Carl And Marilynn Thoma

The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation operates from a deeply personal collecting philosophy rather than a conventional philanthropic strategy. Carl Thoma co-founded private equity firm Thoma Bravo; Marilynn Thoma has spent decades building one of the nation's most significant private art collections across four distinct fields — Art of the Spanish Americas, Digital & Media Art, Japanese Bamboo, and Post-War Painting & Sculpture. The foundation is, in essence, an extension of that intellectual and aesthetic commitment, which means alignment with their collection areas is non-negotiable, not merely preferred.

For organizations, the primary entry point is the Collections-Related Grants program, which operates on three yearly cycles and is open to 501(c)(3) nonprofits, fiscally sponsored organizations, and university departments. Eligible project types include exhibitions, academic conferences, original scholarship with clear deliverables (book manuscripts, peer-reviewed articles), and exhibition catalog support — though publication grants have been on hold since January 2022 and should be confirmed before including in a proposal.

First-time applicants face one critical requirement: reach out to the grants team at grants@thomafoundation.org before applying. The foundation explicitly requests 12 months' notice before project start dates and encourages an advance conversation to assess fit. This pre-application dialogue is not optional courtesy — it shapes whether the foundation will consider your proposal at all. Organizations that submit cold proposals without establishing contact first are at a significant disadvantage.

The Education, Art, and Community Grants program — supporting nonprofits and educational institutions in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma serving youth in rural and nonmetro areas — operates on an invitation-only basis. There is no application pathway for this program. Organizations in these geographies should build visibility through collection-adjacent programming, partnerships with existing Thoma grantees (New Mexico School for the Arts, Ngage New Mexico, Golden Apple Foundation), or outreach to the foundation's program team.

The foundation favors long-term relationships: Site Santa Fe, New Mexico School for the Arts, Golden Apple Foundation, Art Institute of Chicago, and Phoenix Art Museum each appear as repeat grantees across three or more cycles. Treat your first grant as the beginning of an ongoing relationship, not a one-time transaction.

In FY2024, the Thoma Foundation paid $37.7M in grants on total assets of $1.21B — a payout ratio of approximately 3.1%, consistent with private foundation minimums. Annual giving has grown at an extraordinary pace: from $229,515 in FY2019 to $2.7M in FY2020, $17.8M in FY2021, $24.5M in FY2022, $36.7M in FY2023, and $37.7M in FY2024. This trajectory reflects ongoing capital infusions from the founders — the foundation received $58.3M in contributions in FY2024, $58.6M in FY2023, and $50.2M in FY2022 — suggesting Carl Thoma continues to transfer personal wealth into the foundation at significant scale.

Within the grantee data, a large portion of reported outflows pass through Schwab Charitable (a donor-advised fund vehicle), totaling over $110M in DAF transfers across multiple years. These are not direct grants to operating nonprofits. Setting aside DAF flows, the foundation's median grant to operating organizations is $30,000, with an average of approximately $250,000 and a range from $125 to $12.2M. The high average is driven by several large outliers: Yavapai County ($2M over 2 grants), Collegiate Edu-Nation ($2M over 2 grants), Shirley Ryan AbilityLab ($1M), and New Mexico State University ($600K). For arts institutions, the more typical grant range is $50,000–$350,000 per cycle, with multi-year relationships often receiving $30,000–$100,000 annually.

Geographically, New Mexico dominates grant count (39 of 232 recorded grants), followed by Texas (27), Illinois/Chicago (23, reflecting pre-relocation giving), New York (19), California (16), and DC (12). Santa Fe cultural institutions receive particularly concentrated support: Site Santa Fe ($380K total), Santa Fe Opera ($325K total), New Mexico School for the Arts ($310K total), Georgia O'Keeffe Museum ($200K total), and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival ($79.7K total) all show multi-cycle commitments.

The Spanish Americas Individual Awards program distributed $160,000 in 2025 across 8 recipients: post-doctoral fellowships at $65,000, a pre-doctoral fellowship at $50,000, research and travel awards up to $25,000 combined, and an exploratory travel award at $5,000. Conservation grants went to institutions in Peru and Argentina.

The following table compares the Thoma Foundation against four asset-comparable foundations identified in our peer data:

The Thoma Foundation stands apart from its asset-comparable peers in one critical respect: it maintains a structured open-application program (Collections-Related Grants) accessible to any qualifying 501(c)(3), fiscally sponsored organization, or university department — making it more accessible than most foundations of this size, where invitation-only or relationship-gated processes are the norm. Its concentration in visual arts scholarship and the American Southwest distinguishes it from peers with broader programmatic or geographic profiles. The Brown Foundation shares both Texas roots and a significant arts-education focus, making it a logical parallel pursuit for Texas-based arts organizations. Surdna, though larger by giving in some years, operates almost entirely by invitation. For organizations that qualify for Thoma's open programs, this foundation offers a rare opportunity at the $1B+ asset tier.

The most significant development in 2025 is the Thoma family's relocation from Chicago to Dallas, covered by D Magazine in March 2025. After 45 years building a fortune and art collection in Chicago, Carl and Marilynn Thoma have moved their personal residence and foundation operations to Dallas, where they have established the Art Vault gallery space to make their 1,700-work collection more accessible to Texas audiences. This move has direct implications for grant seekers: Chicago-area institutions that previously benefited from proximity to the founders (the Art Institute of Chicago received $200K total, Chicago Shakespeare Theater $474K total) may see reduced priority in future cycles.

In June 2025, the foundation announced $160,000 in Spanish Americas awards across 8 recipients: pre-doctoral fellowship to Victoria Rodríguez do Campo ($50,000), post-doctoral fellowships to Dr. Andrés de Leo, Dr. Francisco Mamani Fuentes, and Dr. Magdalena Pereira ($65,000 total), conservation grants to Arzobispado de Arequipa (Peru) and CustodiArte Conservation Laboratory (Argentina), an exploratory travel award to Ana Girard of SMU ($5,000), and research/travel awards totaling approximately $25,000 to three additional scholars.

Collection touring is active: Art of the Spanish Americas is at Carnegie Museum of Art through January 12, 2026, and Jeffrey Gibson and Cara Romero works are at the Autry Museum of the American West through January 25, 2026. The Art Vault in Dallas has exhibitions running October 2025–May 2026. Organizations co-presenting or partnering on these tours may have a natural relationship-building opening with the foundation. The 2025-26 individual awards cycle ran September 15–December 15, 2025.

Establish contact before you apply. The foundation states explicitly that it prefers 12 months' notice before a project's start date. Email grants@thomafoundation.org describing your project in 2-3 sentences and ask whether it falls within their current grant cycle priorities. This conversation serves two functions: it confirms your eligibility before you invest proposal time, and it signals that you understand how this foundation operates. First-time applicants who skip this step are at a measurable disadvantage.

Lock in your collection-area alignment. Every Collections-Related Grant proposal must connect directly to one of Thoma's four collection areas: Art of the Spanish Americas, Digital & Media Art, Japanese Bamboo, or Post-War Painting & Sculpture. Review thomafoundation.org's collection pages before writing a single line of your narrative. Use the foundation's own language for these fields — for example, "viceregal heritage," "Spanish Americas," and "media art scholarship" are terms the foundation uses internally. Generic "visual arts education" framing will not resonate.

Target the right grant type for your project. Exhibitions, academic convenings, and original research with clear deliverables (peer-reviewed articles, dissertations) are the eligible project types. Catalog and publication projects have been on hold since January 2022 — confirm the current status with the grants team before including them in your scope. Art shipping is explicitly excluded from exhibition grant budgets, so factor that into your project costs.

Geography matters for community grants. The Education, Art, and Community program is invitation-only for rural/nonmetro NM, TX, and OK organizations. For collections grants, the foundation gives priority to these states but accepts national applications. If your organization is in New Mexico, Texas, or Oklahoma and works with young people in rural or nonmetro settings, build a relationship with the grants team over 12–18 months before expecting to be invited into the Education program.

Timing for individual applicants. The Spanish Americas fellowship cycle opens September 15 annually with a December 15 deadline. Post-doctoral awards require a PhD conferred between 2015 and 2025 (adjust the 10-year window accordingly in future cycles). Bilingual capacity in Spanish and English is a hard requirement, not a preference. Projects focusing exclusively on decorative arts, maps, or manuscripts are ineligible — ensure your research addresses art history and visual culture directly.

Show a track record of partnerships and publications. Repeat grantees dominate Thoma's portfolio — Art Institute of Chicago, Phoenix Art Museum, Site Santa Fe, and others appear across 2-3 grant cycles. Frame your proposal as the beginning of an ongoing relationship, referencing how a successful first project positions the foundation for greater impact in subsequent cycles.