Deloache Family Foundation

DeLoache Family Foundation is a small, founder-led family foundation established in 2016 by William "Bill" Elliott DeLoache III and based in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Total assets sit around $7.5 million, and the all-volunteer board — William DeLoache III (Member/founder), Brittany Westbrook (President and main contact), Allison DeLoache (Secretary), Alice Grace DeLoache and Bailey DeLoache (Directors) — draws zero compensation. The foundation's giving philosophy is shaped directly by the founder's personal involvement as board chairman of Oliver Gospel Mission, a Columbia, SC homeless-services and Christian ministry that is also one of the foundation's own top grantees ($93,000 across 3 grants). This lived connection points to a real pattern: the foundation favors direct-service, community-rooted charities with which family members have personal ties, over large national organizations, academic institutions, or research-focused nonprofits. Its stated twin priorities are (1) children in need and (2) Christian-based organizations, concentrated almost entirely in the Columbia and Charleston, SC metro areas. The grantee list is top-heavy with faith-adjacent and children's-welfare nonprofits — Doors To Dream ($210,000/3 grants, its largest relationship), Camp Happy Days ($183,000/3, a pediatric cancer camp), Charleston Bilingual Academy ($140,000/2), Pattison's Academy ($130,000/3, a special-needs school), Central Habitat for Humanity ($100,000/2), Oliver Gospel Mission ($93,000/3), and Young Life Capernaum ($70,000/3, a faith-based ministry for teens with disabilities). Multi-grant relationships (2-3 awards to the same organization over time) are common, suggesting the foundation prefers deepening ties with proven grantees over one-off gifts once an organization is in the fold. A significant wrinkle for applicants: the foundation's public website hosts a full, structured "Apply Online" portal, yet its most recent Form 990 checked the box indicating it only funds preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited applications. First-time applicants should treat the online form as necessary but likely insufficient on its own — success appears to correlate with a warm connection to the DeLoache family or an existing grantee, plus tight geographic and thematic fit, at least as much as the merits of a cold-submitted form. There is no public evidence of a multi-stage LOI process or site visits; the visible path is simply application, family-board review, and notification.

Total giving grew steadily over the reported period: $518,290 (2019) to $557,035 (2020) to $596,335 (2021) to $648,577 (2022) — roughly 7% annual growth, +25% over four years. Grants paid tracked the same trajectory: $430,000 (2019), $470,000 (2020), $496,150 (2021), $550,500 (2022). The foundation's asset base has moved the opposite direction, however — from $8,317,568 (2019) to a peak of $8,345,008 (2021) down to $7,503,089 by fiscal year 2024, a roughly 10% decline from peak, consistent with a foundation that pays out more than its assets appreciate rather than one focused on corpus growth. Net investment income ($312,731 in 2022; $884,312 in 2021) is the primary revenue driver, not new contributions — contributions received were $0 in 2022 and 2020, and only $504,485 in 2021. Across the foundation's full grant history (2016-present), aggregated data shows 58 recorded grants totaling $1,571,000, averaging $27,086 per grant. Geographic concentration is extreme: 56 of 58 grants (97%) went to South Carolina organizations, with only 2 to North Carolina. The most recent full grant-size cohort (n=21) shows a median grant of $20,000, average of $23,626, and a range of $5,000 to $75,000 — a useful calibration band for a first-time ask. Grantee concentration is notable: the top 10 recipients (Doors To Dream, Camp Happy Days, Charleston Bilingual Academy, Pattison's Academy, Central Habitat for Humanity, Oliver Gospel Mission, Young Life Capernaum, Camp Rise Above, Central South Carolina Habitat for Humanity, and Clemson Foundation) account for roughly $1,046,000, or two-thirds, of all lifetime giving tracked. Every recorded grant in the dataset is purpose-coded "GENERAL USE" — the foundation appears to consistently favor flexible operating support over restricted, project-specific grants, a pattern applicants should mirror in how they frame their request.

All five identified peers cluster at nearly identical asset levels (~$7.5M), which likely reflects a shared database size bracket rather than genuine similarity in mission or operating style — all are generically classified under "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" with no public giving data available. DeLoache stands out for relative transparency: it is one of only two organizations in this peer set (alongside Bowen Foundation) with a public website, and it is the only one publishing named contacts, a stated deadline, and a documented application procedure. For grant seekers, this makes DeLoache meaningfully more accessible on paper than a typical peer at this asset tier — even accounting for its 990-disclosed preference for preselected grantees, it offers more of a visible on-ramp than foundations that publish no public information at all.

The foundation's most recent Form 990 was filed November 17, 2025, covering fiscal year 2024 (total assets $7,503,089; total revenue $421,236); detailed FY2024 grants-paid and total-giving figures had not yet propagated into aggregated third-party data as of this report. No leadership changes were identified — the board remains the same five family members it has had for several years (William E. DeLoache III, Brittany Westbrook as President, Allison DeLoache as Secretary, and Directors Alice Grace DeLoache and Bailey DeLoache), all serving without compensation. No press releases, media coverage, or public announcements were found referencing the foundation in 2025 or 2026; it maintains the low public profile typical of a small, family-run foundation, with its own website as the sole substantive public information channel. No new program launches, funding-priority changes, or geographic expansions were detected — the foundation's focus on children in need and Christian-based organizations in Columbia and Charleston, SC has remained constant since its 2016 founding. The clearest recent financial signal is a steady, multi-year increase in total giving (roughly 7% annually from 2019 to 2022) funded primarily by net investment income rather than new donor contributions, against a total asset base that has declined roughly 10% since its 2021 peak — a pattern consistent with a foundation methodically distributing down its corpus rather than growing it.

The stated deadline is October 1 annually, but the foundation reviews applications as they arrive rather than in a single batch — submit well ahead of the deadline (spring or early summer) rather than waiting until the cutoff. The foundation's most recent Form 990 checked the box stating it 'only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications,' despite maintaining a public online application form. Treat the form as necessary but not sufficient: before applying cold, look for a warm introduction through a current grantee (Oliver Gospel Mission, Doors To Dream, Camp Happy Days, Pattison's Academy, Young Life Capernaum) or any personal connection to founder William DeLoache III or President Brittany Westbrook. Geographic fit is essentially non-negotiable — 97% of recorded grants (56 of 58) went to South Carolina organizations, heavily concentrated in Columbia and Charleston; applicants outside SC, or outside those two metros, are a poor statistical fit regardless of program quality. Use explicit mission-fit language in the cover letter: name either "children in need" or Christian/faith-based service directly, since both are the foundation's only two stated priorities, and the founder's personal tie to a homeless ministry (Oliver Gospel Mission) signals genuine weight given to faith-based direct service, not just child welfare framing. Every grant in the tracked dataset is coded "GENERAL USE" — frame the request as flexible operating support rather than a narrow, restricted project budget. The online form caps every response at 250 words, so lead with concrete outcomes and numbers rather than narrative — this is a terse-form funder, not one that rewards long storytelling. The form cannot be saved mid-session and cannot be reopened once submitted, so assemble all required attachments (cover letter, prior fiscal year's operating budget, board/trustee list with affiliations, and IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter) and draft all narrative text before opening the form. Calibrate the dollar ask to the observed median of $20,000 (recent range $5,000-$75,000) — the foundation's largest relationships, like Doors To Dream's $210,000 and Camp Happy Days' $183,000, were built through three separate grants over time, not a single large award. Multi-year funding commitments exist but are explicitly reserved for "compelling circumstances" per the foundation's own funding-priorities page — don't request multi-year support in a first application. Direct process questions to Brittany Westbrook, President, via the foundation's contact page rather than the general phone line.