Aspen Foundation

Aspen Foundation is a small, trustee-directed private family foundation based in Reno, Nevada (EIN 31-1595975, ruled in 1998), run entirely by Paul G. Macdonald and Catherine "Cathie" Macdonald as unpaid trustees — there is no paid staff, program officer, or grants department on record. With roughly $3.27M in total assets (FY2023) and no listed grants page, LOI form, or application URL in IRS or web records, this is not a competitive, open-application funder in the conventional sense; it behaves like a personal giving vehicle whose grant list has stayed remarkably narrow — just six recipient organizations across its recorded 990 grant history, each receiving three to five sequential gifts rather than a single one-off award. That repeat-relationship pattern is the single most important fact for any prospective applicant: Aspen Foundation does not appear to be actively recruiting new grantees, and its FY2023 filing still lists application_instructions as "none" despite technically marking itself as accepting applications.

First-time applicants should not expect a portal, deadline calendar, or published RFP — none exists, and the foundation's own website (aspen-foundation.org) is currently compromised, serving unrelated third-party gambling content rather than any foundation information (see Recent Activity). The realistic path in is a warm, personal introduction to the Macdonalds or a concise mailed letter of inquiry to the address on file (213 Criollo Ct, Reno, NV 89511), not a cold digital submission. Given the recipient concentration on military/veteran-support and children's/family charitable-aid causes anchored in Northern Nevada — plus one national outlier (Tunnel to Towers Foundation, based in Staten Island, NY) — organizations with a genuine Reno-area presence or a veterans/first-responder mission stand the best chance of alignment. The single non-military, non-local grant in the record (Ehlers-Danlos Society, a rare-connective-tissue-disorder patient advocacy nonprofit) suggests the trustees will fund causes with a personal or family resonance outside their core pattern, so a compelling, personally-relevant story can matter as much as geographic or category fit.

Aspen Foundation's giving capacity changed sharply in 2021. From FY2011 through FY2020, it was a very small giver: total giving ranged from $6,500 (FY2011) to $31,526 (FY2020), funded by an asset base that stayed under $1.1M. A large contribution of roughly $2.39M landed in FY2021, pushing total assets from $1.03M (FY2020) to $3.61M (FY2021) in a single year. Grantmaking capacity reset accordingly: total giving was $52,998 in FY2021, then jumped to $222,905 in FY2022 and $242,788 in FY2023 — a nearly 8x increase in annual giving in two years. FY2023 (the most recent filing on record) shows: total assets $3,267,837; grants paid $220,000; total giving $242,788; total revenue $245,857; net investment income $133,945; contributions received $204,739; officer/trustee compensation $0.

On the grantee side, the record shows 17 total grants to just 6 organizations, totaling $687,998 at an average of $40,470 per grant. By dollar volume: Tunnel To Towers Foundation leads with 3 grants totaling $300,000 (average $100,000/grant, the foundation's largest single commitments); Veterans Guest House received 4 grants totaling $131,666 (avg. ~$32,900); Reno Rodeo Foundation received 5 grants totaling $121,666 (avg. ~$24,300, the foundation's most frequently repeated grantee by count); Ronald McDonald House received 3 grants totaling $111,666 (avg. ~$37,200); Salvation Army received a single $13,000 grant; and Ehlers-Danlos Society received a single $10,000 grant. Geographically, 13 of the recorded grants went to Nevada-based organizations and 4 to New York (all to Tunnel to Towers), with no other states represented — reflecting the foundation's near-exclusive focus on its home state plus one high-profile national veterans/first-responder cause. There is no evidence in the record of program-area grantmaking by percentage (e.g., education vs. health) — instead giving clusters almost entirely around veteran/military-family support (roughly 63% of recorded dollars across Tunnel to Towers and Veterans Guest House) and general charitable/family-welfare aid.

Aspen Foundation sits in a cluster of similarly-sized private foundations classified under the same "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE category, all holding assets within a few thousand dollars of one another — a coincidence of the peer-matching methodology (asset-proximity) rather than shared program focus, since none of these peers has a public website or disclosed grant list in this dataset.

Aspen Foundation is actually the most transparent of this peer set by a wide margin: it is the only one with a registered (if currently compromised) website and a traceable, itemized grant history in IRS filings. None of the five peers list a website at all in this dataset, meaning grant seekers evaluating any of these ~$3.4M asset-tier foundations should expect the same pattern — small, closed, family-trustee-run vehicles reachable only through Form 990-PF research and personal introductions, not public grant programs.

No news coverage, press releases, or announcements referencing Aspen Foundation (Reno, NV) surfaced across four separate 2025-2026-focused searches covering grants awarded, application guidance, general news, and funding priorities — consistent with a foundation that has no communications program and does not publicize its giving. The most recent hard data point is the FY2023 Form 990-PF (grants paid $220,000, total giving $242,788, last verified in the platform's own enrichment pipeline on 2026-05-20), which remains the latest verified filing on record; no FY2024 or FY2025 filing was located in this research pass.

The most notable and actionable development is not a grant announcement but an infrastructure problem: the foundation's website, https://aspen-foundation.org/, and its /about page currently serve unrelated Russian-language content promoting "Vavada," an online casino — not any foundation information. This strongly suggests the domain has lapsed from the foundation's control and been re-registered by an unrelated third party (a common fate for small nonprofit domains that go unrenewed). Grant seekers should treat any content currently live on that URL as illegitimate and should not submit contact information, organizational details, or any correspondence through it. Absent a working website, the only reliable current channels are the IRS-listed mailing address (213 Criollo Ct, Reno, NV 89511) and the contact name on file, "% Cathie Macdonald." Trustees Paul G. Macdonald and Catherine Macdonald remain the sole officers on record, both uncompensated, with no leadership changes reported.

Because Aspen Foundation publishes no grants page, LOI form, or online application (its own 990 filing lists application instructions as "none"), the standard advice to "check the foundation's portal and deadlines" does not apply here — there is no portal, and there are no disclosed deadlines or review cycles. Practical, funder-specific guidance:

• Do not use aspen-foundation.org for any purpose right now. As of this research, the domain serves unrelated gambling content, not the foundation's site. Sending an inquiry through any form or email address found there risks it going nowhere (or somewhere worse). Instead, verify current contact details against the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF (EIN 31-1595975) via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer or the IRS's own BMF/990 search.
• Lead with a warm introduction, not a cold LOI. With only six recipient organizations across the entire recorded grant history and zero evidence of an open-call process, this foundation is almost certainly working through personal and community networks in Reno rather than reviewing unsolicited proposals. Look for a board, volunteer, or donor connection to the Macdonalds, or to their known grantees (Reno Rodeo Foundation, Veterans Guest House, Tunnel to Towers, Ronald McDonald House), as an entry point.
• Match the mission pattern precisely. Roughly 63% of recorded dollars have gone to veteran/military-family and first-responder causes; the remainder to children's/family charitable aid. A proposal that clearly maps onto one of these two buckets — and ideally has direct impact in Northern Nevada — is far more likely to register than a generalist appeal.
• Expect grant sizes in the $10,000-$100,000 range, with the largest gifts ($100,000 average) reserved for the most established, brand-name partner (Tunnel to Towers). New relationships should anchor expectations toward the lower end of that range ($10,000-$37,000, matching the smaller/newer-looking grantees) rather than assuming top-tier funding is available on a first ask.
• Common mistake to avoid: treating this like a typical mid-size foundation with a program staff and competitive cycle. There is no evidence of either. A generic mass-mailed proposal is unlikely to be read; a specific, personally addressed letter referencing the foundation's actual giving history (e.g., its support for Nevada veterans' services) signals real homework and respect for how this foundation actually operates.
• Timing: with no disclosed fiscal-year grant cycle or deadline, there is no evidence of a "best time to apply" — outreach through personal channels can happen at any point, but should not expect a fast or guaranteed response given the absence of any formal intake process.