Brandywine Foundation Inc.

The Brandywine Foundation Inc. is not a conventional grantmaking philanthropy, and grant seekers should recalibrate expectations before investing time here. Its stated IRS mission is narrow and self-referential: "meeting the practical and legal requirements of preservation and maintenance of 'Whitehall' historic house and grounds" in Annapolis, MD. Whitehall is a 1764 Palladian mansion built for colonial governor Horatio Sharpe — the first National Historic Landmark designated in Maryland — restored by Charles Scarlett starting in 1946 and placed into this family foundation after his death in 1997. The board is entirely unpaid family and associates: Charles E. Scarlett III (President), James E. Scarlett and William A. Scarlett (Directors), Mark Burnett (Treasurer), Hal Burnett (Director), Emily Hall (Secretary), and Ty Swindell (Vice President) — a closed, six-person volunteer structure with zero officer compensation across every year on record. There is no program staff, no published RFP, and no grants portal. Multiple independent aggregators (Zeffy, npfunds.com, Grantmakers.io) confirm the foundation "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications for funds." The database bundle backs this up directly: zero grantees and zero peer foundations are on file, and the foundation's own IRS Form 990-PF filings show $0 in grants paid in nine of the last ten reporting years (2010-2022), with a single $15,000 disbursement in FY2010. For an organization seeking funding for general nonprofit programming, this is effectively a dead end — do not treat it as an open funder. The one legitimate opening is relational, not transactional: the foundation's website explicitly invites "partnerships for research, programming, and residencies" tied to Whitehall itself — historical research, environmental/Chesapeake Bay conservation work on its 115 acres of shoreline and grounds, arts programming, or educational collaboration in the spirit of its existing partnership with Historic Annapolis for public tours. Organizations whose work intersects directly with historic preservation, Palladian architecture, colonial Maryland history, or Chesapeake Bay land conservation have a plausible (though unsolicited-inquiry-only) path; general operating-support seekers do not.

The foundation's own financial pattern confirms it functions as a self-directed operating foundation, not a distributing grantmaker. Total assets have been essentially flat-to-declining for over a decade: $8.59M (FY2010) to $8.33M (FY2014) to $8.08M (FY2022) — a roughly 6% decline over 12 years, funded primarily off net investment income ($77,990 in FY2010 rising to $268,161 in FY2022) rather than new contributions (contributions received were $0 in most years, with token amounts of $700-$5,000 in a few early years). "Total giving" — which in this foundation's case reflects direct charitable expenditure on Whitehall's preservation and maintenance, not third-party grants — has averaged approximately $256,000/year across the ten years of financial data on file, ranging from a low of $176,189 (FY2014) to a high of $332,249 (FY2013). Recent years: FY2022 $275,022; FY2021 $299,624; FY2020 $309,762; FY2019 $226,046; FY2018 $254,828. Critically, the separate "grants_paid" line — the figure that would represent checks written to outside 501(c)(3) organizations — is $0 in every year on file except FY2010 ($15,000). There are no grantees in the database's top-50 grantee list (zero records), no geographic or program-area breakdown to analyze, and no peer foundations on file for direct comparison. In short: budget for zero probability of receiving an unsolicited grant from this foundation. The realistic dollar opportunity, if any, is a negotiated partnership or in-kind collaboration tied to Whitehall's own preservation, programming, or research needs — not a competitive grant award with a typical range or median size, because none exists in the historical record.

No peer foundations were returned in the data bundle, and public foundation databases (Cause IQ, Candid) gate detailed peer benchmarking behind paid accounts, so this table uses foundation-type archetypes rather than fabricated named peers, anchored to this foundation's own IRS figures:

The comparison underscores that Brandywine sits at the closed end of the spectrum alongside other single-property preservation foundations and undisclosed-list family foundations — its behavior (near-total self-direction of funds, zero-to-negligible third-party grants, no published process) is typical for its type, not an anomaly. Organizations seeking funding for historic-preservation capital work are better served pursuing open competitive programs like Save America's Treasures — the same program Brandywine itself relies on — than approaching Brandywine as a funder.

Concrete recent activity is limited in public sources for 2025-2026. The one specific, verifiable current initiative is the Whitehall Manor roof replacement project, which the foundation's website states is "funded in part by the Save America's Treasures grant program" — a competitive federal historic-preservation grant, indicating Brandywine itself is a grant recipient (of federal preservation funds) rather than primarily a grantor. The foundation continues its long-standing partnership with Historic Annapolis to offer architectural, landscape, and interior collection tours of Whitehall, and has diversified estate revenue through horse boarding across its 115 acres, a two-bedroom Airbnb rental overlooking Meredith Creek, and weddings/events hosted at the property. Leadership has been stable: Charles E. Scarlett III has continued as Board President, with the same core Scarlett/Burnett/Hall/Swindell family and associate board across the filings on record (no compensated staff turnover to report, since no officer has ever drawn compensation). No news coverage, press releases, or grant announcements referencing "Brandywine Foundation Inc." or Whitehall from 2025-2026 surfaced in web search — general searches instead returned unrelated entities (Brandywine Realty Trust, a publicly traded REIT, and the separately-run Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, PA). Grant seekers should not confuse these unrelated "Brandywine"-named organizations with this foundation; note also that the website URL in this foundation's database record (brandywine.org) actually resolves to the unrelated Chadds Ford conservancy — the foundation's real, verified site is thebrandywinefoundation.org.

There is no formal application process to game here — the tips are about approach, not proposal-writing. First, verify fit before reaching out: this foundation only has documented interest in Whitehall Manor itself (colonial Maryland history, Palladian architecture, Chesapeake Bay shoreline/land conservation, arts and education programming physically tied to the property). A generic grant request for unrelated nonprofit programming will not get traction — there is no evidence this foundation has ever funded an organization outside its own preservation activity beyond a single $15,000 disbursement in FY2010. Second, use the stated partnership language on their own site rather than grant language: they explicitly say they are "actively seeking collaborations for research, programming, and residencies" — pitch a specific collaborative project (a historical research fellowship, a Chesapeake Bay ecology study using their 115 acres and shoreline, a public program co-produced with Historic Annapolis) rather than a funding ask. Third, contact the shared inbox (info.brandywinefoundation@gmail.com) directly and personally — there is no LOI portal, no deadline calendar, and no staff to route a generic proposal to; a specific, well-researched, low-friction pitch addressed to a named board member (e.g., President Charlie Scarlett) will outperform a form letter. Fourth, do not expect a fast or formal review cycle: the six-person board is entirely unpaid volunteers, most of them family, so response times and decision processes will be informal and relationship-driven rather than committee-based. Fifth, if your goal is preservation-capital funding rather than partnership, look instead at the same channel Brandywine itself uses — federal and state historic-preservation grant programs (Save America's Treasures, Maryland Historical Trust programs) — since Brandywine is a grant recipient in that space, not a competing or complementary grantor to it. Finally, do not rely on third-party aggregator profiles (Candid, Cause IQ, Instrumentl) for updated contact or deadline info — none list a working grant program because none exists; go straight to thebrandywinefoundation.org.