Birk Family Foundation Inc.

Birk Family Foundation Inc. is a small, closely-held family foundation (EIN 65-0661100) run entirely by three Colas family directors — Mary E., Robert, and Timothy Colas — none of whom draw compensation, signaling a low-overhead, relationship-driven operation rather than a staffed program office. Founded by Roger E. Birk in 1995 to help disadvantaged and sick populations through organizations that "maintain traditional moral values" in education, health, and human services, the foundation gives almost exclusively as unrestricted general operating support: of the 66 tracked grants in the dataset, essentially all are coded "General Support" rather than tied to a specific program or capital need. First-time applicants should not expect a competitive open RFP process. The foundation's own site is explicit that it does not accept unsolicited full proposals; the entry point is a brief, one-paragraph email of interest to birkfamilyfoundation@gmail.com laying out mission fit and funding need, after which the foundation decides whether to invite a fuller application. That gatekeeping, combined with all-volunteer, family-only governance, means personal or board-level introductions and geographic proximity to a director carry outsized weight — this is fundamentally a relationship funder, not a portal funder. The strongest fit is a mid-size, mission-driven nonprofit already serving the Charleston/Mount Pleasant/Greenville corridor of South Carolina (34 of 66 tracked grants) or the Washington DC region (12 of 66), delivering direct human services, Catholic/faith-affiliated education, or basic-needs relief (food banks, housing, youth mentoring). Repeat, multi-year relationships are the norm — Habitat for Humanity, Greenville United Way, and several Catholic schools each received three separate grants in the tracked history — so applicants should plan for a long-term cultivation approach rather than a single transactional ask, and budget for the foundation's stated two-grants-per-year cap per organization.

The dataset's typical_grant_size field puts the median award at $15,000 (average $14,825), with a documented range of $1,000 to $45,000 — consistent with the foundation's own site, which caps stated awards at $1,000-$25,000, and with the broader web-reported range of $4,000-$25,000. Across the 66 grants captured in the top-50 grantee summary, total tracked giving is $915,500 at an average of $13,871 per grant. IRS filings show total giving of $367,574 in FY2023 (most recent complete year), up from $346,387 in FY2022, $265,247 in FY2021, and $329,986 in FY2020 — giving has grown roughly 53% since FY2011 ($239,587), tracking asset growth from $3.75M (FY2011) to $6.06M (current). Grants paid specifically (distinct from total giving/expenses) were $326,000 in FY2023 against $2.05M in total revenue, itself driven by a one-time $1.75M contribution that year; in a typical year (e.g., FY2022) revenue runs closer to $398,000 against $309,500 in grants paid, meaning the foundation generally pays out slightly more than net investment income alone generates, drawing modestly on its asset base. Geographically, the grantee base concentrates heavily in South Carolina (34 of 66 grants, over half), followed by DC (12), FL (7), NC (4), and single-digit counts in MN, MD, NY, IN, and CA. By purpose, virtually every tracked grant (60+ of 66) is coded general/unrestricted support — the foundation does not appear to fund capital campaigns, program-restricted grants, or multi-year pledges based on the available purpose text. Top cumulative grantees include Habitat for Humanity ($160,000 across 3 grants), Greenville United Way ($70,000/2 grants), and four organizations tied at $55,000 across 3 grants each (Halos, Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach, Washington Jesuit Academy, Washington School for Girls) — a pattern that rewards sustained, multi-cycle relationships over one-off large gifts.

Birk sits in a tightly clustered peer group of five foundations all holding almost identical asset bases (~$6.06M-$6.07M), each classified under the broad "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE category and each based in a different state (IL, OH, OK, NY, CT) with no public website on record for any of them. This makes Birk the most transparent and accessible of its immediate asset-size cohort — it is the only one with a live public website, stated deadlines, and a documented (if invitation-gated) application path, since none of the five peers surfaced grants pages, contact emails, or funding priorities in this dataset. For a grant seeker, that transparency is itself the differentiator: Birk, despite its small size, is realistically reachable via a cold email of interest, where the untracked peers likely require an existing personal or professional connection to even identify a contact.

No specific 2025 or 2026 grant announcements, press coverage, or leadership changes for Birk Family Foundation Inc. were found in web search — expected for an all-volunteer, three-director family foundation with no communications staff. The most concrete recent-activity signal is the foundation's own website, which publishes two active 2026 grant cycles: Cycle 1 applications due May 15, 2026 with awards announced in June 2026, and Cycle 2 applications due October 15, 2026 with awards announced in November 2026. Governance remains unchanged and stable: Mary E. Colas, Robert Colas, and Timothy Colas continue to serve as the foundation's three uncompensated directors across the filings reviewed, with Mary Colas as the listed contact ("C/O Mary Colas," Mount Pleasant, SC). Financially, the most recent complete IRS filing (FY2023) shows a notable jump in contributions received — $1,749,435, versus $166,464 in FY2022 and $0 in the several years prior — suggesting a new major gift or estate contribution replenished the foundation's asset base that year (total assets rose from $3.6M to $5.28M in the DB snapshot, and to $6.06M as of the most current record), which may support modestly larger giving in the 2025-2026 cycles than the FY2020-2022 baseline. Note: search results also surfaced an unrelated Canadian "Birks Family Foundation" (jewelry retailer Birks, CNIB guide dog sponsorships, Trafalgar School for Girls in Montreal) — that is a separate entity and not connected to this Mount Pleasant, SC-based Birk Family Foundation Inc. (EIN 65-0661100); applicants should be careful not to confuse the two when researching.

Lead with a one-paragraph email, not a full proposal. The foundation's own site is explicit that unsolicited full applications are not accepted — a first contact to birkfamilyfoundation@gmail.com should be a single paragraph stating what the organization does, how it aligns with the mission of serving "the disadvantaged and the sick" through "traditional moral values" in education, health, or human services, and a specific funding need. Time it to the cycle: submit inquiries well ahead of the May 15 or October 15 deadlines (awards follow in June and November respectively) rather than reactively. Anchor the ask in the $10,000-$15,000 range — that's the historical median/average, and it signals familiarity with the foundation's real giving capacity rather than an aspirational stretch request; the ceiling on record is $45,000 and the website's stated ceiling is $25,000, so anything materially above that will read as misaligned. Request general operating support, not a restricted program budget — virtually every tracked grant purpose in the data is coded "general support," and the foundation's programs page confirms it distributes both restricted and unrestricted grants but clearly favors unrestricted. Do not apply for capital campaigns, existing deficits, lobbying, or funding to individuals/for-profits — the site lists these as explicit exclusions and applications outside this scope will be an easy pass. Emphasize location: the foundation funds where its directors live (Mount Pleasant/Charleston/Greenville, SC and the DC region primarily, secondarily Florida), so an organization based outside these areas should show a direct service footprint there, not just a national mission statement. Come prepared with a current Form 990 and proof of 501(c)(3) status — these are stated minimum-bar requirements. Because a maximum of two grants per organization is allowed per year, don't submit multiple simultaneous requests from the same organization; consolidate into one ask. Finally, treat this as a multi-cycle relationship: the strongest grantees in the historical data (Habitat for Humanity, Greenville United Way, several Catholic schools) all received grants across three separate award cycles, so a modest first grant followed by a impact report and a return request in a later cycle is the proven path to sustained, larger cumulative support.