Birdflower Foundation Corporation

Birdflower Foundation Corporation is a family-operated private foundation headquartered at 932 Hungerford Dr, Suite 11B, Rockville, MD 20850. It is led on a volunteer basis by President and Director Shixun Qiu alongside directors Peiliang Cui and Xuemei Shen — all individuals of Chinese heritage residing in the United States. The foundation draws directly on its leadership's personal experience witnessing education's transformative power in China and the U.S., and this autobiographical motivation is central to understanding how to approach them.

The foundation's grantmaking is highly concentrated and relationship-driven. Among its 11 documented grants totaling $8.05M, four grants totaling $8.02M (99.6% of all giving) went to a single organization — Ai You Foundation, which provides medical assistance to disadvantaged children. The remaining seven grants totaling $31,000 were distributed across three smaller organizations in the $1,000–$5,000 range. This extreme concentration is the most important strategic signal for prospective applicants: Birdflower does not maintain a broad portfolio of grantees, and entry into any relationship likely begins with small, symbolic awards.

The foundation explicitly accepts grants to public charities, schools, and organizations sharing its mission of educational equality. Its four stated focus areas are: (1) R&D on children's education and childhood diseases, (2) education in underprivileged areas, (3) education for children with disabilities, and (4) emergency disaster relief. Despite the educational framing, the grantee record reveals the strongest actual investment in health-adjacent work — specifically medical assistance for disadvantaged children, bridging China and the U.S.

First-time applicants should approach this foundation as they would a family foundation with no staff: with personalized, brief outreach to leadership (not a form submission), explicit mission alignment language, and realistic expectations about initial grant size. There is no LOI stage, no published application form, and no disclosed review cycle. Success depends on establishing a personal relationship with Shixun Qiu and demonstrating genuine alignment with the foundation's core belief that educational opportunity is a matter of equity and human potential.

Birdflower Foundation's financial history reveals an organization that experienced a dramatic growth event followed by a period of significant asset drawdown. The foundation received a single contribution of $64.6M in fiscal year 2020, elevating total assets from $174K (2019) to $66.4M (2020) virtually overnight. Assets remained near that level through 2022 ($64.9M) before declining sharply to $21.9M in 2023 — a reduction of $43M in a single year not fully explained by documented grants paid of $2.1M.

Annual giving has tracked an accelerating-then-moderating curve: $11,000 (2020), $785,553 (2021), $2.9M (2022), $2.1M (2023). The 2023 payout rate was approximately 9.6% of year-end assets — nearly double the IRS-required 5% minimum for private foundations — indicating an active rather than passive philanthropic posture even as assets declined.

Grant size distribution reflects a stark two-tier structure. Ai You Foundation has received approximately four grants averaging roughly $2.0M each, accounting for $8.02M (99.6%) of all documented giving. The remaining three grantee organizations received grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, with a median of $5,000 and an average of $3,667. This bifurcation strongly suggests that first-time grantees can expect awards in the $1,000–$5,000 tier, with the potential for dramatically larger multi-million-dollar funding only after years of demonstrated alignment and trust.

By program area, documented giving breaks down as: medical assistance for disadvantaged children (99.6%, Ai You Foundation), education and charitable purposes (0.37%, International Leadership Foundation at $25,000 across five grants and Rosemary and Simon Foundation at $5,000), and cancer research (0.01%, National Foundation for Cancer Research at $1,000). All documented grantees are located in the DC-Maryland metro corridor, with the exception of China-based activities conducted through Ai You Foundation.

Net investment income was $1.45M in 2022 and $398K in 2021, turning negative in 2023. No officer compensation has been paid in any year — the foundation is entirely volunteer-operated, which constrains administrative capacity for evaluating new grantee relationships.

Birdflower Foundation Corporation operates within the Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category (T22) alongside a cohort of similarly-sized independent private foundations. The five peer foundations identified in the database share approximately $18.9–19.0M in total assets, comparable to Birdflower's current $21.9M (2023). Note that Birdflower's asset base has declined from a peak of $66.4M in 2020, meaning it was recently a substantially larger foundation by assets.

Birdflower stands apart from its asset-size peers in two key respects. First, it maintains an active public website and a published email contact address — a notable degree of transparency for a foundation of this size and family-run nature. Second, its 2023 payout rate of approximately 9.6% of assets (grants paid $2.1M on $21.9M assets) exceeds the IRS-mandated 5% minimum by nearly double, signaling genuine philanthropic activity rather than dormancy. Peer foundations at this asset level without websites or disclosed giving patterns are far less accessible to prospective applicants.

Web research conducted in June 2026 returned no media coverage, press releases, or third-party announcements specifically about Birdflower Foundation Corporation. The foundation has essentially no public footprint in philanthropy databases or news outlets beyond its IRS filings and a minimal Weebly website.

The most significant recent development traceable from IRS filings is the dramatic asset decline from $64.9M in fiscal year 2022 to $21.9M in fiscal year 2023 — a reduction of approximately $43M in a single year. In the same period, total revenue turned negative at -$685,532, compared to positive $1.68M in 2022 and $609K in 2021. This combination suggests the foundation experienced substantial investment losses or made significant asset transfers or distributions not fully reflected in the $2.1M grants-paid figure for 2023.

Leadership appears stable across all available filing years. Shixun Qiu has served continuously as President and Director, with Peiliang Cui and Xuemei Shen as co-directors. No officer compensation has been paid at any point, and no new board members, leadership changes, or strategic announcements are discoverable through web research. The foundation's last recorded web enrichment in the Granted database was February 2026, confirming it remains active. Given the volunteer-operated, family-foundation nature of this organization, prospective grantees should not expect formal annual reports, RFP cycles, or proactive public communications.

Birdflower Foundation Corporation does not publish application guidelines, does not maintain a grant portal, and discloses no application deadlines anywhere on its website or in publicly accessible databases. All application guidance below is derived from the foundation's documented grantee relationships, website content, and stated mission.

Lead with mission alignment, not credentials. The foundation's leadership is personally motivated by the belief that educational access is a matter of equity and human potential. Open any outreach with a specific, concrete statement of how your organization removes barriers to education for children excluded due to poverty, illness, disability, or geography. Quantify impact — students served, classrooms equipped, teachers trained.

Use email as the sole formal channel. Send a 2–3 paragraph introductory email to hello@birdflowerfoundation.org. Include: your organization's legal name and EIN, a one-sentence mission statement aligned with one of the four focus areas, your target population and geography, your annual operating budget, and a brief question asking whether the foundation is currently accepting inquiries in your program area. Do not attach a full proposal to a first-contact email.

Mirror the foundation's own language. The mission statement on birdflowerfoundation.org reads: 'Education can change a person's fate, but only if they have the opportunity to receive an education.' Proposals that frame access and equality — rather than program quality or innovation — will resonate with leadership.

Request a modest initial grant. Documented grants to all organizations outside Ai You Foundation ranged from $1,000 to $5,000. A first request in the $2,500–$5,000 range for a specific, bounded activity (teacher training workshop, materials for a classroom, a pilot program reaching 20–30 children) is realistic. Large requests from unknown organizations are unlikely to succeed.

Emphasize Chinese-American community ties if applicable. The foundation's leadership, primary grantee (Ai You Foundation), and geographic focus on both China and the U.S. suggest that organizations with Chinese-American community connections, bilingual programming, or partnerships serving Chinese diaspora communities will find stronger alignment.

Follow up by phone if email goes unanswered. Call (240) 888-6935 within 3–4 weeks of an unanswered email. The volunteer-led structure means administrative response capacity may be limited. Ask to speak with Shixun Qiu directly.