How to Apply
For Prospective New Grantees
We welcome a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) from any organization seeking support from the George Family Foundation for the first time. An LOI introduces your organization and helps us understand how your work aligns with our mission and current philanthropic priorities. Due to the high volume of requests we receive, we aren’t able to schedule individual introduction calls in advance of receiving LOIs. Current or renewing grantee-partners do not need to submit an LOI — instead, simply contact our program staff.
Should You Submit an LOI?
To ensure we respect your time, we encourage LOIs that meet the following criteria:
Primary Requirements
We only fund 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
We only accept LOIs from organizations working in Minnesota, Dallas, Northern San Francisco Bay Area/Marin County, and the Vail Valley.
We do not consider requests for: capital improvements, endowments, or medical/scientific research.
Additional Considerations
We primarily support organizations with annual budgets exceeding $1 million.
We very rarely fund new endeavors, pilots, or the first year of a program.
We usually fund a small percentage of any budget. While some donors like to fund a larger percentage of an initiative and be the ones to “make it happen,” we prefer to be one of many in a community of supporters.
We are able to invite full proposals from a very limited number of applicants — those that are most aligned with our mission, our focus-area aspirations, and our current philanthropic priorities.
A Note on Selectivity
We are sincere in our desire to find new potential partners aligned with our philanthropic priorities. That said, we also appreciate that nonprofit organizations have very limited time and resources — and transparency and clarity are important to us.
The George Family Foundation is able to fund only a small percentage of the high volume of LOIs we receive. In a typical year, approximately 4% of LOIs are invited to submit full proposals, and only 1% are ultimately approved for funding.
Given increased needs and challenges in many of our focus areas, we expect 2025 and 2026 to be even more competitive than a typical year.
Letter of Inquiry Timeline
We invite and review proposals twice per year, and each cycle has specific focus areas.
| Focus Area | LOI Application Window | Select Invitations for Full Proposals | Board Consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authentic Leadership | September 1 - January 5 | Early March | June |
| Youth Development | September 1 - January 5 | Early March | June |
| Spirituality and Inner Life | September 1 - January 5 | Early March | June |
| Whole-Person Health and Wellbeing | March 1 - June 5 | Mid-Late August | December |
| Environment | March 1 - June 5 | Mid-Late August | December |
Note: We are not seeking LOIs for new grantees in our Community focus area or for the Next Generation Fund.
What Happens Next
All applicants, whether invited to submit a proposal or not, will be notified in March or August. If your LOI is selected for further consideration, we’ll invite you to submit a full proposal and provide access to our proposal portal, deadlines, and full process.
At our June Board meetings, we make grantmaking decisions for:
At our December Board meetings, we make grantmaking decisions for:
Questions?
Please email our Grants and Operations Manager, Andrea Ricci.
Submit a Letter of Inquiry
The LOI online portal is currently closed.