How to Apply
We Welcome Prospective New Grantees
Thank you for your interest in the George Family Foundation. We request a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) from any organization seeking support from the Foundation for the first time. This introduction helps us understand your organization and how your work aligns with the aspirations and current philanthropic priorities of the Foundation.
Letter of Inquiry Timeline
We review proposals twice a year, with different focus areas considered at each board meeting. Following is the general timeline for LOIs and proposal-invitations — by focus areas and board meeting.
| 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 |
We are not seeking LOIs for new grantees in our Community focus area or for the Next Generation Fund.
Submit a Letter of Inquiry
You can submit an LOI through our online portal.
Invitations to Submit Full Proposals
We receive far more requests than we are able to fund each year. Because of this, we often aren’t able to invite full proposals even from meaningful endeavors that are well aligned with our mission. In order to best respect applicants’ time, we only invite full proposals from applicants with programs/activities that are most aligned with our mission, our focus-area aspirations, and our current philanthropic priorities.
If your organization is invited to submit a full proposal, we will send you full access to the online portal, proposal due dates, and additional information about the proposal process. And we will let you know either way — after decisions are made in March and August of each year, as described above.
At our June Board meetings, we make grantmaking decisions for:
At our December Board meetings, we make grantmaking decisions for:
General Guidance for Prospective Grantees
We focus on funding organizations that are aligned with our mission and are working to address deep, meaningful needs that they are uniquely positioned to meet.
To support achievement of our aspirations, we seek to fund an intentional mix and balance of endeavors in each focus area.
We only fund 501(c)(3) organizations.
Although we sometimes fund select national organizations, we generally fund 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 scientific research.
We are open to considering requests to review a proposal “off-cycle” from the standard timeline (as described in the Overview/Calendar). If you feel there are compelling reasons for off-cycle consideration (e.g., financial urgency or other time sensitivity), please email our Grants and Operations Manager, Andrea Ricci, to tell us about the situation.