Barrett Foundation

Barrett Foundation is a small, closed, trustee-directed family foundation, not a competitive grants program. Richard W. and Elaine E. Barrett (unpaid trustees; Richard is a 1966 UVM alumnus) personally direct giving, with Magdalena Paul as the sole paid Foundation Director ($85,300 in the most recent reported year, up from $75,300 the year prior). Third-party directories (Grantmakers.io, Candid/FoundationCenter) explicitly describe the foundation as funding only preselected organizations and not accepting unsolicited requests — a materially different posture than the underlying database's generic 'accepting applications' flag, which should not be read as an open door. There is no published RFP, LOI portal, or application form anywhere in the public record. In the most recent full grantee-detail year, the foundation made 14 grants totaling $604,090 to just 8 organizations (average $43,149 per grant), concentrated in four repeat relationships: Pet Menders/Piper Memorial Foundation (the foundation's own stated 990 purpose — subsidized veterinary care for low-income Boulder County residents), the University of Vermont Foundation (Barrett Scholars/Fellows program, since expanded into a $3M endowed engineering chair announced February 2026), Animal Friends Alliance (Fort Collins shelter), and Assert The Second Responders (Ukraine animal rescue). Two outsized one-time gifts — $300,000 to Mills College as 'matching funding' and $115,024 to Helpers United — show the trustees will respond to specific matching-campaign or challenge-grant asks that reach them personally. First-time applicants without an existing relationship to the Barretts, to Magdalena Paul, or to one of the funded intermediary organizations should expect a near-zero response rate to a cold proposal. The realistic path in is either (a) a direct, brief, personally addressed letter that ties explicitly to the foundation's stated purpose (low-income veterinary/medical access in Boulder County) or one of its established loyalties (UVM, Colorado animal welfare, youth outdoor programs), or (b) an introduction routed through a current grantee. Organizations offering a matching-gift or challenge structure have concrete precedent for success here.

Total assets stood at $6,565,104 in FY2024, up from $5,460,676 in FY2019 and $3,961,995 in FY2012 — slow, investment-driven growth rather than active fundraising (contributions received were $0 in FY2020-2023). Actual cash grants paid have been extremely volatile: $631,538 (FY2019), $46,480 (FY2020), $432,524 (FY2021), $85,783 (FY2022), and just $36,411 (FY2023) — a more than 17x swing across five years, tracking net investment income rather than a fixed payout formula. 'Total giving' (which includes committed/accrued amounts) followed a similar pattern: $822,382 (FY2019) down to $211,873 (FY2020), back up to $639,922 (FY2021), then $287,719 (FY2022) and $226,185 (FY2023). In the most recent full grantee-level snapshot, 14 grants went to 8 organizations for $604,090 total, averaging $43,149 per grant, with individual grants ranging from $3,000 (Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, operating support) to $300,000 (Mills College, matching funding) — a median single-grant relationship of roughly $64,762 per the foundation's typical_grant_size data. Geographically, of 14 grants: Colorado received 6 (43%, mostly Boulder County animal welfare and youth programs), California 4 (29%, driven by the single large Mills College gift), Vermont 3 (21%, all to the University of Vermont Foundation), and Florida 1 (7%). By dollar volume, two one-off large gifts dominate — Mills College ($300,000, 50% of the snapshot total) and Helpers United ($115,024, 19%) — while the foundation's recurring, mission-aligned giving (Pet Menders/Piper Memorial $60,736, Ukraine animal rescue $52,000, Animal Friends Alliance $11,728, Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge $3,000) totals $127,464, about 21% of the snapshot and better represents its steady-state program. Separately, UVM-directed giving outside this snapshot has scaled sharply: a $720,000 gift in 2018 and a $3,000,000 endowed-chair gift in February 2026, suggesting the foundation is moving toward fewer, larger, institution-building commitments to its most trusted long-term partner.

Barrett Foundation sits at the small end of Colorado family philanthropy — its $6.6M in assets is roughly 2% the size of Boettcher's and a small fraction of the Anschutz entities — and unlike both of those larger, professionally staffed Colorado funders, it publishes no inquiry form, review calendar, or program officer contact. It most resembles a private giving vehicle for two individuals (the Barretts) rather than an institutional grantmaker, closer in operating style to a donor-advised fund than to peer foundations of comparable or larger asset size that run structured, staffed intake processes.

The single most significant recent event is the February 19, 2026 announcement that the Barrett Foundation endowed the Barrett Chair of Engineering at the University of Vermont with a $3 million gift — by far the largest disclosed commitment in the foundation's history and a marked step up from its historical $3,000–$300,000 grant range to other recipients. UVM's announcement frames this as the culmination of over 30 years of Barrett family support that began with undergraduate scholarships (the Barrett Scholars program) and expanded in 2018 with a $720,000 gift creating the Barrett Doctoral Fellows program with the Gund Institute for Environment; the new chair holder will also oversee the ongoing Barrett Scholars summer research awards. Outside of the UVM relationship, no other 2025–2026 press coverage, grant announcements, or leadership changes surfaced in web research — the foundation maintains essentially no independent public profile (no dedicated grants website, no social media, no press office), and its IRS Form 990-PF filings remain the only primary source for its Colorado, California, and Florida grantmaking. The foundation's own database record was last verified August 15, 2026, and the FY2024 Form 990-PF (revenue $563,236, assets $6,565,104) is filed but its FY2024 grants-paid detail was not yet broken out at time of research. Foundation Director Magdalena Paul's reported compensation rose from $75,300 to $85,300 between the two most recent reported years, the only personnel change visible in the record; trustees Richard and Elaine Barrett remain unpaid and unchanged.

This is not a funder that responds to standard grant-writing best practices — there is no portal, no published deadline, no LOI form, and multiple independent directories (Grantmakers.io, Candid/FoundationCenter) state outright that it funds only preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests. Do not spend time building a full proposal package speculatively. First, verify you have the right organization: EIN 74-2501168, Boulder, CO — not the unrelated Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation (which does run an open March 1–31 competitive cycle for children's causes, grants $2,500–$20,000) and not the Albuquerque, NM homelessness nonprofit currently sitting at the barrettfoundation.org domain some directories list for this EIN. Second, lead with literal mission alignment: the foundation's own IRS filing purpose line is narrowly written around funding Pet Menders, P.C. to deliver subsidized veterinary care to low-income Boulder County residents — organizations doing directly analogous work (subsidized medical/veterinary access for the poor, especially in Boulder County) are the closest fit to its stated charter. Third, study the loyalty pattern in the grantee list: Colorado animal welfare and shelters (Animal Friends Alliance, Fort Collins), Colorado youth/outdoor programs (SOS Outreach's MLK Powder Challenge), international animal rescue tied to current events (Ukraine animal rescue via Assert The Second Responders), and above all the University of Vermont (Richard Barrett's alma mater, now the recipient of a $3M endowed chair) — an organization with a genuine tie to any of these threads has a materially better shot than an unrelated applicant. Fourth, note the two large one-time gifts (Mills College $300,000 'matching funding,' SOS Outreach's 'MLK Powder Challenge') indicate the Barretts respond to concrete matching or challenge-campaign asks rather than general operating requests. Fifth, because trustees are unpaid and the only staff is a single director, any outreach should go directly and personally (mailed letter to PO Box 1701, Boulder, CO 80306-1701, or phone at (720) 406-9600) rather than through a generic info@ inbox — there is no bureaucracy to route around, but also no program officer to build a relationship with beyond Magdalena Paul. The single best strategy for an unconnected organization is securing a warm introduction through an existing grantee rather than applying cold.