Bertin Family Foundation

The Bertin Family Foundation is a closely held, family-governed private foundation in North Salt Lake, Utah, shaped by the LDS faith commitments and community ethos of founders Kim and Jennifer Bertin. Kim Bertin built his career as an orthopedic surgeon and medical innovator; that entrepreneurial, results-driven orientation carries directly into the foundation's philanthropic philosophy. The Bertins engage three generations of family — including adult children James, Alex, Stephanie, and Elizabeth Mumford, plus director Michelle Garff — in grantmaking decisions, which means proposals must resonate with multiple decision-makers holding a shared value framework: faith, compassion, hard work, integrity, and sacrifice.

The foundation articulates a four-fold mission: (1) provide international humanitarian aid, (2) support LDS religious initiatives, (3) develop local communities primarily in Utah, and (4) grant educational opportunities. Grant seekers should map their work explicitly to one or more of these pillars in all correspondence.

The foundation is simultaneously a preselected-relationship funder and — increasingly — an open-application funder. The tension is real: IRS filings for years described the foundation as making contributions only to preselected organizations, yet the current grants page documents a formal annual application process with written eligibility criteria. In practice, the top 10 grantees by cumulative dollars account for an estimated 75% of total tracked giving, and virtually every major recipient appears in four consecutive grant cycles, indicating deeply embedded long-term partnerships. First-time applicants should treat the formal application process as a door-opener, not a shortcut — relationship cultivation with existing grantees or a program director connection should precede or accompany any application.

For new entrants, the strongest positioning combines: demonstrated impact in Utah-based community work or internationally aligned humanitarian missions, a Candid Gold or Platinum transparency rating, audited financials showing organizational stability, and a modest initial ask that leaves room for the foundation to grow the relationship over subsequent cycles.

The Bertin Family Foundation's annual grantmaking has been remarkably consistent, ranging from approximately $1.68M (FY2021, a low year) to $2.47M (FY2025, a recent high), with most years landing between $1.75M and $2.20M in grants paid. Total giving including all charitable disbursements runs slightly higher — FY2023 total giving was $2.31M on grants paid of $2.12M; FY2022 was $2.46M on $2.20M in grants paid. The foundation's asset base has remained stable at $32M–$39M across the past decade, with net investment income funding the majority of annual distributions.

Grant size distribution is highly bimodal. The foundation's own reported typical grant data shows a median of $5,000 and an average of $44,279 — a spread explained by a small number of very large anchor grants that skew the mean dramatically upward. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alone received $3,405,000 across four documented grant cycles (averaging ~$851,250 per cycle), representing roughly 41.5% of all tracked giving. Intermountain Foundation received $1,420,000 across four cycles (~$355,000/cycle). Together, these two recipients account for nearly 60% of total documented cumulative giving.

Stripping out those mega-grants, the operational community of grantees receives much smaller amounts. International humanitarian partners (Doctors Without Borders, Hope for Haiti, Concern Worldwide, Save the Children, World Central Kitchen) typically receive $10,000–$25,000 annually. Utah-based community organizations — Bountiful Food Pantry ($80,250 cumulative), Utah Food Bank ($60,000), Junior Achievement of Utah ($44,000), Wasatch Adaptive Sports ($9,500) — cluster in the $2,000–$20,000 per year range. Scholarship programs at BYU, Weber State, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, and Utah State University run $1,500–$5,000 annually per institution.

Geographically, 106 of 178 documented grants (60%) went to Utah-based organizations, 41 (23%) to California, and 7 each to New York and Idaho. California grants appear concentrated in the Bay Area (Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, Saratoga Educational Foundation, Children's Musical Theater San Jose, Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation), suggesting family ties to that region. The 2025 filing shows increased giving with 56 grants totaling ~$2.47M, up from 48 grants and $1.93M in 2024.

The foundation's asset-size peers in the Philanthropy & Grantmaking category (all clustered near $34.5M–$34.6M in assets) offer a useful baseline for positioning, though none are thematic analogs to the Bertin Family Foundation's LDS-inflected, Utah-centric mission.

The Bertin Family Foundation is the most transparent and operationally active of this asset-size peer group: it is the only foundation among these five that maintains a functional public website, publishes application criteria, and reports detailed 990-PF filings consistently across 12+ years. Its annual giving rate (approximately 6–7% of assets) comfortably exceeds the IRS-required 5% minimum distribution threshold, reflecting genuine philanthropic intent rather than minimum compliance. Grant seekers comparing family foundations in this asset range should recognize that Bertin's published window and documented criteria make it significantly more accessible than its peers — but the preselected-relationship dynamic means the application window functions more as a formal intake process than an open competition.

The most recent tax return (FY2025, filed April 8, 2026) shows the Bertin Family Foundation at $36.44M in net assets, with revenues of $4.56M — heavily boosted by $3.46M in asset sales — and $2.72M in total expenses. Of those expenses, $2.48M (91.4%) were charitable disbursements across 56 grants.

New grantees surfacing prominently in the 2025 filing data (per Grantmakers.io) include the Huntsman Cancer Foundation ($500,000) and Huntsman Mental Health Institute ($750,000 across three grants) — substantial commitments to Salt Lake City–based health institutions that suggest a meaningful pivot toward medical philanthropy alongside the longstanding LDS and humanitarian portfolio. Room to Read continued its multi-year trajectory with approximately $450,000 in 2025 grants across three payments, consistent with prior-year pacing.

No leadership changes, public announcements, press releases, or major strategic shifts were identified through web research. The foundation maintains a low public profile consistent with its family governance model — no social media presence and no press engagement were found. The launch of the formal grants page with documented eligibility criteria represents the most significant operational change in recent memory, reflecting a deliberate (if cautious) opening toward new applicant relationships. The annual review cycle and June 5, 2026 deadline referenced by third-party aggregators likely reflects Instrumentl's own deadline tagging rather than an official LOI date; applicants should rely on the foundation's stated July 1–August 31 window.

Know the four-fold mission and use its exact language. The foundation's website explicitly organizes its work around: international humanitarian aid, LDS religious initiatives, local community development, and educational opportunity. Every successful proposal should be able to point to one — ideally two — of these pillars. Generic nonprofit language about 'impact' and 'transformation' will not differentiate your application.

Prepare your Candid profile first. The eligibility criteria explicitly preference organizations with Gold or Platinum Candid (formerly GuideStar) ratings. If your organization is not at that transparency level, secure it before applying — this is likely a soft filter that screens out applicants before proposals are read in full.

Submit within the July 1–August 31 window. The foundation reviews proposals on an annual cycle. Submissions outside this window are not considered. Build your internal timeline backward from July 1: audited financials finalized, board sign-off, budget prepared, and narrative drafted by late June.

Format matters: PDF only, via email. All applications go to admin@BertinFamilyFoundation.org as PDF attachments. There is no online portal. Your submission package must include: IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, most recent Form 990 or audited financial statements, current board member list, and a detailed project budget with timeline.

Calibrate your ask strategically. For organizations without an established relationship, an initial request in the $5,000–$25,000 range is far more likely to succeed than a six-figure proposal. The data shows that grantees like Latinos in Action, Guadalupe School Foundation, and Charity Vision International started with modest grants before building to multi-cycle relationships. Frame your ask as the beginning of a partnership, not a one-time transaction.

Quantify outcomes with specificity. Kim Bertin's background in surgical innovation and medical devices suggests a preference for measurable, evidence-based results. Proposals should include clear metrics: number of individuals served, pre/post outcome comparisons, cost-per-beneficiary calculations, or third-party evaluations.

Avoid scope creep in your proposal. The foundation explicitly excludes general endowments, debt reduction, political activities, lobbying, individual recipients, and for-profit entities. Do not include any of these elements even tangentially.

LDS institutional alignment is a significant advantage. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and BYU-network institutions collectively represent over 45% of tracked giving. Organizations with formal or informal ties to the LDS community — or whose leadership shares those values — will find considerably warmer reception.