Clowes Fund Incorporated

The Clowes Fund is a closely held family foundation with more than 70 years of Indianapolis roots and a carefully structured, relationship-driven grantmaking model. Its giving philosophy — "enhancing the common good" through equity, opportunity, and just institutions — translates directly into a preference for multi-year operating support over project grants, making it one of the relatively rare funders that invests in organizations rather than discrete initiatives.

The relationship pathway has three deliberate stages. First, an Introductory Grant of $40,000 over two years ($20,000/year) functions as a structured evaluation period for both parties. If that relationship matures, Continuation Grants typically reach $250,000–$400,000 and are disbursed as multi-year operating support. After two consecutive Continuation Grants, organizations must observe a mandatory three-year funding hiatus — a cycle designed to foster independence, not dependency, in grantees.

First-time applicants must internalize several structural constraints before spending time on a proposal. Arts Education and K-12 Education are now closed to introductory applicants; the only accessible program areas for new organizations are Immigrant Services and Workforce Development. The entry bar is steep: fewer than 10% of Introductory Applications advance to the Final Application stage. The fund explicitly favors organizations with operating budgets under $2.5 million, though program officers will engage larger organizations directly.

Geographic alignment is non-negotiable. The board has committed to Indianapolis and parts of New England (Maine, Massachusetts, and surrounding states) through at least 2028. Any organization outside these regions should not apply. Within these geographies, the fund prioritizes diversity — both in grantee leadership composition and in the communities served — as an explicit programmatic value, not an afterthought.

The fund's family governance structure means decisions are made by a small, engaged board. Building a direct relationship with the relevant program officer — Megan Reilly for New England, Juan Galeano for Indianapolis — before submitting is strongly advisable and culturally expected. This is not a transactional funder; every introductory application is the opening of what the fund hopes will become a decade-long relationship.

The Clowes Fund maintains a remarkably stable asset base of $57–61 million, holding steady within this range from at least 2012 through 2024. Total assets reached $58.98 million in FY2024, up from $58.23 million in FY2023, $58.56 million in FY2022, and $60.53 million in FY2021 — confirming conservative investment management and disciplined spending relative to corpus.

Annual grantmaking historically tracks net investment income, typically ranging between $3.2 million and $5.1 million per year. The five-year band from 2019–2022 illustrates this clearly: $3.23M (2019), $5.1M (2020), $3.78M (2021), $3.0M (2022). Net investment income over the same period ranged from $1.75M to $7.51M, averaging approximately $3.9M annually.

Fiscal year 2023 is a structural outlier: grants paid spiked to $28.57 million, with total giving reaching $29.57 million — roughly 6–8x the prior-year norm. The foundation's IRS 990 shows three Indiana grants under a single catch-all entry ('See Statement Attached'), totaling $11.87 million at an average of $3.96 million each. This spike most plausibly reflects multi-year lump-sum disbursements to established continuation grantees, endowment rebalancing, or a strategic portfolio-wide commitment payout. No public announcement accompanied this. Applicants should not interpret this as a permanent expansion of annual giving capacity.

At the individual grant level, the structure is tiered and predictable: - Introductory Grants: Fixed at $40,000 over two years ($20,000/year), available only for Immigrant Services and Workforce Development organizations with budgets under $2.5 million - Continuation Grants: Reported in the $250,000–$400,000 range, structured as multi-year operating support across all four program areas - Arts Education / K-12 Continuation: Continuation-only; likely at or above the $250,000 floor based on long-term relationship depth

Officer compensation rose steadily from $117,310 (2012) to $249,600 (2023), reflecting deliberate staff investment over the decade. With no outside contributions received, the fund operates entirely from endowment returns — making it fully insulated from donor cultivation pressure and entirely focused on mission deployment.

The following table compares the Clowes Fund to comparable regional family foundations. Peer figures are approximate, based on publicly available IRS filings and foundation reports; Clowes figures are from confirmed FY2024 990 data.

Among Indianapolis family foundations of comparable scale, the Clowes Fund stands out for the transparency and accessibility of its introductory pathway — a formal online portal, public deadlines, and explicit eligibility criteria that most invited-only peers do not offer. The Fairbanks Foundation concentrates on health policy reform at a scale similar to Clowes, but its invited model and health focus create a distinct competitive lane. The Efroymson Family Fund is the most direct overlap in social justice orientation, though its environmental programming and smaller giving volume make it a complement rather than a substitute.

In New England, Clowes is unusual as a bi-regional family foundation with a named program officer for the region — most comparable funders of this size focus exclusively on one geography. For organizations in Maine or Massachusetts working on immigrant services or workforce development, the fund represents a relatively accessible $20,000/year entry point into a potential six-figure, multi-year relationship.

The Clowes Fund enters 2026 with a Spring initiative framed around the theme "Cultivating Leaders to Fear Less, Love More and Dream Bigger" — the most prominent program-facing announcement found in recent web research. This initiative suggests the fund is deepening its emphasis on leadership capacity-building within grantee organizations, a logical extension of its multi-year operating support model. Whether this translates to new grant categories or simply reframes existing programming remains to be clarified through direct program officer outreach.

The 2024–2025 grant cycle opened on schedule with the Maine Philanthropy Center publicizing the New England intake, confirming uninterrupted regional programming. The November 1, 2026 deadline for the next Introductory and Continuation intake cycle has been publicly confirmed.

The most significant financial development is the FY2023 990 filing, which disclosed $28.57 million in grants paid — roughly five to six times the historical annual norm of $3–5 million. The foundation has not issued a public statement explaining this spike. Three Indiana-based grants totaling $11.87 million appear under an aggregate IRS filing designation, suggesting large multi-year or lump-sum payments to established continuation partners rather than an influx of new grantees.

No staff or board leadership changes were identified in web research for 2025–2026. Program officers Juan Galeano (Indianapolis) and Megan Reilly (New England) appear consistently in current materials as the primary points of contact. Technical support staff Erin Trisler is named for GOapply deadline-day assistance. The fund maintains an active but low-volume LinkedIn presence and no other prominent social media accounts. For the most current news, the fund's own website remains the authoritative source, as it publishes no press releases to external outlets.

Clowes Fund applications reward precision, honest program-officer engagement, and deep knowledge of the fund's documented priorities more than polished grant writing. Several funder-specific practices distinguish competitive applications:

Know the door you're entering. Introductory Applications are accepted only for Immigrant Services and Workforce Development — period. If your organization works in Arts Education or K-12 Education, you are ineligible for introductory funding regardless of fit. Contact the relevant program officer about whether a related service line (e.g., workforce training within an arts organization) could qualify in a different category before investing proposal time.

Budget thresholds are a soft screen, not a hard wall. The fund targets introductory applicants with budgets under $2.5 million, but will engage larger organizations. Email Juan Galeano (Indianapolis) or Megan Reilly (New England) before submitting if you exceed this threshold — this conversation is expected and positions you as a serious applicant rather than an uninformed one.

Define measurable results you can actually hit. The fund requires 3–5 quantifiable measurable results that automatically become your annual reporting benchmarks if funded. Reviewers are experienced at spotting inflated metrics. Set targets that are ambitious relative to your current baseline but defensible in a 12-month budget-vs.-actual report. Overpromising in the application and underdelivering in the report is the fastest path to losing a continuation grant.

Frame your program year around a July 1 start. Funding decisions come by July, and grants cannot support work that predates approval. Proposing a program period beginning July 1 demonstrates operational awareness and avoids the awkward scenario of needing retroactive approval.

Submit technically clean documents. GOapply will accept Word-pasted text with invisible formatting characters that degrade readability. The fund explicitly recommends pasting from Notepad and submitting all attachments as PDFs. A technically flawed application signals organizational carelessness to a small, detail-oriented staff.

The two-page narrative is the entire evaluation. For introductory applications, two pages must accomplish four tasks: describe the organization, articulate alignment with Clowes priorities, state grant period goals, and define the target population. Every sentence should directly serve one of these purposes. Excise organizational history, statistics about national trends, and general mission statements that don't answer the question of why this organization, in this geography, for this funder, right now.

Call after a decline. The fund explicitly invites declined applicants to contact program officers for feedback. This conversation is not optional if you plan to reapply — it reveals whether you are directionally aligned or fundamentally mismatched, saving a year of misplaced effort.