Chaffee Family Foundation Inc.

The Chaffee Family Foundation Inc. (EIN 45-4835368, Fort Wayne, IN) is a small, closely-held family foundation governed entirely by seven Chaffee family members — President Karen J Chaffee, Treasurer Todd V Chaffee, Vice Presidents Bradley C and Troy A Chaffee, Secretary Scott W Chaffee, and Directors Charles V and Clifford W Chaffee — none of whom draw compensation. This is a classic personal-giving vehicle rather than a staffed institutional funder: there is no program officer, no dedicated grants team, and decisions run through the family board on an annual cycle, with the platform data noting funding decisions occur each June.

The grantee data (56 sampled grants totaling $661,400) shows a strong, consistent preference for a core group of established Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana nonprofits. Roughly ten organizations — Community & Family Services, Community Harvest Food Bank, Turnstone, Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana, West Noble Food Pantry, Wells County Food Bank, American Red Cross, Riley Children's Foundation, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of NE Indiana — receive repeat, multi-year support (grant_count of 2 in most cases), together accounting for over $450,000 of the sampled giving. This signals a relationship-driven, loyalty-based approach: once an organization is inside the circle, it tends to stay funded, but breaking in as a new applicant appears harder.

First-time applicants should treat the smaller grants ($400-$3,000, seen in gifts to groups like Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation, Homestead Boys Lacrosse Club, and Churubusco Rotary Club) as the realistic entry tier, rather than expecting an immediate five- or six-figure commitment. Given the foundation's website (chaffeefamilyfoundation.org) describes an Ohio-only, education-only program that does not match this EIN's actual Indiana-heavy, human-services grant history, applicants should confirm current guidelines directly by phone or email rather than relying solely on the website's stated restrictions, which likely describe a different, similarly named foundation.

Total giving has grown unevenly with investment performance rather than new contributions: $143,160 (FY2019) → $303,274 (FY2020) → $458,066 (FY2021, the peak) → $365,934 (FY2022) → $378,314 (FY2023). Grants paid tracked a similar path: $115,000 (2019), $256,500 (2020), $353,900 (2021), $307,500 (2022), $313,200 (2023). Assets nearly doubled from $2.65M (2019) to $4.90-5.07M (2021-2024), driven almost entirely by net investment income ($1.45M in 2020, $505K in 2021, $935K in 2022, $462K in 2023) rather than new donor contributions, which were $0 in 2021-2023 and only $336K-$344K in 2019-2020. This is an endowed, self-sustaining vehicle, not one actively fundraising.

Across the 56 sampled grants, the median award is $2,500 and the average is $11,811 (skewed upward by a handful of large checks), with individual gifts ranging from $400 (Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation) up to $50,000 in a single check (Liberty Youth Ranch) and $90,000 in cumulative two-year support (Community & Family Services; Community Harvest Food Bank, tied). The platform's typical-grant-size metric shows a similar spread: min $500, max $60,000, median $2,500, average $12,825.

Geographically, 48 of 56 grants (86%) went to Indiana organizations, concentrated in Fort Wayne/Allen County with extensions into Noble County (West Noble Food Pantry) and Wells County (Wells County Food Bank). The remaining grants were scattered small gifts ($1,000-$10,000) to national organizations — St. Jude's, Make-A-Wish, American Red Cross, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Prager University — likely reflecting individual family board members' personal interests rather than a core programmatic strategy. By cause, basic needs/poverty and food security (Community & Family Services, Community Harvest Food Bank, the two county food pantries) represents the largest bucket at roughly $180,000+; youth development (Junior Achievement, Liberty Youth Ranch, Erin's House) totals near $126,000; health, disability, and pediatric medical causes (Turnstone, Riley Children's Foundation, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) total around $122,000; and emergency relief (American Red Cross) adds $37,500.

All five peer foundations sit within a tight $4.7M-$5.1M asset band, matching Chaffee almost exactly, and all share the same broad 'Public Benefit' NTEE classification — but none have a discoverable website in the platform data, making Chaffee comparatively more accessible on paper despite the confusion around which website actually belongs to it. This asset tier is typical of single-family, board-run foundations funded by one family's wealth rather than institutional endowments, and Chaffee's pattern of loyal, repeat local giving to a small grantee circle is consistent with how peer foundations at this scale typically operate: modest total annual output (likely in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars), geographically concentrated giving, and informal, relationship-based intake rather than competitive open RFPs.

No foundation-specific news coverage, press releases, or social media activity was identified for the Fort Wayne, IN Chaffee Family Foundation in 2025 or 2026 — searches for 'Chaffee Family Foundation' predominantly surface an unrelated organization, the Chaffee County Community Foundation in Colorado, which has an active 2025-2026 news cadence (spring grant cycles, a Common Ground Fund, food-access grants) but is not connected to this EIN. This foundation maintains an unusually low public profile even by the standards of small family foundations: no grantee announcements, award ceremonies, or leadership changes were found.

The most current verifiable data points come from IRS Form 990-PF filings: FY2023 total giving of $378,314 against $313,200 in grants paid, and FY2024 total assets of $4,903,211 with total revenue of $266,970 (a lower-yield year for net investment income compared to the FY2020-2023 run). No FY2024 grants-paid or FY2025 total-giving figure has surfaced yet, consistent with the normal 12-18 month lag in 990-PF public disclosure.

Board composition has been stable across the filing years captured in the platform data — the same seven Chaffee family members (Karen J as President, Todd V as Treasurer, Bradley C and Troy A as Vice Presidents, Scott W as Secretary, and Charles V and Clifford W as Directors) recur across multiple filing years with no compensation and no apparent turnover, reinforcing that this is a stable, closely-held family vehicle rather than one undergoing institutional change. Grant seekers should not expect a public 'what's new' signal from this funder; direct outreach remains the most reliable way to learn about current-cycle priorities.

Given the mismatch between this foundation's IRS-registered Fort Wayne, IN identity and the Ohio-only, education-only framing on the associated chaffeefamilyfoundation.org website, the single most important tip is to confirm current guidelines directly — email grants@chaffeefamilyfoundation.org or call (260) 203-5099 — before investing time in a full application, since the public-facing materials may describe a different, similarly named foundation.

Based on actual grant history, lead with a human-needs, local-impact narrative rather than a pure education pitch: the foundation's real giving pattern favors poverty relief and food security (Community & Family Services, Community Harvest Food Bank, county food pantries), disability and health services (Turnstone, Riley Children's Foundation, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), youth development and mentoring (Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana, Liberty Youth Ranch, Erin's House), and emergency relief (American Red Cross) — all concentrated in Fort Wayne, Allen County, and adjacent northeast Indiana counties (Noble, Wells). Organizations outside this footprint, or without a clear Indiana service population, are a weak fit; the handful of national exceptions (St. Jude's, Make-A-Wish, Prager University) look like personal board-member interests rather than an open category.

Decisions are batched annually with notification in June, per the foundation's own FAQ language, so applications should be submitted well ahead of that window; there is no evidence of a rolling or multiple-cycle process. Do not assume renewal — the foundation's own materials state that organizations funded one year should not expect automatic funding the next, and a fresh application is required annually even from established partners.

Common mistakes to avoid: applying as an out-of-state organization without a clear Fort Wayne/NE Indiana tie-in; leading with an athletics-facility or equipment ask (excluded per the FAQ, if it does apply to this entity); and submitting a generic template proposal — the foundation's evident preference for repeat, multi-year relationships with a small set of local nonprofits suggests warm introductions and demonstrated local track record matter more than a polished cold application. First-time applicants should calibrate expectations to the $400-$3,000 entry tier rather than assuming immediate five-figure support.