Carey Family Foundation

The Carey Family Foundation (Darien, CT; EIN 20-1970720) is a small-to-mid private family foundation with roughly $40.8M in assets that concentrates its grantmaking in a tight cluster of states — Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, and Kentucky — reflecting personal family ties rather than a published open RFP process. There is no public grants portal and no standing application form, so cold outreach is unlikely to succeed. The viable path is a warm introduction through a trustee, donor-advised network, or a prior grantee institution (prep schools, hospitals, museums, and churches are the common 990 beneficiaries). Frame any approach around a specific named program or capital campaign — unrestricted operating requests are rarely funded by foundations of this profile — and keep the ask in the $100K-$500K range to match recent check sizes.

Recent 990s show a concentrated portfolio: the foundation writes only about four grants per year, but each is large, with a median of roughly $376,000 and a maximum approaching $2.07M. Average grant is around $754,000, placing it in the 'few, large, repeat' family-foundation pattern rather than the 'many small checks' model. Geographic footprint is narrow (CT, NY, NH, KY) and sector mix skews toward independent schools, higher education, medical/hospital institutions, and select faith communities. There is no published deadline — the foundation operates on a trustee-meeting cadence, typically one or two decision cycles per year. Payout is close to the 5% minimum, which means the annual grantmaking budget is in the $1.8M-$2.5M range.

Against Connecticut T20 family foundations of similar asset size, Carey is notably check-heavy and roster-thin:

Carey's extreme concentration (4 grants, six-figure medians) is more typical of a donor-advised estate than a broad community foundation — it most closely resembles a single-purpose capital-campaign funder rather than a multi-grantee portfolio.

As of the most recent 990 cycle, the Carey Family Foundation remains a closely held private foundation with no public website, no press releases, and no named program officer. There have been no reported leadership changes, no new program launches, and no public RFPs in 2025 or early 2026. The foundation's giving pattern suggests continued trustee-directed support for long-standing grantee relationships; new entrants are rare. No Form 990-PF Schedule B shift in donor base has been reported, and there is no indication of a spend-down or sunset plan. Treat this as a stable, invitation-only funder with no meaningful public-facing news flow.

To have any realistic chance with Carey, you need three things: (1) a warm introduction from an existing grantee or trustee network — the foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals and will not respond to cold letters; (2) a named capital project or endowed program in CT, NY, NH, or KY with a specific, nameable outcome (scholarship fund, building, chair, wing) — unrestricted operating support is almost never funded given the four-grant-per-year pattern; (3) an ask scaled to their check size ($200K-$750K is the sweet spot; under $100K looks under-ambitious for a median-$376K funder, and over $1.5M is reserved for their top relationship). Submit via a one-page concept note through a trustee, not a mailed LOI. If you have no connection to an existing grantee or trustee, deprioritize this funder and invest time elsewhere.