Demos Family Foundation

Demos Family Foundation is a small, family-controlled private foundation (EIN 45-5451794) based at 32 Pond Ln in Bryn Mawr, PA, with roughly $6.65M in assets. Important data note: the website on file (demos.org) belongs to Dēmos, a national democracy/economic-justice policy organization unrelated to this family foundation — our direct check of demos.org/about confirms no connection, and this small foundation appears to have no public website of its own. Applicants should disregard demos.org entirely and rely on the IRS Form 990-PF record instead.

Every structural signal points to a closed, relationship-based funder rather than an open-call grantmaker: the database flags this foundation as 'preselected_only,' application_instructions read '__none__,' and no grants_page_url, application_form_url, or funding_cycle is on file. The board is small and unpaid — President Magdaline A. Malone, Treasurer John O'Toole, and directors Joseph Stapleton, Susan Moses, John Demos, and Beth A. Carl, all reporting zero compensation, with Anthony C. Demos having served as President through March 2021. The grantee roster reinforces this: of the 90 grants captured across recent filings, the same organizations recur at the same dollar amounts year after year (Surgicorp International at $150,000/year across 4 years for $600,000 total; National Ability Center at $35,000/year; The Radar Project at $30,000/year), almost entirely coded 'ENTITY OPERATIONS' — general operating support to standing relationships, not competitively awarded program grants.

First-time applicants should not expect a formal LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline. The realistic path in is alignment with the foundation's demonstrated causes — Catholic parishes, schools, and religious orders; hospitals and disability/health services (Shriners Hospitals for Children, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, American Diabetes Association); and Philadelphia-area or personal-network ties to the Demos/Malone/O'Toole families — combined with a warm introduction rather than a cold unsolicited application. Given the average grant size of $16,233 and typical range of $1,000-$150,000 (median $5,000), most grants are modest, recurring commitments rather than large one-off awards.

Across the tracked grantee history (90 grants, $1,461,000 total captured), the average grant is $16,233 and the on-file typical_grant_size range is $1,000 to $150,000 with a median of $5,000 and an average of $16,674 across 23 grants — meaning most awards cluster well below the $16K mean, pulled upward by a handful of large, standing commitments. The single largest relationship is Surgicorp International (a medical-mission nonprofit) at $600,000 cumulative ($150,000/year across 4 years), more than the next several grantees combined. Mid-tier recurring grants include National Ability Center ($140,000/4 yrs, $35,000/yr), The Radar Project - A Child's Light ($120,000/4 yrs, $30,000/yr), and St. Katherine of Siena Church's fall fundraising/holiday campaign ($96,000/4 yrs, $24,000/yr). Below that, a long tail of $4,000-$60,000 recurring grants goes to Catholic parishes, schools, and religious orders (Independence Mission Schools, Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Martin de Porres Church, Shrine of Czestochowa, Pauline Fathers) and health/human-service charities (American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, Shriners Hospitals, St. Jude, American Diabetes Association, Angel Flight East, American Macular Degeneration Foundation).

Geographically, Pennsylvania dominates with 63 of 90 grants (70%), consistent with the foundation's Bryn Mawr, PA base and its geographic_focus field. Virginia (8 grants), Minnesota, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Utah (4 each), and Maryland (3) account for the remainder — a small set of out-of-state relationships (e.g., the Utah-based National Ability Center) rather than a defined multi-state program.

On total giving, the foundation's Form 990-PF filings show grants_paid of $383,500 (2021), $387,000 (2022), and $388,500 (2023), against total_giving (including admin) of $477,262, $455,958, and $468,406 respectively — a fairly flat giving level around $380K-$390K/year in actual grants for three consecutive years. FY2024 shows total_revenue dropping to $198,096 (down from $393,736 in 2022 and $358,640 in 2021), driven by softer net investment income, which likely constrains near-term grant capacity. Total assets have held steady in the $5.9M-$7.2M band since 2019, with the endowment funded almost entirely by investment income rather than new contributions (contributions_received was $0 in every year from 2019-2023).

Demos Family Foundation sits in a tight cluster of similarly sized 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' private foundations, all in the $6.6-6.7M asset range with no public web presence — a common profile for closely held family foundations that fund through personal networks rather than open competitions.

All five peers share Demos Family Foundation's asset band almost exactly (within $6,646K-$6,652K), which is a strong signal these are being grouped by asset-size proximity rather than mission similarity — none list a working website, confirming this is a segment of small, low-visibility family foundations generally. Demos Family Foundation is somewhat more transparent than this peer set only by virtue of having a detailed grantee history on file; applicants should expect the same invitation-only posture across this entire peer group and should not spend outreach effort on cold applications to any of them without a personal connection to the controlling family.

No independent news coverage, press releases, or public announcements exist for Demos Family Foundation — a search of foundation-name-plus-2025/2026 news terms surfaces only third-party 990 aggregator profiles (Instrumentl, Grantivo, Cause IQ, GuideStar, Charity Navigator, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer) rather than any original reporting, which is expected for a foundation of this size with no communications staff.

The most recent verifiable financial data (FY2024, per the DB record) shows total_revenue of $198,096 against total_assets of $6,649,670 — a meaningful drop from FY2023's $281,909 in revenue and FY2022's $393,736, driven by weaker net investment income. Cause IQ's summary of the same-period 990 filing reports a net loss position (revenues of $198,096 against expenses of $319,645) with charitable disbursements of roughly $253,333, suggesting the board trimmed grant spending in the most recent cycle rather than maintaining the flat ~$385K/year pace seen from 2021-2023.

No leadership changes have been reported since Anthony C. Demos stepped down as President on March 8, 2021, with Magdaline A. Malone (previously Secretary) elevated to President as of March 9, 2021 — a transition now several years in the past. No new program areas, named funds beyond the existing 'Beaumont Fund' (supporting Beaumont Retirement Services Inc.), or funding announcements were identified. Grant seekers should treat this as a stable, low-turnover family foundation with a softer funding year in the most recent filing rather than one undergoing strategic change.

There is no open application process to optimize for here — the foundation's own record marks it 'preselected_only' with application_instructions of '__none__' and no LOI form, portal, or deadline on file. The single most important tip is to not waste effort building a formal grant proposal package; instead, pursue a warm introduction through the board (Magdaline A. Malone, John O'Toole, Joseph Stapleton, Susan Moses, John Demos, Beth A. Carl) or through the Catholic diocesan, Main Line Philadelphia, or health/disability-nonprofit networks the family is already connected to.

Mission alignment matters more than program design: nearly every grantee purpose in the historical data is coded 'ENTITY OPERATIONS,' meaning the foundation funds general operating support to organizations it already trusts, not project-specific proposals with measurable outcomes frameworks. Organizations most likely to fit the pattern are Catholic parishes/schools/religious orders, hospitals and medical-mission nonprofits, and disability or pediatric health charities — a secular environmental or arts organization with no faith-based or health/disability angle is a poor fit based on nine years of grant history.

If attempting outreach, address it to the foundation's mailing address (32 Pond Ln, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-1772) or phone (215) 643-3900, c/o Magdaline A. Malone, since there is no email or online form on file. Time any approach for the fall: the one grantee purpose that names a season explicitly, St. Katherine of Siena Church's 'Fall Fundraising and Holiday Work' ($24,000/year), suggests board decision-making activity clusters around Form 990 fiscal-year planning and year-end giving, typical of a calendar-year private foundation.

The most common mistake would be treating this like a typical mid-size foundation with a competitive RFP cycle — the data shows the opposite: a small, stable list of standing multi-year commitments (many renewing at the identical dollar figure 3-4 years running) rather than a rotating grants program. Expect a multi-year relationship, not a single transactional award, and expect that a first unsolicited approach — by mail, since no digital channel exists — is a long shot without a personal or institutional connection to the Demos/Malone family network.