Central Florida Outreach Ministries Inc.

Central Florida Outreach Ministries Inc. is not a conventional grantmaker soliciting proposals — it is a small, family-run private foundation (EIN 59-3483193, incorporated 1998 in Apopka, FL) that functions as the charitable arm of the Ebert/Holland family. Officers include Robert E Ebert Jr (founding President), Carol S Ebert (President through 2/2025), Michael D Holland (President since 2/2025), Nicholas D Holland (Secretary since 2/2025), and Jennifer R Thomas (Treasurer, $6,000 annual compensation — the only paid role). The foundation has no public website, no grants portal, no published application form, and third-party trackers (Instrumentl, Cause IQ) confirm zero live grant opportunities. The foundation's own 990 program narratives describe funding its own short-term mission trips — building housing and dedicating schools in Sierra Leone, and medical/vision care trips to the Dominican Republic — rather than issuing competitive grants to outside applicants. Its "grantee" list is dominated by a handful of Christian missions and evangelism organizations (Hope In Progress Inc received $28,256 across 4 grants, nearly half of all giving; Pioneers/Pioneers-USA, Ethnos360, Campus Crusade for Christ, Gospel For Asia, Blessings International) plus a few Florida churches and crisis-pregnancy centers (A Door of Hope, Trinity Baptist Church, Legacy Church). This pattern — repeat gifts to known evangelical missions/church partners rather than an open applicant pool — strongly suggests giving flows through personal relationships and denominational networks, not cold outreach. First-time applicants should treat this as a long-shot, relationship-first prospect: a warm introduction from a shared church, missions network, or existing grantee (especially Hope In Progress or the Pioneers/Ethnos360 missions community) is far more likely to succeed than a cold LOI. Given the tiny total pool (~$13K-26K/year), it is best suited to small evangelical missions, church-based outreach, or crisis-pregnancy/human-services organizations already working in Sierra Leone, the Dominican Republic, or the funder's own Central Florida community — not to secular nonprofits or large-scale programs.

Total giving has been remarkably stable and small: $12,988 (2025), $12,516 (2023), $9,120 (2022), $15,551 (2021), $11,158 (2020), $13,785 (2019), running back to $13,241 (2015), $13,970 (2014), $15,120 (2013), and $17,955 (2012) in grants paid — a gentle long-term decline from the ~$18K-26K/year total-giving levels of the early 2010s to roughly $13K-25K today. The DB's typical_grant_size field shows a median of $1,000, average $1,240, and range of $422-$1,894 across 9 recent tracked awards; the broader top-50 grantee list (23 total grants, $59,295 lifetime tracked, average $2,578) shows a wider real range from $500 (Ethnos360 Inc, Campus Crusade for Christ Inc) up to $8,916 (per Instrumentl's most recent-year figure) and a historical high of $28,256 across 4 cumulative gifts to Hope In Progress Inc — its single largest and most consistent grantee. By program area, giving is almost entirely religious/missions-focused: evangelism and missions organizations (Pioneers, Pioneers-USA, Ethnos360/Ethnos360 Inc, Frontline Missions International, Reaching & Teaching International Ministries, Gospel For Asia, Pioneer Bible Translators, Blessings International, Evangelism Resources) account for roughly half of named grantees, with the remainder split between local churches (Trinity Baptist Church $2,600, Legacy Church $1,500, Pleasant Grove Church $1,500) and human-services/crisis-pregnancy nonprofits (A Door Of Hope $1,850, A Door Of Hope Pregnancy Center $1,850, Kids for the Kingdom Inc $3,000). Geographically, 14 of 23 tracked grants (61%) went to Florida-based organizations, with the remainder scattered across TX, KY, OK, SC, IN, DE, and CA — consistent with the foundation's stated geographic_focus of FL, TX, TN, and KY. Total assets sit at $1,341,187 (FY2025), up sharply from the $170K-$285K range that persisted from 2012-2023, driven by a one-time $1,131,350 contribution received in 2025 — but grants paid did not scale with this inflow, suggesting the new capital is being retained/invested (net investment income of $65,282 in 2025) rather than distributed, and future payout capacity may grow only gradually.

Central Florida Outreach Ministries sits almost exactly in the middle of its asset-matched peer set — all six foundations cluster tightly between $1.33M and $1.35M in assets, and none has a public website, published grants program, or application portal, which is typical for this tier of small, single-family religious foundation. What distinguishes Central Florida Outreach Ministries within this peer group is transparency of activity: its Form 990-PF filings disclose a specific, traceable grantee list (missions organizations, churches, crisis-pregnancy centers) and a stated geographic focus (FL, TX, TN, KY), where peer foundations in this bracket frequently disclose little beyond asset totals. For a grant seeker, this makes it marginally more approachable than an anonymous peer, but the underlying reality — a family board making discretionary gifts to known partners — is the same across the entire set.

No independent news coverage, press releases, or social media activity exists for Central Florida Outreach Ministries Inc. under its own name; every available data point traces back to its IRS Form 990-PF filings as republished by ProPublica, Instrumentl, Cause IQ, and Candid/Foundation Directory. The most recent primary return was filed May 6, 2026, covering fiscal year 2025, and shows two notable developments: (1) a leadership transition in February 2025, with Michael D Holland succeeding Carol S Ebert as President/Director and Nicholas D Holland joining as Secretary/Director (Carol S Ebert had held the presidency continuously in prior years, having succeeded founder Robert E Ebert Jr) — indicating a generational handoff within the founding family; and (2) a sharp, one-time increase in contributions received, from $650 or less in every prior filed year back to 2012 up to $1,131,350 in 2025, which nearly tripled total assets from the roughly $170K-$285K range the foundation held for over a decade. Despite this capital inflow, grants paid in 2025 ($12,988) remained within the foundation's normal historical band, suggesting the new funds have not yet translated into an expanded grants program. No new program announcements, geographic expansions, or shifts in mission focus were found; the foundation's most recently reported program activity remains its FY2025 990 narrative describing a Sierra Leone mission trip (housing construction, school dedications, evangelism) and a prior-year Dominican Republic medical/vision mission trip ($3,996 in reported program expenses).

There is no formal application process to target: the foundation has no website, no published LOI or proposal guidelines, no online portal, and third-party grant databases (Instrumentl, Candid) confirm zero live, publicly solicited grant opportunities. Given this, the realistic path to funding runs through relationships rather than paperwork. Concrete, funder-specific tips: (1) Prioritize alignment with evangelical missions and Gospel-sharing work — the grantee list is dominated by organizations explicitly built around evangelism (Pioneers, Ethnos360, Gospel For Asia, Pioneer Bible Translators, Frontline Missions International, Reaching & Teaching International Ministries), so proposals or introductions framed around spreading the Christian gospel alongside humanitarian work (medical care, housing, education) will resonate far more than secular human-services framing. (2) Target the board directly rather than a program office — with a five-person, unpaid (except the Treasurer) family board, decisions are almost certainly made informally by Michael D Holland (President since Feb. 2025), Nicholas D Holland (Secretary), and Carol S Ebert, so warm introductions via shared church networks, missions conferences, or existing grantee organizations (especially Hope In Progress Inc, its largest and most repeated grantee at $28,256 across 4 gifts) are the most credible entry point. (3) Keep any ask small and specific — actual awards cluster at $500-$2,000 with occasional larger gifts up to ~$8,916, so framing a request as covering a discrete need (a mission trip cost, a specific outreach supply need) rather than general operating support for a large budget will match the foundation's typical check size. (4) Common mistake to avoid: treating this like a solicitable institutional foundation and submitting a cold, generic LOI — given the total absence of any public application infrastructure, an unsolicited written proposal is unlikely to be reviewed at all. (5) Watch for capacity growth — the 2025 near-tripling of assets (to $1.34M from a one-time $1.13M contribution) could eventually support a larger or more formalized giving program if the new principal begins generating higher distributable income; monitor future 990-PF filings (typically filed in the spring following each fiscal year-end) for signs of an expanded or newly formalized grants process.