Davis Educational Foundation

What Davis Educational Foundation does

Davis Educational Foundation is a private charitable foundation established by Phyllis C. Davis and H. Halsey Davis and operated as part of the Davis Foundations family alongside the Davis Conservation Foundation and Davis Family Foundation. It is headquartered at 30 Forest Falls Drive, Suite 5, Yarmouth, Maine, and operates with a small staff of 1–10 employees that shares finance and grants administration across the three Davis Foundations. Its sole mission is to strengthen undergraduate programs at public and private, regionally accredited, baccalaureate degree-granting colleges and universities located in New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island).

The foundation's product is its grantmaking program, delivered through a biannual cycle with April 1 and October 1 application deadlines and trustee review meetings in May and November. Grants fund curriculum development, faculty development, technology integration, assessment, strategic planning, cost containment, and academic restructuring, with a specialized Presidential Grant Program focused on cost containment. Named grantees and funded initiatives include Bay Path University (pathways and degree audits post-merger with Cambridge College), Bentley University (open educational resources), Bryant University (generative AI for first-year persistence), Northeastern University (personalized learning and career preparation), University of Maine at Augusta (AI and VR integration), Colby College (AI in teaching), Bowdoin College (AI in teaching), University of New England (OER expansion), Colby-Sawyer College (strategic planning), Salve Regina University (strategic alliance with Emmanuel College), and the Five Colleges Incorporated consortium. The foundation does not sell products or services; all financial flows are inbound endowment income and outbound grants, with cumulative giving across the Davis Foundations exceeding $17.7 million since inception.

Name

Davis Educational Foundation

Legal name

Davis Educational Foundation

Website

https://davisfoundations.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Grantmaking Foundation

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Grantmaking Agencies & Education Program Grants Administration (EDADAHAD)

Keywords

• Educational grants
• Higher education funding
• Undergraduate program grants
• Philanthropic foundation
• New England grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Yarmouth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Foundation Endowment: The Davis Educational Foundation was established in 1989 by Phyllis C. Davis and H. Halsey Davis of Falmouth, Maine. As a public charitable foundation, it operates from an endowment and provides grants to strengthen undergraduate programs at colleges and universities in New England.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

The Davis Educational Foundation is a private charitable foundation that provides grants to strengthen undergraduate programs at public and private, regionally accredited, baccalaureate degree-granting colleges and universities in New England. Grants fund initiatives in teaching and learning, curriculum development, faculty development, technology integration, assessment, cost containment, academic restructuring, and strategic planning. Applications are accepted through an online portal with deadlines of April 1 and October 1, and trustees meet in May and November to make funding decisions.

Product overview

The Davis Educational Foundation operates as a grant-making charitable foundation established to strengthen undergraduate programs at public and private, regionally accredited, baccalaureate degree granting colleges and universities in New England. The foundation's primary product is its grants program, which funds initiatives across higher education institutions including curriculum development, faculty development, technology integration, and institutional efficiency projects. The foundation also administers a specialized Presidential Grant Program focused on cost containment. Located at 30 Forest Falls Drive, Suite 5, Yarmouth, ME 04096, the foundation provides grants through an online application system and requires completion reports from grantees.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• The Foundation has provided more than $17.7 million in grants since its founding in 1989

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Five Colleges IncorporatedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Davis Educational Foundation supports a leadership retreat for the presidents, provosts, and principal business officers of the institutions making up the Five Colleges consortium to plan for future collaborative ventures. This partnership enables collaborative planning among member institutions for educational initiatives.
• Colby-Sawyer CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding provided for institutional strategic plan development, including continued exploration of ways to contain costs and make education affordable. This supports the college's strategic planning process.
• Salve Regina UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding to support faculty and staff as they map potential key components of a strategic alliance with Emmanuel College, including academic exchange programs, teaching and research collaborations, and operational efficiencies.

Scale indicators2 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• Maine Community Foundation: Maine-based community foundation that funds a range of local initiatives including education. Comparable to Davis Educational Foundation as a New England grantmaker, though Maine Community Foundation serves all sectors (education, health, arts) rather than focusing exclusively on higher education.
• New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: New Hampshire's largest statewide charitable foundation, funding education and other community priorities. Comparable as a New England regional grantmaker with a strong education focus, though broader in scope than Davis Educational Foundation.
• Boston Foundation: Massachusetts-based community foundation supporting education among other causes. Comparable as a New England-based grantmaking foundation serving higher education, though with a wider sector mandate than Davis Educational Foundation.
• Vermont Community Foundation: Vermont-based community foundation supporting education and community development. Comparable to Davis Educational Foundation as a New England grantmaker with higher-education programs, though operating statewide in Vermont rather than regionally across New England.
• Rhode Island Foundation: Rhode Island's oldest and largest community foundation, funding education and other community causes. Comparable as a New England-focused grantmaker serving higher education, though with a broader sectoral mandate.

Broad incumbents

• Lumina Foundation: One of the largest U.S. private foundations focused on postsecondary education access and success. Comparable to Davis Educational Foundation as an education-focused grantmaker, though Lumina operates nationally with a far larger endowment and broader scope.
• Kresge Foundation: National foundation that funds higher education among other priorities, including urban college transformation and cost containment. Overlaps with Davis Educational Foundation's cost-containment and institutional improvement priorities but operates nationally at significantly greater scale.
• Mellon Foundation: Major national foundation supporting higher education in the humanities, arts, and academic diversity. Overlaps with Davis Educational Foundation in higher-ed grantmaking but operates at much greater scale and with broader programmatic scope.

Direct peers

• Henry Luce Foundation: Private foundation supporting higher education in the liberal arts, with focus on academic programs and faculty development. Comparable to Davis Educational Foundation as a private grantmaker focused on undergraduate program strengthening, though with national scope.
• Teagle Foundation: New York-based private foundation that funds liberal arts education and curricular innovation at U.S. colleges and universities. Highly comparable to Davis Educational Foundation in mission focus on undergraduate program strengthening, faculty development, and institutional improvement.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments3 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Davis Educational Foundation