Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation is a private foundation based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Its 2024 filing states that it supports charitable, educational, and scientific activities qualifying under Section 501(c)(3) to aid individuals with disabilities.
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation at a glance
In short: Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation gave $147K across 12 grants in 2025 (avg $12K), mostly in Massachusetts. 17% of 2025 grantees were new. Source: 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.
- Annual giving (2025)
- $147,000
- +5.9% vs 2024
- Grants made (2025)
- 12
- -7.7% vs 2024
- Average grant
- $12,250
- +14.7% vs 2024
- Median grant
- $13,500
- Total assets
- $2,504,356
- +7.4% vs 2024
- New grantees (estimate)
- 17% first-time grantees (2 of 12, 2025; small sample)
- Primary geography
- Massachusetts (100% of itemized 2025 grant dollars)
- Latest 990 filing
- Form 990-PF, 2025 View filing
Data from IRS Form 990-PF, 2025; updated October 2026. New grantees are estimated by matching recipient names across years (methodology).
How to apply to Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation
- How to Apply
-
The 2024 filing lists Alycia Sacco Duquette, President, as the contact and says application details and materials are available on request. It states that giving is not restricted to preselected organizations and that eligible activities must qualify under Section 501(c)(3) and aid individuals with disabilities.
- Review Cycle
- Details are available on request, according to the 2024 filing.
- Deadline
- Details are available on request, according to the 2024 filing.
- Contact
Application contact: Alycia Sacco Duquette President Ber
Mailing address: 700 South Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201
Phone: (413) 395-4819
Application details from Grantable's research on the foundation's public materials; confirm on its website before applying.
Who Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation funds
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2025
The largest 2025 recipient was Berkshire County Arc ($15K). Together the top 10 received $136K.
Grant Size Distribution
78 grants across all recorded years
The most common grant size was under $50K: 78 grants of 78 (100%).
Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
All grant dollars in 2025 went to recipients in Massachusetts. The listed grantees include organizations in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Westfield, and other Massachusetts locations.
Grant Distribution by State
Share of 2025 grant dollars across all 12 itemized grants.
States
Cities
Is Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation open to new grantees?
17%
first-time grantees, 2025
In 2025, 2 of 12 grantees (17%) were first-time recipients. With only 12 grantees, that is a small sample: one grantee more or less moves the share by about 8 points. First grants averaged $15K; repeat grants $12K. How we count
Medians: $15K first-time, $12K repeat.
- 58% of 2025 grantees were also funded in 2024. Method
- Giving held roughly steady from 2022 to 2025 (+4%). Method
- In 2025 it paid out 103% of its IRS minimum distribution (the 5% rule). Method
Estimate from itemized grant lists in IRS Form 990-PF filings (2021–2025). Recipient names are matched across years, so a renamed or misspelled grantee can look new; grants to individuals are left out. Methodology.
Giving History
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
From 2021 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $139K (2024) to $147K (2025). In 2025 it made 12 grants totaling $147K.
Grants by year
Grant recipients and amounts by year
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Berkshire County Arc Pittsfield, MA | Berkshire county arc has four day-habilitation programs that serve more than 150 people. Three of these programs have sensory rooms that individuals can access (alone or in small groups) to decompress, escape from over-stimulating social environments, enjoy a quiet, safe space, and engage in controlled sensory exploration. After all, everyone needs a "reset" from time to time. However, at this time all of the sensory rooms are inadequate, lacking well-designed tools and equipment to support the individual's effort to regulate their stress levels. The rooms require updates to structure and design to meet the needs of the individuals that they accommodate. For example, some individuals may be able to engage in actions that can result in injury when they are upset or over-stimulated, such as hitting their head against an un-protected wall. | $15,000 |
| Berkshire South Regional Community Center Great Barrington, MA | We respectfully request support from the berkshire life charitable foundation in the amount of $15,000 for our swim with us adaptive swim lessons and aqua thrills classes, aquatics programs serving those who might have difficulties participating in traditional lessons and aquatics experiences. | $15,000 |
| Blue Rider Stables Great Barrington, MA | Blue rider stables' adaptive riding programs serve individuals and organizations throughout Berkshire county and the tri-state area. Programs such as ours have proven to be extremely effective in reaching those with disabilities who are otherwise unable to participate in sports or many other physical activities. A german study (barolin, g.s., & samborski r. (1991). The horse as an aid in therapy. Wiener medizinische wochenschrift,) states "physiotherapy on the back of the moved horse has two important dimensions: 1) the somatotropic effect regards mainly spasticity, ataxia, the vertebral column, the basis of the pelvis and the skin. 2) a general psychotherapeutic and psycho hygienic effect is created by joy, change and new impetus in rehabilitation and by the emotional contact with the "comrade animal". | $15,000 |
| Community Access to the Arts Great Barrington, MA | Community access to the arts (CATA) requests funding from berkshire life charitable foundation to underwrite 125 CATA visual arts workshops between september 2024 and may 2025 with a grant of $15,000. This is an increase of 25% over recent years' workshops underwritten by berkshire life charitable foundation. In acknowledgment of your support, CATA will recognize berkshire life as a lead underwriter of I am a part of art, CATA's annual art exhibits at the clark art institute in williamstown and the lichtenstein center for the arts in pittsfield during the summer of 2025. These public exhibits showcase artwork created by CATA artists with disabilities during the previous program year. All work in the exhibits is professionally matted, framed, and offered for sale, with proceeds providing commissions to individual artists. | $15,000 |
| UCP of Western MA Pittsfield, MA | Ucp of western Massachusetts was founded in 1961 by parents in Berkshire county who had children with cerebral palsy and were finding it difficult to obtain services. In the early years, services were focused on wheelchair repair and information and referral for these children. Today, ucp celebrates our 63rd anniversary of service and has expanded our $8 million operation to include supported living, assistive technology regional center, family support services, and early intervention. While services have expanded, the focus has always remained the same: helping children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities achieve "lives without limits." while the name ucp often gives the sense that we serve only persons with cerebral palsy, in fact, ucp has grown to support a variety of disabilities in children and adults. These disabilities include physical impairments, visual and hearing impairments, impairments of cognition. | $15,000 |
| UPSIDE413 Pittsfield, MA | The tenancy preservation program continues to fill a critical gap in services for individuals and families with disabilities in the berkshire community who are at risk of eviction or are experiencing housing instability. Without the supports tpp provides, these vulnerable households might not otherwise be able to preserve their tenancies or access housing due to their mental illness, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and/or aging related issues. Tpp allows tenants with disabilities to overcome what are often significant barriers to accessing mainstream homelessness prevention programs needed to reduce or eliminate the risk of homelessness for this vulnerable population. Since the inception of the program, berkshire tpp has provided assistance to over 1900 Berkshire county households and preserved over 1250 these households' tenancies through tpp's. | $15,000 |
| Berkshire Music School Pittsfield, MA | Berkshire music school believes in the healing benefits of both listening to music and making music. These documented benefits include increased cognitive activity, language retention, lowered blood pressure, reduced stress and pain levels, and increased spatial intelligence. Additionally, emotional benefits of participating in musical enrichment activities include lowered anxiety and improved mood. For these Reasons, Berkshire county arc, a non-profit human services organization, reached out to bms to create a special program to serve this special population. Since that time making music: creative collaborations has grown into an ongoing program, and a cornerstone of bms's outreach offerings. Providing meaningful musical experience to all populations is a top priority of the berkshire music school, and our making music: creative collaborations. | $12,000 |
| Life Needs Coop Inc DBA Stanton Home Great Barrington, MA | Growing farm produce and farmer's market vocational training program. Stanton home continues to expand the gardens and growing organic produce to sell at farmer's market and in support of our growing community. We are seeking funds to support this important effort to achieve sustainability as organization and continue to teach vital life skills to our residents through the farmer's market vocational training program. If funded, our residents would benefit in the following ways: gaining independence and employment at and outside of stanton home; development of financial and skills related to selling retail products; social skills and essential interaction with the greater berkshire community; increased self confidence and self-esteem. | $12,000 |
| Pediatric Development Center Pittsfield, MA | This request is to provide timely, local diagnosis for children who may have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A new collaboration between pdc clinicians and dr. Deb buccino, a local pediatrician with advanced training in ASD, has the potential to eliminate lengthy waiting lists in boston for Berkshire county families. This is a new program. | $12,000 |
| Community Legal Aid Inc Pittsfield, MA | Cla seeks funding from the berkshire life charitable foundation to support our work with low-income disabled tenants in Berkshire county who are facing termination of their rental subsidies or are facing eviction and homelessness. Cla lawyers are experts in fair housing law and are very effective both at identifying services to put in place to stabilize the tenant and therefore the tenancy, and at utilizing the law to preserve the tenancy and avoid eviction and homelessness.3 as challenging as these cases are, they are also very rewarding, as we are often able to both prevent eviction and homelessness, and also address the client's underlying mental health issues in a way that improves their overall quality of life. We are very excited to have recently hired an attorney who is working exclusively on fair housing issues. Many of his cases focus on disability discrimination in the context of eviction. | $10,000 |
Ready to take the next step with Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation?
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
| Filing year | Total Assets | Revenue | Expenses | Grants paid | Grants | Qualifying Distributions | Net Investment Income | Distributable Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $2,504,356 | $356,705 | $186,347 | $147,000 | 12 | $152,886 | $327,800 | $148,833 |
| 2024 | $2,331,055 | $249,541 | $175,916 | $138,850 | 13 | $146,531 | $223,259 | $137,845 |
| 2023 | $2,256,832 | $109,889 | $173,007 | $141,000 | 15 | $148,402 | $86,486 | $133,241 |
| 2022 | $2,323,948 | $167,143 | $179,263 | $141,615 | 17 | $148,913 | $138,723 | $143,780 |
| 2021 | $2,331,103 | $271,442 | $181,972 | $146,000 | 21 | — | $246,253 | $136,926 |
Under IRS private-foundation payout rules, Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation reported a distributable amount of $149K for 2025 — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.
Research compiled by Grantable AI from public sources. Last updated September 2026.
Mission & Focus Areas
No separate mission statement for the foundation is provided. Its filing describes eligible activities as charitable, educational, and scientific activities that aid individuals with disabilities.
The 2025 grants supported organizations and programs addressing areas including adaptive recreation, arts, disability services, housing stability, legal assistance, and children’s developmental needs. Among the grantees, Community Access to the Arts says its mission is to nurture and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities through shared arts experiences. An individual recipient describes its mission as offering a holistic educational environment for safe interaction between people and animals through therapeutic experiences. Berkshire County ARC says it supports individuals in identifying and realizing their chosen lifestyles. Pediatric Development Center describes services for children from birth to age three suspected of having a neurological or developmental problem. Community Legal Aid says its mission is to improve the lives of low-income and elderly people through legal assistance.
Grantmaking
In 2025, the foundation awarded 12 grants totaling $147,000. Grants ranged from $5,000 to $15,000, with a median of $13,500. The largest awards included $15,000 each to Berkshire County ARC, Berkshire South Regional Community Center, an individual recipient, Community Access to the Arts, UCP of Western Massachusetts, and Upside413. Other grants included $12,000 to Berkshire Music School, Life Needs Coop Inc. dba Stanton Home, and Pediatric Development Center; $10,000 to Community Legal Aid; $6,000 to Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center; and $5,000 to Camp Words Unspoken.
The grant purposes included sensory-room improvements, adaptive aquatics and riding, visual-arts workshops, disability services, tenancy preservation, music programming, vocational training, timely local autism diagnosis, legal assistance for disabled tenants, inclusive youth programming, and camp access for young people who stutter.
Leadership & Key People
Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings
The 2025 filing lists Michael E Barbieri, Adam Kirby, David Klausmeyer, and Caitlin Pemble as trustees; Robert Coco as treasurer; Alycia Sacco Duquette as president; and Kevin Sherman as secretary.
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation is led by Alycia Sacco Duquette, President on every filing since 2021; none of the 7 officers listed in 2025 report compensation.
Officers on the 2025 filing
Alycia Sacco Duquette
President
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Adam Kirby
Trustee
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Caitlin Pemble
Trustee
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
David Klausmeyer
Trustee
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Michael E. Barbieri
Trustee
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Kevin Sherman
Secretary
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Robert Coco
Treasurer
On filings since 2021
0.5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Former officers (2)
- Former: Carlo F. Petrucci Sr. (2021–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Kristine Hazzard (2023–2024) — Trustee
Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2021–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.
Frequently asked questions about Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation
How much does Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation give each year?
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation gave $147K across 12 grants in 2025, according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. In 2024 it gave $139K across 13 grants.
What is Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's typical grant size?
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's median grant in 2025 was $13,500, and its average grant was $12,250, across 12 grants on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Organizations receiving their first grant from Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation that year got $15K on average.
Where does Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation give grants?
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation gives mostly in Massachusetts: 100% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF went to recipients there. The most frequent recipient cities were Pittsfield, MA (7 grants) and Great Barrington, MA (4 grants).
Does Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation give general operating support?
Occasionally: 8% of Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's 2025 grants with a stated purpose (1 of 12) were for general or operating support, per its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.
Who are Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's largest grantees?
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's largest 2025 grantees include Berkshire County Arc ($15,000), Berkshire South Regional Community Center ($15,000) and Blue Rider Stables ($15,000), according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Together they received 31% of its itemized 2025 grant dollars.
How large is Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation?
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation reported $2.5M in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. It paid out $153K in qualifying distributions that year, against a required minimum of $149K (roughly 5% of its investment assets).
What does Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation fund?
No separate mission statement for the foundation is provided. Its filing describes eligible activities as charitable, educational, and scientific activities that aid individuals with disabilities. See mission & focus areas ↑
How do I apply for a grant from Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation?
The 2024 filing lists Alycia Sacco Duquette, President, as the contact and says application details and materials are available on request. Eligibility and process details are in the grantmaking section of this profile. See how to apply ↑
What is Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's EIN?
Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 04-3566439. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2021–2025.
Data last updated October 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated September 2026.
Data update history
(1)
When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable
- IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2021–2025
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Cite this profile
Grantable. (2026). Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation funder profile. GrantGraph. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://grantable.co/funders/berkshire-life-charitable-foundation-morg_f4ccfe5ec92a420db3e4b41de70f98e3
BibTeX
@misc{grantable_043566439_2026,
author = {{Grantable}},
title = {{Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation funder profile}},
howpublished = {GrantGraph},
year = {2026},
url = {https://grantable.co/funders/berkshire-life-charitable-foundation-morg_f4ccfe5ec92a420db3e4b41de70f98e3},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-14. Data licensed CC BY 4.0}
}The figures on this page are open data under CC BY 4.0: reuse them with credit to Grantable and a link. Download the data.
Figures come from Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation's IRS filings (methodology). AI-written summaries, news items and logos are not covered by the open licence. Spot an error? Email hello@grantable.co.
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