Anderman Family Foundation

The Anderman Family Foundation is a small, closely held family foundation (EIN 83-2186165, administered through Foundation Source and headquartered in Wilmington, DE for tax purposes, though its operating base is San Francisco and Maui). It is governed entirely by the Anderman/Van Deursen family — Sigmund Anderman (President, Secretary, Treasurer), David Anderman, Gabrielle Anderman-Cale, Elissa Van Deursen, and Simon Van Deursen all serve as directors, none drawing compensation. This is the clearest signal in the file: the foundation's own data flags `preselected_only: true` and lists no public application form, deadline, or portal. In practice this is a relationship-driven, invitation-based funder, not an open-competition grantmaker. First-time applicants should not expect a cold LOI to convert; the foundation's 44 tracked grants since inception show repeat, multi-year support to a tight, stable roster (Grow Some Good received 2 grants totaling $200,000; Santa Rosa Symphony Association received 3 grants totaling $120,000) rather than one-off awards to new organizations discovered through open calls. The realistic path in is a warm introduction — through a board connection, an existing grantee, or a shared California Bay Area or Maui/Hawaii community network — followed by a short, direct outreach via the foundation's website contact form that states organizational mission, geographic footprint, and readiness to use general operating (unrestricted) funds well, since 100% of the top 30 recorded grants in the data file are coded 'General & Unrestricted.' Organizations should lead with demonstrated local impact and leadership credibility rather than a polished formal proposal; nothing in the public record suggests the foundation runs site visits or a multi-stage LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline typical of larger institutional funders. Given the modest, family-managed scale ($3.7M in assets), grant seekers should also calibrate expectations: this is a philanthropy of steady, personal relationships, not a competitive grants program, and success is far more likely for organizations already known to the Anderman or Van Deursen family or operating in their two core geographies.

Total giving has ranged from $132,500 (FY2020, 4 grants) to $284,980 in total giving reported for FY2023 ($237,500 in grants paid per the same filing), based on the foundation's IRS 990-PF data. FY2024 is the most recent completed filing year in third-party trackers, showing $178,000 across 13 grants — a pullback from FY2023's 18 grants. Total assets have been roughly flat to slightly declining, from $4.23M (FY2021) to $3.73M (FY2024), while net investment income has been the primary revenue driver in most years (e.g., $77,903 in FY2023, $277,955 in FY2021) rather than new contributions — FY2019 was the exception, with a one-time $4.18M contribution that seeded the fund. Grant size in the platform's own tracked data ranges from $2,000 (Hui Noeau) to $200,000 cumulative to a single grantee (Grow Some Good, across 2 awards), with a median single-grant size around $10,000–$15,000 and an average of $18,500 across the 44 tracked awards ($814,000 total). Instrumentl separately reports a typical range of $500–$100,000 with an average of $15,600, consistent with this file's own `typical_grant_size` metadata (median $15,000, average $33,125, max $100,000, min $2,500, based on a 4-grant sample). Geographically, giving is heavily concentrated: of 44 tracked grants, California receives 21 (48%) and Hawaii 14 (32%), with the remainder scattered across DC (4), NY (2), and single grants in AL, CT, and MA — confirming the foundation's own stated `geographic_focus` of CA and HI. By purpose, the foundation is almost entirely unrestricted: every one of the top 30 grants in the file carries the purpose "General & Unrestricted," apart from a handful of named/designated funds (a Columbia University "College Walk Society fund" gift of $25,000, a Cedars-Sinai "Dr. Raj Makkar Fellowship Program Fund" gift of $25,000, and a Hawaii Local 2030 Hub "Hawaii Green Growth Membership Fund" gift of $25,000). The largest single recurring beneficiary categories are community/environmental nonprofits (Grow Some Good, Common Ground Collective, Natural Resources Defense Council), arts institutions (Santa Rosa Symphony, San Francisco Opera, SFMOMA, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Ballet — each at $10,000), and Hawaii-based community and health organizations (Maui Health Foundation, Whale Trust, Maui Chamber Orchestra, Credo High Foundation).

The Anderman Family Foundation sits within a cluster of similarly small, single-family philanthropies with near-identical asset bases (roughly $3.7–3.75M), several of which are also Foundation Source-administered vehicles that share Anderman's closed, preselected-recipient model.

All five peers are classified under the same "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE category and sit within roughly $2,000 of Anderman's asset base, suggesting they were sourced as size-matched comparables rather than mission-matched ones — none has a public grants program on file. Anderman stands out among this peer set for actually maintaining a public website with a stated mission, even though its application channel remains effectively closed to unsolicited requests; grant seekers researching any of these six foundations should expect to rely on relationship-building and board networks rather than formal proposals, and should treat California/Hawaii nonprofit and arts networks as the most productive channel specifically for Anderman.

No foundation-specific press releases, leadership changes, or new program announcements for 2025-2026 turned up in web search or on the foundation's own site — this is consistent with a small, non-media-facing family foundation that does not issue public announcements. The most recent hard data point is the FY2024 giving figure ($178,000 across 13 grants, per Instrumentl's 990 tracking), a decline from FY2023's $237,500 across 18 grants and the smaller grant count than any year since FY2020. The foundation's own record in this data file was last enrichment-verified 2026-08-15 and shows no updated `application_process`, `application_deadline`, or `opportunities_url` — all remain null or unset, reinforcing that the foundation has not moved toward a more formal or public application process in the past year. The leadership roster (Sigmund Anderman as President/Secretary/Treasurer, alongside David Anderman, Gabrielle Anderman-Cale, Elissa Van Deursen, and Simon Van Deursen as directors) appears stable across the filings referenced in this bundle, with no compensation paid to any officer or director in any year shown (FY2020-2023), indicating an all-volunteer, family-run governance structure that has not changed. Grant seekers should treat the absence of news as the norm for this funder rather than a gap in research — track record and relationship, not recent announcements, are what will move an application forward here.

There is no formal application form, LOI template, or portal for the Anderman Family Foundation — the foundation's own filing data flags grants as preselected, and its website's Contact page offers only a generic "Get in touch" prompt with no stated review timeline or required materials. Given that pattern, the most effective approach is: (1) Use the website contact form (andermanfamilyfoundation.com/contact) for a brief, specific first outreach rather than a full unsolicited proposal — introduce the organization in 2-3 sentences, state the specific program or need, and name any existing connection to the family, a current grantee, or the Bay Area/Maui community. (2) Emphasize geography first — California (48% of tracked grants) and Hawaii (32%) dominate the giving pattern, so an organization based outside those two states faces materially longer odds absent a strong thematic or personal tie (the DC, NY, AL, CT, and MA grants in the record each appear to be one-off, name-driven exceptions such as university or medical-center designated funds). (3) Ask for general operating support, not a narrowly scoped restricted grant — virtually every tracked grant in this file is coded "General & Unrestricted," so a pitch built around a specific line-item budget is working against the foundation's own demonstrated preference. (4) Expect a modest first ask: the effective ceiling for a new relationship is closer to $5,000-$25,000 based on the bulk of tracked awards, even though the foundation has occasionally written checks as large as $50,000-$100,000 to long-standing, deeply trusted partners (Grow Some Good's cumulative $200,000, College Preparatory School's $100,000). (5) Avoid the common mistake of treating this like an institutional funder with a grants cycle — there's no evidence of published deadlines, board meeting dates, or a multi-stage review process, so a cold, generic proposal emailed with no warm context is unlikely to get a response. (6) If a named/designated fund fits the ask (as with the Columbia University College Walk Society fund or the Cedars-Sinai Dr. Raj Makkar Fellowship), framing the request around a specific named initiative rather than general support has also worked for this funder. (7) Given the year-over-year decline in total giving (FY2023 to FY2024), organizations should not assume static or growing capacity — budget expectations conservatively and don't press for a larger ask than the funder's recent trend supports.