A To Z Impact Foundation

A To Z Impact Foundation is a private family foundation rooted in the conviction that "everyone deserves access to high-quality healthcare and economic opportunity." Founded in 2015 and now holding $14.1M in assets, it operates across two distinct but complementary channels: impact-first investing (capital deployed for social return over financial return) and direct grantmaking. The Kaplan family — Jeffrey as President and Andrea as Vice President, both uncompensated — governs the foundation, with Michael Kaplan serving as paid Executive Director and Alex Evangelides leading investment strategy at $209,000 each. This family-led but professionally staffed structure means decisions are relationship-driven and personal, not committee-driven or formulaic.

The foundation's giving philosophy is explicitly community-first and anti-scale. Unlike funders that reward national ambitions or replication plans, A To Z prizes laser focus: grantees must have annual budgets under $1M and serve a clearly defined local geography. The foundation explicitly describes its ideal grantee as an organization "without grand plans to scale, but rather a laser focus on their local community." This is a meaningful filter — applicants should resist projecting growth ambitions and instead demonstrate deep roots in a specific place.

The grantmaking program functions as the "impact-only" channel within a broader impact-first portfolio. The foundation evaluates partners on social outcomes, not financial sustainability metrics. Proposals should emphasize community rootedness, proximity to the people served, and measurable local outcomes over organizational scale or national profile.

A To Z strongly favors a proximate founder model — leaders with lived experience of the challenges they address — and states a bias toward gender-smart and equity-centered approaches. BIPOC-led and women-led organizations working in healthcare access, economic opportunity, WASH, and child care should lead with those dimensions.

Multi-year relationships characterize the portfolio: LTP Foundation received three grants totaling $250,000; Queens Community House received three grants across events and COVID relief; several other grantees appear across multiple cycles. First-time applicants should treat an initial grant as the beginning of a partnership. An initial request of $5,000–$25,000 is far more credible than opening at the $100,000 ceiling — demonstrate impact and position your organization as a long-term collaborator in the foundation's active portfolio.

A To Z Impact Foundation has demonstrated consistent and growing annual giving since its 2015 founding. Total charitable giving by fiscal year: $217,137 (2015), $346,917 (2019), $652,342 (2020), $737,147 (2021), $781,326 (2022), and approximately $734,859 in disbursements (2024). This trajectory reflects roughly 3.5× growth in annual giving over a decade, driven by assets growing from $2.48M in 2015 to $14.1M by 2024.

Across the 121 documented grants in the foundation's grantee database, total giving amounts to $686,722 with a mean of $5,675 per grant. However, this average is heavily skewed by two outlier relationships: LTP Foundation Inc ($250,000 across three grants, likely an affiliated or co-investment vehicle) and NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation ($108,000 for unrestricted support during the COVID period). Excluding these two, the median grant across the remaining 119 awards falls between $1,500 and $3,500, making this a micro-to-small grant program in everyday practice. The stated range of $5,000–$100,000 represents the ceiling, not the norm.

Geographically, New York State captures 57 of 121 grants (47%), consistent with the Kaplan family's base and established organizational networks. California follows with 28 grants (23%), then Mississippi with 8 (6.6%), New Jersey with 6 (5%), and Pennsylvania with 5 (4%). Mississippi's representation is notable given the state's poverty metrics and aligns with the foundation's No Poverty and economic opportunity priorities. Vermont, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, and Oregon each appear with 1–4 grants, indicating ad hoc national reach.

International grantmaking, while a minority of total dollars, signals growing global ambition: Lwala Community Alliance in Kenya ($15,000), Life House Foundation for Children in Uganda ($8,160), Nova Ukraine ($6,600), and Focusing Philanthropy/VillageReach for COVID health access globally ($25,000). By program area, health and COVID response accounts for roughly 40% of total documented dollars, livelihoods and economic opportunity for 25%, food security and emergency assistance for 15%, international development for 10%, and education/interfaith for the remainder.

A To Z Impact Foundation sits in the $14M asset tier of private family foundations — a group characterized by active grantmaking but without the scale or institutional staff of larger endowed funders. The five closest-asset peers identified in foundation databases are all clustered within a narrow $14.07M–$14.09M range in the Philanthropy and Grantmaking NTEE category.

What distinguishes A To Z from this peer cohort is the depth of its public-facing infrastructure. It maintains a functioning website with published eligibility criteria, an active LinkedIn and Twitter presence, a Medium publication articulating its philosophy, and named professional staff including a paid Executive Director and Senior Director of Investments. Every peer foundation in this asset tier operates without a public-facing application channel. A To Z's publication of specific dollar ranges ($5,000–$100,000), an explicit budget ceiling ($1M for grantee organizations), and SDG-mapped priorities gives grant seekers a meaningful advantage in qualifying fit before outreach — a feature rare among comparable private foundations and one that signals genuine openness to new applicants.

The most recent verifiable public record for A To Z Impact Foundation is a Form 990 filed on November 18, 2025, covering fiscal year 2024. That filing showed $14.08M in total assets, $1,737,089 in total revenue (including $1M in contributions and $100,964 in interest income), and $734,859 in charitable disbursements. This giving level is consistent with the $652K–$781K annual range sustained from 2020 through 2022.

Leadership appears stable. Jeffrey Kaplan continues in his role as President, Director, Secretary, and Treasurer on an uncompensated basis. Michael Kaplan serves as Executive Director at $209,000 annually, and Alex Evangelides as Senior Director of Investments at $209,000. Andrea Kaplan serves as Director and VP without compensation. No leadership changes or executive departures have been publicly announced.

The foundation's website lists an active grants portfolio spanning 12 organizations with commitments running through 2025 — covering housing, health, child care, livelihoods, and WASH — indicating several multi-year grantee relationships are currently active. The foundation has maintained its Twitter account at @atozimpact and LinkedIn presence at linkedin.com/company/a-to-z-impact, and publishes essays on giving philosophy via Medium.

No major new program announcements, new funding initiative launches, or leadership transitions were surfaced in web searches covering 2025–2026. The foundation is operating quietly and consistently, which is characteristic of relationship-driven family foundations at this asset size.

Before reaching out, grant seekers must read both the Grantmaking Criteria and the About pages at atozimpact.org. The foundation explicitly expects prospective grantees to be conversant with their philosophy — arriving without this foundation knowledge signals low alignment and low effort.

Budget ceiling is the hardest filter. The foundation limits grantees to organizations with annual budgets under $1M. This is non-negotiable based on published criteria. If your budget is approaching this ceiling, address it proactively and explain how the grant would support community-scale, focused work rather than institutional expansion.

Lead with impact, not aspiration. The foundation's core operating principle is "impact-first" — every decision starts and stops with impact. Open with specific, measurable outcomes your organization has already achieved. Quantified local impact (households served, health outcomes improved, jobs supported) outperforms future projections or theory-of-change narratives.

Proximate leadership is a stated preference. The About page explicitly references a "bias for gender-smart initiatives and proximate founders." Introduce your leadership team's lived connection to the communities being served early in your inquiry message. This is one of the clearest signals the foundation gives about organizational fit.

Match SDG language. The foundation's criteria map directly to SDGs: No Poverty, Good Health and Well-Being, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Reduced Inequalities. Use this language where it fits naturally in your framing — it is the vocabulary the foundation uses internally.

Open modestly. Given the median grant in the $1,500–$5,000 range for most grantees, a first request of $5,000–$15,000 is far more credible than opening at or near the $100,000 ceiling. Frame a smaller initial grant as a relationship-building step toward a longer partnership, not a one-time transaction.

Use the contact form and attach materials. The sole application channel is atozimpact.org/contact/. The form accepts up to 10 file attachments (256MB max). Include a brief concept note (1–2 pages), your IRS determination letter or fiscal sponsor agreement, and any relevant impact data. Write a concise 2–4 paragraph cover message.

Engage with their public thought leadership. Follow the foundation on LinkedIn and Twitter and read their Medium essays before outreach. Referencing a specific piece of writing or investment portfolio entry demonstrates genuine alignment beyond a funding search.