Archibald Foundation Inc.

Archibald Foundation Inc. is a small, closely held family foundation run entirely by three unpaid directors — Daniel Isaac Archibald, Kathy Archibald, and Kenneth Cole Archibald — with no program staff, no grants portal, and no published RFP. Its own IRS filings and every third-party database checked (Instrumentl, Grantmakers.io, Cause IQ) agree on one point: it funds only preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests. That makes cold outreach largely a non-starter. The realistic path in is relational: identify whether your organization already has a connection to Tallahassee, FL or New Hampshire (the foundation's two concentrated geographies — 28 of its last 58 recorded grants went to FL organizations, 27 to NH, and just 3 to NY), and look for a warm introduction through an existing grantee, a shared board contact, or direct correspondence to the foundation's mailing address (7100 Roberts Rd, Tallahassee, FL 32309, c/o Kathy and Delbert Archibald). The grantee list shows the foundation favors organizations it can fund repeatedly and predictably: 15 of the 20 largest recipients received 3-8 separate grants rather than a single award, indicating the foundation builds multi-year relationships once an organization is inside its circle rather than rotating through new grantees each cycle. First-time applicants should not expect a formal LOI-to-full-proposal-to-site-visit pipeline — there is no evidence of one — and should instead treat any contact as relationship-building for a future cycle rather than a live application. General operating support is clearly preferred over project-restricted funding: "GENERAL OPERATIONS" or "GENERAL OPERATING FUND" is the stated purpose for at least 9 of the top 20 grantees, spanning health centers, civics education, and museums, alongside a smaller set of tightly restricted conservation and scholarship grants (Tall Timbers' Stoddard Bird Lab, Nature Conservancy's longleaf pine restoration, Southern Scholarship Foundation's rent-free scholarship program).

Per the foundation's own typical-grant-size data, single awards run $5,000 to $25,000 with a median of $15,000 and an average of $12,308 across 13 recorded awards. Looking at cumulative giving per grantee across the full grant history (58 grants totaling $680,000, averaging $11,724 each), the largest relationships by total dollars are Equality Health Center ($85,000 across 4 grants), Vassar College ($75,000 across 3 grants, PLP endowment), Southern Scholarship Foundation ($72,000 across 4 grants), and a cluster of $60,000 relationships (Tall Timbers Foundation, 8 grants; NH Institute for Civics Education, 4 grants; Nature Conservancy Florida Chapter, 4 grants; Tallahassee Museum, 4 grants). At the smaller end, one-time grants of $4,000-$5,000 went to groups like Girls at Work, Families in Transition, Land for Good, and Hope for Recovery New Hampshire. Geographically, funding splits almost evenly between Florida (28 grantees) and New Hampshire (27 grantees), with a small New York presence (3 grantees, driven by the Vassar College relationship) — this bifurcated pattern reflects the Archibald family's residential ties to both states rather than a stated program strategy. On the balance sheet, total assets have grown steadily from $4.45M in 2011 to $5.47M in 2023 (net investment income of $189,256-$332,591 in most years), but actual grants paid have compressed sharply — from a peak of $326,000 in FY2020 down to $160,000 in both FY2022 and FY2023, a 51% pullback even as the asset base expanded. Total giving (which includes some administrative costs beyond pure grants) followed the same downward path: $378,185 (2020) to $206,034 (2023). This is a foundation currently sitting on unspent capacity relative to its historical payout levels, which may mean it is being more selective, consolidating around fewer relationships, or simply due for a rebound in payout to maintain its 5% minimum distribution requirement.

| Foundation | Assets | Annual Giving | Primary Focus | Application |\n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Archibald Foundation Inc. (FL) | $5.84M | ~$160K-$206K (FY2023) | Community Development / general ops, conservation, scholarships | Invitation-only, preselected grantees |\n| Champagne Family Charitable Trust (IN) | $5.84M | Not disclosed | Philanthropy & Grantmaking | Unknown — no public site |\n| Shackleford Foundation (PA) | $5.84M | Not disclosed | Philanthropy & Grantmaking | Has a public website (shackleford.org) |\n| Kenneth H Dart Foundation (CA) | $5.84M | Not disclosed | Philanthropy & Grantmaking | Unknown — no public site |\n| Athens Federal Foundation (TN) | $5.84M | Not disclosed | Philanthropy & Grantmaking | Has a public website (athensfederalfoundation.org) |\n| Pamplin Christian Foundation (OR) | $5.84M | Not disclosed | Philanthropy & Grantmaking | Unknown — no public site |\n\nAll five peers sit within roughly $2,000 of Archibald's $5,841,328 in assets, forming a tight cohort of similarly capitalized micro-foundations classified under Philanthropy & Grantmaking rather than a specific cause area. Only 2 of the 5 peers (Shackleford, Athens Federal) maintain a public website at all, underscoring that this asset tier of foundation typically operates with minimal public infrastructure — Archibald's invitation-only posture and lack of a working online application is the norm for this peer group, not an outlier. Grant seekers should expect the same relationship-first dynamic across most of this cohort rather than assuming any one of them runs a competitive open cycle.

No foundation-specific news, leadership changes, or program announcements for Archibald Foundation Inc. (EIN 59-3414615, Tallahassee) surfaced in web search for 2025-2026 — searches for "Archibald Foundation" are dominated by unrelated organizations, including the Seattle-based Norman Archibald Charitable Foundation (now a donor-advised fund of the Seattle Foundation, and the actual operator of the archibaldfoundation.org domain listed in the foundation's own record — a likely data mismatch worth flagging, since that site's content describes a different, unrelated Archibald foundation rather than this Tallahassee entity), the Boston-based Archibald Family Charitable Foundation, and the unrelated Archibald Prize Australian art award. This is consistent with the foundation's profile: three unpaid family directors, no staff, no communications function, and no history of press coverage. The most concrete recent signal available is financial: grants paid held flat at $160,000 in both FY2022 and FY2023 (the two most recent years in the record) after a steep decline from $326,000 in FY2020 and $200,000 in FY2021, suggesting the foundation has settled into a lower, steadier payout level following the pandemic-era peak rather than continuing to cut. Grant seekers should treat this foundation's activity as quiet and continuous rather than newsworthy — the best available signal of its current priorities is its multi-year grantee list (2011-2023 filings) rather than any 2025-2026 announcement.

Do not submit an unsolicited application, LOI, or cold proposal — every available source (the foundation's own IRS disclosures and third-party trackers like Instrumentl and Grantmakers.io) confirms Archibald Foundation Inc. funds only preselected organizations and has no open call for proposals. The most productive use of effort is building a genuine connection in one of its two active geographies: Tallahassee/Leon County, Florida or New Hampshire. Organizations already working in Tallahassee civic, health, conservation, or arts spaces (peers of Tall Timbers Foundation, Nature Conservancy Florida Chapter, Tallahassee Museum, Apalachicola Riverkeeper, or Florida Litfest) sit closer to this funder's demonstrated interests than an organization with no Florida or New Hampshire footprint. On the New Hampshire side, the pattern favors human-services and civics organizations (NH Institute for Civics Education, NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, NH Food Bank, Families in Transition, Seacoast Outright) — groups serving vulnerable populations or civic education tend to fare better than broad national programs. Frame any outreach around general operating support rather than a narrow project ask; the grantee data shows the foundation is comfortable funding core operations ("GENERAL OPERATIONS"/"GENERAL OPERATING FUND" appears for a majority of top recipients) and repeat, multi-year relationships (most large grantees received 3-8 separate grants, not one-off awards). The clearest mistake to avoid is investing in a formal grant-application package aimed at this foundation — there is no portal, no deadline calendar, and no published guidelines to follow, so effort is better spent identifying a warm introduction (a current grantee, a shared board or donor connection in Tallahassee or NH, or the family's known philanthropic circles) than polishing a proposal document. If direct contact is attempted, keep it brief, personal, and addressed to the foundation's registered contact (Kathy and Delbert Archibald, 7100 Roberts Rd, Tallahassee, FL 32309, (850) 893-8884) rather than a generic "grants department," since the foundation has no staff to route a formal submission to.