The Beveridge Family Foundation awards grants of up to $50,000 to nonprofit organizations serving Hampden and Hampshire counties in Massachusetts. The foundation supports a broad range of community priorities including youth development, health, education, religious organizations, arts, and environmental initiatives.

A recent update to the application process removed outdated eligibility screening questions and streamlined the 990 requirements, making the process more accessible to qualifying applicants. Organizations rooted in western Massachusetts working across these focus areas are encouraged to apply. The foundation's geographic focus means awards are concentrated where local community impact is most direct and measurable.

Grant Application Improvements – The Beveridge Family Foundation On Posted on December 8, 2025 December 8, 2025 to Featured - Home , News & Dates , President's Blog Grant Application Improvements The Beveridge Family Foundation has made incremental improvements to our grant application process. In October 2025 we removed the eligibility screening of non-priority support types.

In May 2025 we have removed outdated questions from the eligibility form as well as the 990 questions from the application. The goal is to improve efficiency, transparency, and fairness. Please reach out with any questions.

First, we have removed several questions from our eligibility form. This is the form you see after reviewing our eligibility guidelines and FAQ. It is the first gatekeeper in the process.

Its purpose is to save time for applicants whose requests do not meet our policies. It includes a section of checkboxes with the heading “Select any of the following that apply:” The following options are being removed. Federated drives and their foundations including Catholic Charities, United Jewish Appeal and the United Way.

Units of government including federal, state, county and municipal agencies, schools, colleges, universities and hospitals and their foundations Organizations that are located outside the geographically approved area of giving Private educational institutions not attended by members of the Beveridge Family Despite the removal, please be aware that some restrictions still exist. We still do not directly fund government agencies.

We do however fund colleges, universities, and hospitals. Sometimes this funding is through their associated foundations as in cases where the universities are part of the Massachusetts educational system and are applying for projects of specific benefit to communities in Hampden and/or Hampshire counties. We do indeed fund organizations based outside Western Mass, but only for projects operating inside our two-county area.

Also, in the eligibility form we are removing the question “Does your organization have a grant from the Beveridge Family Foundation being paid currently. ” In concert we have clarified the question “Has your organization received any grant payment, other than discretionary distributions, from the Beveridge Family Foundation within the last two years?

” The new wording is “Has your organization received any grant payment greater than $5,000 from the Beveridge Family Foundation within the last two years? ” We provide discretionary grants at the specific recommendation of our directors, usually in amounts of $5,000 or less. Our grant application program is part of what we term our “General” grants.

The two-year restriction refers only to our general grants. We recognize that our internal nomenclature of general vs discretionary will not be entire familiar to our applicants, so we hope this new wording is clearer. We removed the 990 section from the initial application form which contained nine entries from the applicants’ IRS tax return form 990.

For applications that are accepted for consideration, the 990 will be uploaded and therefore these questions are unnecessary. We also recognize that churches, and smaller nonprofits filing the short form or post card version of the 990 do not have these numbers available. Additional enhancements are under consideration including a focus on the categories and types of support considered.

We recognize that the lists of these areas are cumbersome and outdated but have yet to find an adequate replacement. For the meantime, we elected to allow formerly ineligible support types to apply. In October 2025 the following changes were made: The eligibility pages and form have been updated on the website to reflect board discussions and decisions.

1) Removed the tabs and made it a longer page as many were confused by the tabs and didn’t click them. Step 1 – Please familiarize yourself with the eligibility requirements on this page before proceeding to the next section. Please familiarize yourself with the four eligibility requirement areas on this page before proceeding to the next section.

3) Then each section heading was updated to include the area number 4) For the support types, added this text: Note that support types with an * are outside our priority areas. You may select this type, but know that it will likely decrease the likelihood of the application being accepted. Types with a † are not eligible to apply.

Types with a ** are better applied for as Impact Investments in the “About” section of our website. *** Note that for scholarships, we make grants to scholarship funds, but do not accept applications from individuals for scholarships.

Awards/Prizes/Competitions* Employee-Related Scholarships* Faculty/Staff Development* Fellowships – To Individuals† Film/Video/Radio Production* Foundation-Administered Programs* General/Operating Support* Performance/Production Costs* Program-Related Investments/Loans** Scholarships – To Individuals*** 6) Updated the “other limitations” section The maximum grant proposal amount total requested should not exceed $50,000, 25% of Total Contributions for the most recently ended fiscal year or 20% of the Project Budget.

Additionally, the Foundation does not provide support when the request involves the following: Units of government including federal, state, county and municipal agencies, schools, colleges, universities and hospitals and their foundations Foreign organizations or for foreign expenditure Organizations that are located outside the geographically approved area of giving Other private foundations excluding exempt operating foundations Private educational institutions not attended by members of the Beveridge Family Federated drives and their foundations including Catholic Charities, United Jewish Appeal and the United Way.

Furthermore, the Foundation prefers not to provide multi-year grant payments. The maximum grant proposal amount total requested should not exceed $50,000, 25% of Total Contributions for the most recently ended fiscal year or 20% of the Project Budget.

Additionally, the Foundation does not provide support when the request involves the following: Units of government including federal, state, county and municipal agencies, schools, colleges, universities and hospitals Foreign organizations or for foreign expenditure Organizations not operating within the geographically approved area of giving Other private foundations excluding exempt operating foundations Furthermore, the Foundation prefers not to provide multi-year grant payments.

We would appreciate your feedback on these changes as well as recommendations for other ways to make our application process more efficient, transparent, and fair. Feel free to email us at administrator@beveridge. org .

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