Turrell Fund

The Turrell Fund, founded in 1935 by Herbert and Margaret Turrell in Montclair, New Jersey, operates as a tightly focused private foundation with a mission to eliminate need as a barrier to quality educational and developmental experiences for children. With $120.4 million in assets as of fiscal year 2024 and a grants-paid total of approximately $3.6–4.1 million annually in recent years, this is a mid-sized funder with an unusually clear and consistent identity: children first, youngest first.

The Fund's giving philosophy centers on geographic loyalty and life-stage precision. In New Jersey, it funds only Essex, Hudson, Passaic, and Union counties — the dense, urban and suburban corridor surrounding Newark and the Oranges. In Vermont, it focuses on Addison County, Rutland County, and the Champlain Valley, including rural communities. Organizations working outside these corridors need not apply.

Within those geographies, the Fund's sharper current lens is prenatal through age 3, with strong enthusiasm for birth-to-five. Direct service programs remain the backbone of the portfolio, but since roughly 2020 the Fund has visibly shifted resources toward policy, advocacy, and systems change — the 2022 990 showed $881,500 (nearly 23% of total grants) explicitly categorized as advocacy and policy funding, and the Fund publicly championed NJ Bill A5052 for children's behavioral health coverage in early 2026.

First-time applicants should understand that the Fund is relationship-minded. It encourages pre-application contact, provides a Client Support Network and Job Board for current grantees, and publicly celebrates multi-year grantee milestones through the Landon Award program. This is not a transactional funder — applicants who reach out to Program Officer Evan Delgado or Senior Director of Grants Andrés Monclut before submitting substantially improve their chances of alignment.

The application process is direct (no LOI stage), fully online, and open twice per year. Leadership under President/CEO Curtland E. Fields and a board chaired by S. Lawrence Prendergast has remained stable for multiple years, providing consistency in priorities and decision-making.

Turrell Fund grants range from $250 to $451,000, with a median of approximately $10,000 and an average of $24,498 based on 162 grants in the database. In practice, first-time or smaller grantees typically receive $10,000–$30,000, while established multi-year grantees can reach six-figure awards. The $451,000 maximum likely reflects multi-year or strategic initiative co-investments.

Annual grants paid have ranged from $3.63 million (FY2023) to $4.26 million (FY2015), with a rough ten-year average around $3.9 million. FY2021 and FY2020 saw slightly elevated giving ($3.97M and $4.10M respectively), possibly reflecting pandemic-era flexibility. The decline to $3.63M in FY2023 followed a dip in investment income ($900,921 in FY2022 vs. $9.8M in FY2021), as the Fund's endowment is market-sensitive.

Geographic distribution across 330 tracked grants: New Jersey organizations received 200 grants (60.6%), Vermont organizations received 86 grants (26.1%), and the remaining 44 grants went to organizations in New York (16), DC (10), Massachusetts (4), Ohio (4), Pennsylvania (2), Tennessee (2), Louisiana (2), and Virginia (2) — likely national policy and advocacy organizations aligned with the Fund's early childhood systems-change goals.

By program area, the 2022 annual report breakdown was: $2,986,387 (77.2%) for Educational and Developmental Services for Children and $881,500 (22.8%) for Advocacy and Policy Initiatives. In prior years the advocacy slice was smaller, and the Fund has signaled continued growth in this category. There is no evidence of significant giving to arts, health care delivery, or housing, though music and arts education appear as a minor secondary area.

The Fund does not publish a typical grant range on its website, but grantee intelligence and 990 data suggest that returning grantees in good standing often receive $25,000–$75,000, and organizations embedded in strategic initiatives (HealthySteps, Safe Babies Court Team, Let's Grow Kids) may receive larger multi-year commitments.

The Turrell Fund occupies a distinctive niche among regional funders: it is one of the few private foundations in the Northeast with a dual-state focus (NJ and VT) and a hard concentration on early childhood rather than broad K-12 or youth programming. The following table compares Turrell to four peer foundations based on publicly available data:

Note: Peer asset and giving figures are approximate based on recent IRS 990 data and public reports; verify current figures before referencing externally.

Turrell's key differentiators: it is more geographically restrictive than Schumann or Victoria (four NJ counties only), more age-focused than Windham (prenatal-3 vs. broad community development), and has a more accessible open-cycle application than many peers. Its membership in the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative signals alignment with national early childhood strategy networks, which can be a useful credibility reference in proposals. Its dual NJ/VT geography is unusual and reflects the Turrell family's personal connections to both states.

The most significant recent development at Turrell Fund is its explicit policy advocacy posture, culminating in the January 23, 2026 passage of New Jersey Bill A5052 — legislation providing coverage for preventive behavioral health services for NJ children, an initiative the Fund actively championed. This represents the Fund translating its increased advocacy grant dollars into direct policy outcomes.

In fall 2025, the Fund announced six Landon Award winners, all Vermont organizations: Early Childhood Professional Network, Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development, Rutland County Parent Child Center, Bennington Early Childhood Center, Dad Guild, and The Arts Bus. Winston Prouty was highlighted specifically for launching a Bookmobile to extend early literacy access in rural Vermont — consistent with the Fund's interest in innovative delivery models for hard-to-reach families.

The November 2025 spotlight on Newark Community Street Team and summer 2025 leader profile of Nayibe Capellan (Programs for Parents CEO) reflect the Fund's ongoing relationship cultivation with New Jersey urban grantees.

On staffing: the website lists Curtland E. Fields as President/CEO, Evan Delgado as President of Programs and Planning, Andrés Monclut as Senior Director of Grants and Board Liaison, and Richard A. Ribeiro as Chief Financial and Operations Officer. Dareen Abukwaik recently joined as a Communications and Operations Associate. Leadership has been stable over multiple 990 reporting periods, a positive indicator for grantee relationship continuity.

Timing is everything. Submit during the two annual open windows: January 1 (9 AM ET) through February 2 (5 PM ET) for the spring cycle, or July 1 (9 AM ET) through August 3 (5 PM ET) for the fall cycle. Missing these windows means a 6-month wait. The Fund is strict about the one-year reapplication rule — if you applied in February 2025 and were declined, your earliest spring submission is February 2026.

Contact before you apply. The Fund explicitly encourages first-time applicants to reach out before submitting. Email application@turrellfund.org or call (973) 783-9358. Framing your question around geographic and population fit — not a pitch — will earn the most useful guidance. Ask whether your target population and county qualify; do not lead with program description.

Mirror the prenatal-3 language. Current guidelines emphasize 'prenatal through 3' as the sharpest priority within early childhood. If your program serves a broader age range, explicitly quantify what percentage of your work touches the 0–3 window and lead with that in your narrative. Avoid burying the infant/toddler component.

Name the racial equity dimension. Current materials explicitly reference 'addressing racial disparities through policy change and advocacy' as a priority. Proposals that analyze disparate access or outcomes by race — not just describe them — are better aligned with current trustee priorities.

Distinguish direct service from systems change. The Fund funds both, but it has been growing its advocacy/policy slice. If your organization does both, highlight how direct service informs your advocacy work — that narrative arc resonates with the Fund's current direction.

Prepare complete attachments. Required: IRS determination letter, most recent Form 990, coming year operating budget, board list with affiliations, most recent audited financial statement, project/program budget, and management letter from independent auditors. Missing any attachment is grounds for disqualification. Use PDF, Word, or Excel only — no ZIP or password-protected files.

Know the geography precisely. New Jersey eligibility is limited to Essex, Hudson, Passaic, and Union counties. If your organization is headquartered elsewhere but serves these counties, document the service geography explicitly — the Fund grants to the project, not the address.