Commonwealth Foundation

Commonwealth Foundation is a small, all-volunteer family trust ($10.5M in assets) governed exclusively by three Wightman/Vaughn family trustees — Randi S. Wightman, Malcolm S. Wightman, and Kathleen W. Vaughn — with zero officer compensation recorded in every filed year. This is relationship-driven, closed-network philanthropy, not a competitive open-call program. Founding trustee Fred N. Wightman, a lifelong Tulsa environmentalist who died December 4, 2021, sat on the boards of Tulsa Zoo Friends, Planned Parenthood, the Oklahoma Aquarium Foundation, and First Presbyterian Church; his widow Randi Wightman, a 2014 Tulsa Hall of Fame inductee, has served on the boards of Tulsa Opera, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Area United Way, the YWCA, Camp Fire, the Arts and Humanities Council, and Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry. The grantee list mirrors these personal affiliations almost exactly — Gilcrease Museum ($100,000), Tulsa Opera ($45,000), Tulsa Zoo ($75,000), Planned Parenthood Great Plains ($20,000) — confirming this is a 'give where we sit on the board' foundation. First-time applicants with no existing tie to a trustee or Tulsa's civic/cultural/environmental circles face long odds. There is no online portal, no RFP calendar, and no program staff to call. The foundation's own IRS filing describes a minimal process: a letter detailing the organization, its purpose, the amount requested, and the intended use of funds, plus a copy of the 501(c)(3) determination letter — not a formal grant application. Eligibility is strictly 501(c)(3) public charities described under IRC 170(c)(2); geography is not written policy, but 61 of the last 65 tracked grants (94%) went to Oklahoma organizations and 4 to Kansas. Given the newly visible 'Fred N Wightman Endowed Fund for Ecological Stewardship' (a $250,000 single grant and part of a $20,000 grant already tagged to it), organizations working in ecological or wildlife conservation in Oklahoma have a distinct, named entry point. Ask for general operating support — 'GENERAL FUND' is the stated purpose on the overwhelming majority of grant lines — rather than a restricted program grant.

In the tracked sample of 65 grants totaling $1,451,000, the average grant is $22,323; the foundation's own typical-grant-size data (most recent filing year) puts the median at $10,000, the average at $17,700, and the range at $2,000-$60,000 outside of the outlier $250,000 endowed-fund gift. Annual giving has climbed steadily: $102,265 (FY2011) on $2.57M in assets, rising to $298,000 (FY2019), $354,000 (FY2020), $298,000 (FY2021), $381,000 (FY2022), and $418,000 (FY2023, the most recent year in this platform's data). ProPublica's newer FY2025 filing shows charitable disbursements jumped to $552,500 against total assets of $10,519,092 — a 5.25% payout rate, the highest in the tracked 2011-2025 history, despite a net investment loss that year (revenue of $380,861 against $714,102 in expenses). Assets have held in a narrow $10.2M-$11.7M band since 2019, meaning underlying giving capacity is essentially flat; the FY2025 step-up in payout is more likely a deliberate choice tied to the new Fred N. Wightman Endowed Fund for Ecological Stewardship than a change in investment fortunes. Grant sizes are bimodal: a cluster of small ($4,000-$20,000) general-operating gifts spread across roughly 20 different Tulsa arts, human-services, and civic organizations, plus a handful of larger ($50,000-$250,000) multi-year commitments to anchor institutions — University of Tulsa ($145,000 across 4 grants), Route 66 Alliance ($150,000 across 3 grants), George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center ($125,000 across 4 grants), and Gilcrease Museum Management Trust ($100,000 across 2 grants). Geographically, 94% of tracked grants (61 of 65) went to Oklahoma recipients and 4 to Kansas (Baker University). By cause area, roughly a third of dollars support arts/culture/history (Gilcrease, Historical Society, Opera, Ballet, Symphony, Ahha Tulsa — combined about $248,000), a third support conservation and environment (Sutton Center, Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Foundation, Coffee Bunker's ecological-stewardship grant — about $170,000), and the remainder splits across education, human services, and health, including Planned Parenthood Great Plains ($20,000).

All five peers sit within about $6,000 of Commonwealth's $10,519,092 in assets — a byproduct of the platform's size-matching algorithm rather than any sector similarity, since only two of the five (Aviv, Promethean) maintain any public web presence at all. That absence of websites across most of this peer set is itself the signal: at this $10-11M asset tier, family and closely-held foundations rarely run open, competitive programs, and grant seekers should expect a letter-of-inquiry relationship model rather than a published RFP across the entire group. Commonwealth's FY2025 payout ratio of 5.25% sits comfortably above the federal 5% minimum distribution requirement, suggesting steady compliance-driven giving rather than an aggressive new grantmaking push.

The foundation's most recent available filing (FY2025, per ProPublica) shows total assets of $10,519,092, revenue of $380,861, expenses of $714,102, a net loss of $333,241 driven by investment performance, and charitable disbursements of $552,500 — the highest payout in the foundation's tracked 2011-2025 filing history, up from $418,000 in FY2023 and $381,000 in FY2022. No press releases, staff announcements, or new public program launches were found in web research — expected for an all-volunteer, three-trustee family trust with zero officer compensation across every filed year. The most consequential recent event is external to the filings themselves: founding trustee Fred N. Wightman, a longtime Tulsa environmentalist and civic figure who served on the boards of Tulsa Zoo Friends, Planned Parenthood, and the Oklahoma Aquarium Foundation, died December 4, 2021 (per Tulsa World and Moore Funeral Homes obituaries). A distinct 'Fred N Wightman Endowed Fund for Ecological Stewardship' now appears within the foundation's stated grant purposes, funding a $250,000 gift to the Foundation for Tulsa Public Schools and part of a $20,000 grant to Coffee Bunker — a memorial fund established in the years following his death and worth watching for continued or expanding ecological-stewardship grants. Randi Wightman (his widow, a 2014 Tulsa Hall of Fame inductee) and son Malcolm S. Wightman continue as active trustees alongside Kathleen W. Vaughn. No 2025-2026 news coverage of new grant cycles, RFPs, or leadership changes surfaced beyond the filing data — consistent with a foundation that does not publicize its giving through press or a website.

There is no online application, no LOI portal, and no published deadline (the foundation's own record lists application_deadline and funding_cycle as blank) — this confirms a rolling, informal process. The exact requirement per the foundation's IRS filing is narrow: (1) a letter detailing the organization, its purpose, the amount requested, and the intended use of funds, and (2) a copy of the organization's 501(c)(3) determination letter. Do not send a full grant application packet, logic model, or multi-page proposal unless specifically asked — the foundation's own instructions call for a letter, not a formal application. Eligibility is strictly 501(c)(3) public charities described under IRC 170(c)(2); private foundations, individuals, and non-501(c)(3) entities do not qualify. Correspondence goes to the trustees c/o Randi Stuart Wightman, 2431 E 61st St Ste 600, Tulsa, OK 74136-1244; phone (918) 744-5222. There is no dedicated grants staff — a trustee or their office reviews requests directly. The most common mistake is treating this like a competitive open-call program: it is a closed, relationship-based family trust, and cold letters from organizations with no Tulsa-area presence or connection to the trustees' documented interests are unlikely to be funded — 94% of tracked grants went to Oklahoma organizations. Build the relationship first: look for board or volunteer overlap with Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Opera, Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa Historical Society, Tulsa Area United Way, First Presbyterian Church, or ecological/wildlife conservation groups in Oklahoma — these are the trustees' documented personal affiliations and the strongest predictor of funding. If your mission touches ecological stewardship or wildlife conservation, reference the 'Fred N Wightman Endowed Fund for Ecological Stewardship' by name; it is a distinct, named restricted fund with at least $270,000 already committed to it. Ask for general operating support, not a restricted program grant — nearly every tracked grant purpose is coded 'GENERAL FUND.' Do not expect a public grants list, RFP calendar, or online confirmation. Important caveat: commonwealthfoundation.com is NOT this foundation — that domain belongs to an unrelated, London-based 'Commonwealth Foundation' running a very different, competitive £15,000-£60,000 open-call grants program for Commonwealth-of-Nations civil society organizations (via grants.commonwealthfoundation.com). Submitting there will not reach the Tulsa trustees; the platform's website field for this record appears misattributed.