Chao Family Foundation Inc.

Chao Family Foundation Inc. is a small, wholly family-run vehicle: its only officers are Richard Chao (Chairman/Director), Stefanie Chao (Treasurer/Director), and Steven Chao (Secretary/Director), all uncompensated, with no program staff. Giving flows through two distinct channels. The first is a flagship scholarship program run through the Asian Pacific Community Fund (APCF) — the foundation committed $150,000 to an APCF donor-advised fund and separately tagged $45,000 specifically for the 'Chao Family Foundation Scholarship,' making APCF's own online portal, not the foundation, the actual front door for student applicants. The second channel is a long tail of direct discretionary grants to California nonprofits, family-linked institutions (Missouri S&T, where the Richard & June Chao Scholarship/Fellowship Fund has supported 150+ engineering students since 2007), and personal-network causes — rare-disease research, animal rescue, church benevolence funds, and COVID-era relief. For grants outside the scholarship, the foundation's own Form 990 instructions are explicit and informal: applicants should submit 'a written statement regarding the amount of funds requested,' a 'detailed description of the purpose,' and information about their operations — no LOI template, no portal, no published RFP. Awards are made 'based on funds available' against a stated December 31 annual cycle, which functions more as an internal planning date than a hard application deadline. The grantee list shows a pattern of repeat funding — Mirman School, Renewal Foundation, Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, and Gentle Barn Foundation each appear more than once across different purposes — suggesting that once an organization is funded, modest renewed support is likely if the relationship is maintained. New applicants should expect a small first gift ($500-$10,000) as a trust-building step rather than a large opening commitment. The best-aligned prospects are education-access nonprofits (especially serving Asian American, Pacific Islander, low-income, and first-generation students), STEM/engineering higher-ed programs, Southern California human-services organizations, and causes with a credible personal or family tie. Because there is no program staff, a warm introduction through APCF, the Missouri S&T alumni network, or an existing grantee is likely to outperform a cold written request.

Total giving swings sharply with investment performance and new family contributions rather than following a steady program budget. FY2023: $343,557 total giving on $251,515 grants paid (assets $9.54M, contributions received $1,007,939). FY2022: $331,301 total giving / $245,625 grants paid, with revenue collapsing to $83,214 and zero new contributions. FY2021: a outlier year — $1,160,980 total giving / $1,083,687 grants paid, driven by $958,475 in new contributions plus an $884,562 net investment gain. FY2020: $399,048 total giving. FY2019: $207,763. Earlier history shows the foundation starting small — $27,500-$36,000 in annual grants paid during 2013-2015 — before scaling past $1M by 2021. The most recent IRS Business Master File snapshot lists current assets at $12,478,306 (up from $9.54M in the FY2023 filing) and income of $2,280,334, implying capacity for a rebound in near-term giving once newer 990s post. The foundation's own typical-grant-size data shows a median of $5,002 and average of $17,132 across a $500-$150,000 range (19 grants). Grant-level data across recent filings (32 grants, $571,127 total, $17,848 average) confirms this skew: the single largest disbursement, $150,000 to the Asian Pacific Community Fund, funds the donor-advised vehicle behind the scholarship program and alone accounts for 26% of tracked dollars. Excluding it, the typical direct grant clusters near $5,000, and roughly 80% of individual grants fall under $25,000. Geographically, 27 of 32 tracked grants (84%) went to California organizations, consistent with the foundation's stated 'CA' geographic focus; the rest split between Washington DC (1), Florida (2), and Missouri (2 — both to Missouri S&T for the R&J Chao Scholarship/Fellowship Fund). By purpose, roughly half of tracked dollars support education and scholarships (APCF, Missouri S&T, Mirman School, Renewal Foundation's Pearl Class Program), with the remainder split across health/medical research (UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge, Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, A-T Children's Project) and human-services/relief giving (Waymakers, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Global Giving Coronavirus Fund).

Among this asset-matched peer group (all clustered near $12.4-12.5M in assets), Chao Family Foundation Inc. is the clear outlier for accessibility: it is the only one with a public website, a named recurring scholarship program, and any documented application pathway. The other four family/trust vehicles list no website in IRS records, consistent with closed, relationship-only giving to pre-selected recipients. Eversource Energy Foundation is a separate type of outlier as a corporate-affiliated foundation rather than a family trust, and likely runs a more formal (if not publicly indexed here) community-giving program. For grant seekers, Chao is meaningfully more approachable than this peer set, but still small-scale and informal compared to staffed institutional funders.

The foundation's current, confirmed activity centers on its Fall 2026 scholarship cycle: five $4,000 awards (renewable up to $16,000 over four years) for Los Angeles and Orange County high school seniors enrolling full-time at a UC or CSU campus, requiring a minimum 3.2 unweighted GPA and household income at or below the county low-income threshold. The application opened in December 2025 through the Asian Pacific Community Fund's online portal, with all materials due by 11:59 PM PDT on April 20, 2026. Financially, after the outsized FY2021 (total giving $1.16M, driven by an $884,562 investment gain and $958,475 in new contributions), giving normalized to $331K-$344K in FY2022-FY2023. The most recent IRS Business Master File snapshot shows assets of $12.48M and income of $2.28M, roughly 30% above the $9.54M asset level in the FY2023 filing — a signal that a larger grants budget could appear once newer Form 990s are filed. No leadership changes are documented; Richard Chao (Chairman), Stefanie Chao (Treasurer), and Steven Chao (Secretary) remain the foundation's only, uncompensated officers. One important disambiguation for researchers: web searches surface a separate, larger organization — 'Chao Family Foundations' (plural, chaofamilyfoundations.com) — tied to Houston's Chao/Westlake Chemical family (Dorothy Chao Jenkins, James Chao, Albert Chao), which funded Rice University's Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao College, opening fall 2026. That entity is unrelated to this Las Vegas-based foundation (EIN 26-1899479) and should not be cited as this foundation's activity.

Timing and channel depend entirely on what you're seeking. Students pursuing the scholarship should apply during the December 2025-April 20, 2026 window directly through APCF's online portal (scholarships@apcf.org, (213) 624-6400 ext. 6) — this is the highest-certainty entry point given the foundation itself runs no public grants staff or general application system. Nonprofits seeking program or operating support should not look for an online portal or RFP; none exists. Instead, follow the foundation's own Form 990 instructions literally: send a written statement covering (1) the dollar amount requested, (2) a detailed description of the purpose the funds will serve, and (3) background on the organization's operations and structure. A concise, letter-length proposal fits this format far better than a full grant application packet. Because all three directors are Chao family members giving without compensation, and the grantee list skews toward causes with personal or institutional ties — the family's own alma mater (Missouri S&T), Asian American and Pacific Islander community organizations, pediatric and rare-disease research, animal rescue, and a Christian church benevolence fund — proposals should lead with mission relevance (education access for underserved or first-generation students, AAPI community empowerment, health equity) rather than generic capacity-building language. Common mistakes to avoid: treating this like a large, staffed foundation with formal review committees and multi-stage LOIs — it isn't; requesting amounts far above the norm (median grant is $5,002; most awards fall under $10,000, with asks above $25,000 reserved for established, named funds like the APCF scholarship vehicle or the Missouri S&T fellowship); and missing that funding availability is reassessed each year against a December 31 internal cycle, so late-year requests may be deferred to the next cycle. On relationship-building: the grant history shows repeat support to the same organizations (Mirman School, Renewal Foundation, Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, Gentle Barn Foundation) across different purposes and years, so a modest first grant should be treated as a foothold — report back on outcomes to earn renewed funding. A warm introduction through APCF, the Missouri S&T engineering alumni network, or an existing grantee will likely carry more weight than a cold written request.