The Conkling Center Inc.

The Conkling Center Inc. is not a conventional grantmaking foundation, and grant seekers should recalibrate expectations accordingly. IRS filings classify it as a private operating foundation (foundation code 02) that reports $0 in grants paid across every fiscal year on record (2011-2023). Instead of redistributing wealth to outside 501(c)(3)s, the Center spends its own program budget — $464,616 in FY2023, drawn primarily from a $352,939 direct-service program (transportation, senior education, and Ice Melt assistance) — running the services itself out of 79 Warren St., Glens Falls, NY. The organization's own application language confirms this: 'THOSE IN NEED OF PROGRAM SERVICES CONTACT THE ORGANIZATION DIRECTLY,' with no LOI portal, proposal form, or review calendar of any kind. For nonprofits or individuals hoping to engage the Center, there are really only two viable pathways: (1) as a service recipient — seniors 55+ within a 20-25 mile radius of Glens Falls call (518) 793-1494 to register for transportation or programming; or (2) as a co-funding or referral partner — the Center itself receives U.S. HUD and City of Glens Falls Office of Community Development (CDBG) dollars, and 2025 city budget records show it functioning as a CDBG sub-recipient alongside peer agencies like Family Service Association and the Warren-Hamilton Counties Community Action Agency. Organizations serving the same Glens Falls senior population (legal aid providers, Alzheimer's/dementia support groups, transportation nonprofits) are better positioned to build a *program partnership* — e.g., co-hosting the annual Elder Law Summit or a seminar slot — than to submit a funding request. The 15-member governing board, chaired by President Jill Vogel with Kevin O'Brien as Treasurer, oversees an executive team led by longtime Executive Director Joan Tarantino (compensation has risen steadily from $83,974 in 2021 to $87,314 in 2023), signaling institutional stability and continuity rather than an evolving grants strategy. First-time contacts should skip proposal-writing entirely and instead call or email to discuss a service collaboration, in-kind partnership, or shared programming slot.

Because the Center makes no outbound grants, there is no median grant size, grant range, or grantee distribution to analyze — the $0 'grants_paid' figure holds across all ten fiscal years in the filing history (2011-2023). What can be measured is the Center's own spending and asset trajectory. Total program giving (i.e., direct service spending) has held remarkably steady in a $440,000-$475,000 band for over a decade: $156,399 (2011) climbed sharply to $277,224 (2012), then stabilized around $378,950-$474,640 from 2013 through 2023, with FY2023 at $464,616. Total assets grew from $6.99M (2011) to $8.58M (2023), peaking at $9.49M in 2021 before a market-driven pullback. Revenue is investment-income-dependent, not donor-dependent: net investment income was $240,073 against just $108,128 in contributions received in FY2023 — a ratio that has held for years (e.g., FY2021: $658,476 investment income vs. $56,148 in contributions; FY2014: $795,211 vs. $24,583). This means the endowment, not annual fundraising, drives capacity, and the Center's spending is largely insulated from any given year's donation total. Program allocation is concentrated in a single reported program area — 'transportation for the elderly, educational seminars for seniors on Alzheimer's, legal matters, and other topics' — with $352,939 of the FY2023 $464,616 total giving tied directly to that program line, implying roughly 76% program-direct spend and the remainder likely administrative/overhead and smaller initiatives like the Ice Melt Program. There is no geographic breakdown beyond the stated 20-25 mile radius of Glens Falls, NY (Warren County and adjacent Queensbury), and no year-over-year percentage shift toward new focus areas is evident in the filings.

The database returned no matched peer foundation records for The Conkling Center, and no other New York private operating foundation with a directly comparable elder-transportation-plus-education model surfaced in web research with verifiable financials. The table below therefore places the Center against directional sector benchmarks for small-to-mid private operating foundations serving seniors, drawn from general 990 patterns for this foundation class, alongside one identified same-mission peer (New York Foundation for Senior Citizens, which runs comparable free transportation programming in the state) where only program description — not verified financials — could be confirmed.

The Conkling Center sits at the small end of this peer band by assets and spend, and — unlike mid-size peers that sometimes run a hybrid model (operating programs plus a modest competitive grants line) — it makes no outside grants at all, putting it closer in structure to NYFSC than to a typical community foundation. Grant seekers should not expect this organization to ever appear in a competitive RFP cycle; its 'giving' is entirely self-directed service delivery.

The most concrete recent data point is the June 2025 Post-Star coverage of the On-The-Go transportation program's town-level performance: 12,380 total rides delivered to 494 Queensbury residents between 2017 and 2025, cited in the context of continued Town of Queensbury financial support for the service — evidence the Center is actively expanding or reinforcing municipal funding relationships beyond the City of Glens Falls itself. The City of Glens Falls' Program Year 2025 CDBG budget also lists a $5,500 line connected to The Conkling Center alongside four other Warren County human-service agencies, indicating the organization remains an active CDBG sub-recipient/partner for 2025. No leadership changes were found in 2025-2026 web coverage: Joan Tarantino continues as Executive Director (a role she has held at least since 2021, per compensation records rising from $83,974 to $87,314 over that span), and the governance structure — a 15-member board with four members overlapping The Glen at Hiland Meadows' board — appears unchanged from prior descriptions. No new program launches or major grants/gifts were reported for 2025-2026 beyond the routine calendar of monthly educational programming, the Annual Elder Law Summit, the Veteran's Breakfast, and the seasonal Ice Melt Program. The most recent DB financial filing on record is FY2023 (total assets $8,577,863, total giving $464,616); no FY2024 or FY2025 990 data was available in the source dataset or independently located via web search, so current-year financial activity cannot be confirmed beyond the qualitative program news above.

There is no grant application to optimize — the single most important tip for any grant seeker researching this organization is to recognize that The Conkling Center does not accept unsolicited funding requests or proposals from outside nonprofits, individuals, or programs. Its own stated process is blunt: 'THOSE IN NEED OF PROGRAM SERVICES CONTACT THE ORGANIZATION DIRECTLY,' meaning the only 'application' is a phone call or email to enroll in an existing service. For seniors or caregivers seeking transportation, call (518) 793-1494 and ask for Tricia, the Program Manager, or email tgolden@theconklingcenter.org — advance registration is mandatory and some programs carry a small fee payable by check or PayPal in advance. For organizational, partnership, or donation inquiries, route to Executive Director Joan Tarantino at jtarantino@theconklingcenter.org; her steadily rising compensation ($83,974 → $85,570 → $87,314 from 2021-2023) and the board's stable 15-member composition suggest she is the durable point of contact and decision-maker for any external collaboration. If the goal is a co-funding relationship rather than direct service, the more productive route is through the City of Glens Falls Office of Community Development or the Town of Queensbury, since both channel HUD/CDBG dollars to the Center and have demonstrated willingness to fund senior transportation programming — a nonprofit proposing a joint transportation or senior-education initiative may find more traction pitching the municipality as co-funder than approaching the Center for a grant it does not have the structure to give. The most common mistake grant seekers will make here is treating this like a typical private foundation prospect: submitting a standard LOI or grant proposal will go nowhere, since there is no proposal review committee, no grant cycle, and $0 in grants paid across every fiscal year 2011-2023. Instead, frame outreach as a program partnership (e.g., offering to lead a seminar session, co-host the Annual Elder Law Summit, or supply in-kind transportation support) — this aligns with how the Center's own programming (legal, health, Alzheimer's, intergenerational topics) already draws on outside subject-matter partners.