), and Garett Batten (Director), all serving without compensation, consistent with every prior year on record. No leadership transitions, program pivots, or new strategic priorities have been publicly announced.

MJPM Foundation's most critical practical reality for grant seekers: it operates exclusively by invitation and makes all grants to preselected charitable organizations. IRS filings and philanthropy databases confirm that the foundation does not accept unsolicited applications, and no portal, RFP, or published guidelines exist. A cold application will not be considered.

Given this constraint, the following approaches offer the best realistic path to MJPM funding:

• Become embedded in the Litchfield Hills conservation and civic community before seeking funding. MJPM's grantee list is a map of this community — Housatonic Valley Association, Sharon Land Trust, Connecticut Farmland Trust, Land Trust Alliance, Hotchkiss Library of Sharon, and Audubon Sharon are all connective nodes. Serve on committees, participate in coalition work, and build genuine peer relationships with their leadership over 12-24 months.

• Use Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation as your primary funding channel. MJPM has directed $675,000 to Berkshire Taconic across three recorded grants, and Berkshire Taconic operates competitive grantmaking programs in the Sharon/Litchfield Hills area. Winning a Berkshire Taconic grant positions your organization as a vetted community partner — exactly the signal MJPM responds to.

• Match language to MJPM's grant vocabulary. IRS filings show "general support," "operational support," and "general operations" as the most frequent grant purposes. Proposals emphasizing organizational sustainability, operating budget needs, and long-term institutional health align far better with MJPM's preferences than project-specific, time-limited programmatic asks.

• Identify board connection points. President Samuel Posey, Treasurer David Moore, and Secretary Nicholas Moore are the visible decision-makers. Research their other community affiliations — conservation groups, civic memberships, local boards — to identify shared contexts where introductions can happen naturally.

• Contact Ackerly Brown LLP (5 Academy Street, Salisbury, CT 06068; 860-364-5531) only through a warm introduction. The law firm serves an administrative function, not a program officer function. A community introduction from a mutual contact carries far more weight than a cold letter to the law firm.

• Expect a multi-year horizon. MJPM's repeat grantee pattern — most top recipients receiving grants across two or three consecutive funding cycles — indicates the foundation builds trust slowly and rewards sustained presence. An organization that enters the community now may become eligible for MJPM support two to three years later.