Weezie Foundation

The Weezie Foundation (EIN 13-6090903) is a private charitable trust established in October 1963 and administered by JP Morgan Chase Bank NA as sole trustee — a structure that fundamentally shapes how it gives and how organizations must approach it. There is no independent board of directors, no professional grants staff, no published application deadlines, and no active public-facing website. Grant decisions flow through JP Morgan's Philanthropic Services team in close consultation with the trust's family principals, almost certainly individuals with deep personal ties to Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

The foundation's giving philosophy is relationship-first and geography-anchored. Of the 41 documented grantees, at least 10 organizations appear with multiple grants, including New England Wildlife Center (2 grants, $500,000 total), Nantucket Boys and Girls Club (2 grants, $225,000), Massachusetts Horticultural Society (2 grants, $182,000), and SquashBusters (2 grants, $125,000). Multi-year grantees receive significantly larger cumulative awards than one-time recipients, confirming that the foundation rewards sustained relationships over transactional engagements.

Nantucket Island organizations hold a structural advantage that no amount of compelling grant writing can manufacture. At least 8 top grantees are Nantucket-based institutions — Nantucket Cottage Hospital ($200,000), Nantucket Boys and Girls Club ($225,000), Nantucket Lighthouse School, Nantucket New School, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Maria Mitchell Association, and others. Organizations with an authentic Nantucket connection should lead with it prominently.

For first-time applicants without an existing Nantucket tie, the pathway runs through warm introductions. Existing Greater Boston grantees — SquashBusters, Family Promise MetroWest, and Cycle Kids — are natural relationship bridges. JP Morgan's institutional network is a second avenue: if your organization banks with or has prior contact with JPM's wealth management or philanthropic teams, leverage that connection directly.

All documented grants are classified as general operating support with no project-specific designations. The foundation is not interested in funding discrete programs or capital campaigns with structured deliverables. Applicants should frame outreach around organizational identity, community credibility, and longevity. The personal contact email on file (meganlanziello@gmail.com) suggests the trust's family principal maintains direct involvement in correspondence; write as a peer seeking a collaborative relationship, not as an applicant completing a form.

The Weezie Foundation has maintained total assets between $21.2 million and $26.5 million since 2011, funded entirely by investment income — dividends, capital gains, and interest — with zero external contributions received in any recorded year. The foundation is a closed endowment in slow drawdown: net assets declined from $26.5 million (2021) to $24.3 million (2024), a $2.2 million reduction over three years as annual spending consistently exceeds earnings.

Annual grants paid have ranged from $872,000 (2015) to $1,562,000 (2022), with total giving typically running 15–20% higher than the grants-paid line due to direct charitable expenses. The 2024 total — $1,457,400 across 23 grants — reflects a consolidation trend: the 2023 cycle distributed 35 grants averaging approximately $40,000 each, while 2024 concentrated giving into 23 grants averaging $63,370 — a 57.5% increase in average award size.

The foundation's own reported typical grant data shows: median $60,000, average $66,684, minimum $10,000, maximum $200,000. Aggregate grantee totals across multiple cycles show outliers: New England Wildlife Center received $500,000 (2 grants), and Nantucket Cottage Hospital received a single $200,000 award. Realistic first-time awards for new grantees would likely fall in the $25,000–$75,000 range, with growth potential to $100,000–$200,000 over multiple cycles.

Geographic concentration is extreme: Massachusetts accounts for 30 of 41 identifiable grantees (73%), with Vermont at 3, New York and South Carolina at 2 each, and single grants to Maine, California, Washington DC, and Virginia.

By program area, estimated from $2,829,000 in documented grantee data: environmental and wildlife conservation represents approximately 23% ($650,000), driven by New England Wildlife Center. Youth services and recreation account for roughly 21% ($595,000), including Nantucket Boys and Girls Club, SquashBusters, and Cycle Kids. Formal K–12 education and higher education represent approximately 20% ($565,000). Arts, culture, and horticulture account for 15% ($427,000), led by Massachusetts Horticultural Society and Maria Mitchell Association. Health and medical institutions represent approximately 11.5% ($325,000). Food security, religious institutions, and international causes together represent less than 10% of documented giving and appear to reflect personal relationships rather than programmatic priorities.

The Weezie Foundation is best understood as a small, geographically concentrated private trust operating with the giving philosophy of a wealthy family rather than an institutional funder. The table below compares it to four foundations with comparable asset bases, Massachusetts geographic focus, or overlapping program areas (figures approximate, based on publicly available IRS 990 filings and third-party data):

Key distinctions: unlike Nantucket Community Foundation, which maintains an open grant cycle accessible to any Massachusetts nonprofit, the Weezie Foundation has no comparable public entry point. Its closest structural analog is Island Foundation — a trustee-managed vehicle where personal relationships and institutional history determine access. Weezie's giving is more sector-diverse than Island Foundation (which stays close to coastal environmental work) but far more geography-concentrated than national family foundations of similar size. For organizations already funded by Clipper Ship Foundation or Nantucket Community Foundation, those grants serve as credibility signals worth referencing explicitly in Weezie Foundation outreach.

No new program announcements, press releases, leadership transitions, or public grant disclosures from the Weezie Foundation were found for 2025 or 2026, consistent with the foundation's historically minimal public presence.

The most recent verified data points:

2024 grant cycle (filed January 2026): 23 grants totaling $1,457,400 — up 3.5% in total giving from 2023's $1,407,858 but significantly consolidated from 35 recipients in 2023 to 23 in 2024. Average grant size increased from approximately $40,000 to $63,370, the most notable structural shift in the documented history. Notable 2024 recipients include McLean Hospital Corporation ($125,000), Chatham Hall School ($125,000), Grymes Memorial School ($125,000), and Hale Education ($100,000).

May 2025 personnel data: Krystal Zec is listed as Vice President — the foundation's sole identified employee — representing the JP Morgan Chase Bank NA trustee relationship. Annual officer compensation was $196,240 in 2024 (up from $174,911 in 2023).

Endowment trajectory: Net assets declined from $26.5M (2021) to $24.3M (2024). The foundation has run an annual deficit in every recorded year since 2019. At the current rate, this drawdown will continue gradually barring a significant improvement in investment returns.

Historically notable activity: The largest single-recipient relationship in the documented record is New England Wildlife Center at $500,000 across two grants — an outlier suggesting a particularly close personal connection between the trust's principals and that organization.

Approach timing: The foundation has no published deadlines or grant cycles. Trustee-managed foundations typically process grant recommendations quarterly or semi-annually. Initiating contact in October–November or February–March aligns with common trustee review windows and positions your outreach favorably before decisions are made.

What they look for: Every recorded grant is unrestricted general operating support — not project grants, capital campaigns, or matching challenges. The foundation wants organizations it can trust to do good work without elaborate accountability structures. An effective LOI leads with: (1) who you are and how long you have operated in Massachusetts, (2) your specific community impact in the Nantucket or Greater Boston region, (3) why you are approaching this foundation specifically, and (4) a realistic first-time grant request in the $25,000–$75,000 range.

Alignment language to use: Reference Nantucket or Greater Boston explicitly if authentic to your mission. The grantee record shows clear affinity for terms like 'island community,' 'New England conservation,' 'youth development,' 'access to education,' and 'community health.' Organizations in cycling, aquatics, or youth athletics have a documented pathway — Cycle Kids received two grants totaling $170,000 and SquashBusters received $125,000 across two grants.

Common mistakes to avoid: Do not submit a multi-page proposal with program logic models, outcome metrics tables, or capital project budgets — this trust does not operate a formal review process. Do not cold-email the JP Morgan general inbox without a personal referral. Do not contact via weezie.org (the domain is parked and unmonitored). Do not lead with a first-time ask above $150,000.

Relationship-building pathway: Identify a board member or senior staff at a current Weezie grantee — Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Maria Mitchell Association, SquashBusters — who can make a personal introduction to Megan Lanziello (meganlanziello@gmail.com) or Krystal Zec at JP Morgan. Attending events hosted by existing Nantucket-area grantees organically builds the personal connections that matter most to this funder. Budget 12–24 months for a cold-introduction-to-funded timeline.