Dice Foundation

Dice Foundation is a small, unstaffed family foundation run entirely by members of the Duffy family (Michael L. Duffy as President and Linda R. Duffy as Vice President per the most recent database record, with ProPublica's latest filing snapshot instead naming Brian Duffy as President — possibly a recent succession). Both officer roles draw zero compensation across every filed year back to 2011, confirming this is a personal philanthropic vehicle, not an institutional grantmaking operation with program staff. There is no mission statement on file, no published funding priorities, no RFP, no application form, and no grants portal — the IRS/Candid record lists application_instructions as blank and the foundation's registered website (dice.org) turned out on inspection to be an unrelated, unaffiliated domain currently listed for resale on Aftermarket.com, meaning the foundation effectively has no live web presence at all.

Of the 48 grants tracked in the platform's database ($2.39M total), 31 worth $2,195,313 went to "Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift" — a donor-advised-fund sponsor, not an operating charity. This indicates the family routes a large share of its philanthropic capital through a Fidelity Charitable Giving Account for further regranting, rather than distributing it directly. The remaining, genuinely direct grantee relationships are a small, repeat-driven list: Birdies For Charity (3 gifts, $82,800 total — tied to the John Deere Classic PGA event that benefits Quad Cities nonprofits), Mount Calvary Cemetery (3 gifts, $75,000), Handicapped Development Center, Women's Choice, YMCA, and Salvation Army (2 gifts each), plus single smaller gifts to a scholarship fund, a children's developmental center, and an American Legion post.

For applicants, the practical takeaway is that this functions as a closed, relationship-driven funder, not a competitive open program. First-time, unsolicited applicants — especially those outside the Davenport, IA / Quad Cities region — should expect very long odds. The realistic path in is a warm introduction through an existing grantee, a Quad Cities community leader, or a Fidelity Charitable donor-advisor connection, followed by a short, direct written inquiry rather than a formal proposal package.

FY2024 is the most recent complete year on record (per ProPublica/IRS 990 data, matching the platform's current asset figure of $7,608,139): total revenue of $2,177,346 (89.5% from contributions of $1,948,770, ~9.6% from dividends of $209,264) and charitable disbursements of $945,868 — a historic high, versus a prior peak of $539,698 in FY2022. Instrumentl's independent read of the same period shows total giving of $676,868 across 11 grants, a somewhat lower figure that likely reflects the gap between total charitable expenses and grants specifically catalogued to named organizations.

The platform's financial history shows a steady multi-year climb before that jump: grants paid rose from $300,360 (2019) to $366,996 (2020), $459,946 (2021), and $539,698 (2022), before dipping slightly to $487,101 (2023) and then surging in FY2024. That surge tracks a near-2.5x jump in contributions received into the foundation ($781,386 in 2023 to $1,948,770 in 2024), suggesting a large family contribution replenished the corpus immediately ahead of increased payout — total assets grew from $6,075,648 (FY2023) to $7,608,139 (FY2024).

Typical direct grant size (platform data, n=14 tracked awards): median $20,822, average $26,214, range $6,126-$50,393. Looking at the identifiable direct-grantee sample (excluding the Fidelity Charitable pass-through): 9 organizations, 16 gifts, roughly $198,000 total, ranging from $1,000 (Blue Grass American Legion) to $82,800 across three gifts (Birdies For Charity). Instrumentl separately cites a wider historical range of $2,500-$461,000, which likely captures an outlier large single-year gift not reflected in the platform's direct-grantee sample.

Geographically, of the 48 tracked grants, 13 went to Iowa recipients and 3 to Illinois — consistent with the Quad Cities metro straddling the IA/IL border — plus 1 to New Jersey; the 31 grants tagged "OH" correspond to the Fidelity Charitable pass-through entries rather than genuine Ohio nonprofits. No formal program-area breakdown is published, but grantee names span human/disability services, women's health, youth development (YMCA), veterans support, Catholic institutions, and community sports philanthropy.

Dice Foundation sits in a cluster of small private family foundations with near-identical asset bases — the platform's peer set (all filed under the "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE category) ranges from $7.60M to $7.61M in assets, essentially a size-matched cohort rather than a strategically comparable group. None of the five peer foundations, including Dice, maintain any listed website, and none publish itemized annual giving figures, program priorities, or an application process in the available records.

The consistent absence of web infrastructure across all five peers suggests this is simply typical behavior for private foundations at this asset size (roughly $7.6M) rather than something unusual about Dice specifically. Grant seekers should treat all five — and Dice in particular, where actual grant activity is documented — as relationship-first targets: success depends on identifying an existing personal, family, or community connection rather than submitting a cold proposal through any formal channel.

No independent news coverage, press releases, or public announcements tied to Dice Foundation (EIN 68-0488318) were found in 2025-2026 web searches; the name is heavily overloaded by unrelated "DICE" entities (a DARPA AI research program, a video-game industry awards summit, and a British Council creative-enterprise fund), none connected to this Davenport, IA funder. That silence is itself informative: this is a quiet, unstaffed, zero-compensation family foundation with no communications apparatus, consistent with its complete lack of a functioning website — the domain listed in foundation records, dice.org, was confirmed via direct check to be an unrelated, unaffiliated domain currently listed for sale on a domain marketplace (Aftermarket.com), not the foundation's own site.

The most concrete recent activity is financial rather than programmatic: per the most recent IRS 990 data (matching the platform's current asset figure of $7,608,139), total assets grew from $6,075,648 at the close of FY2023 to $7,608,139, and charitable disbursements rose to $945,868 — the highest level in the foundation's filed history, well above the prior peak of $539,698 in FY2022. This followed a large increase in contributions received into the foundation ($781,386 in FY2023 versus $1,948,770 in FY2024), consistent with the Duffy family adding a substantial new gift to the corpus ahead of increased payout.

One discrepancy worth flagging: the platform's officer record (last verified 2026-07-29) lists Michael L. Duffy as President and Linda R. Duffy as Vice President, while ProPublica's most recent filing snapshot instead names Brian Duffy as President. This may reflect a generational leadership transition within the family, but it is not independently confirmed by any secondary source and should be verified directly (e.g., by phone) before being referenced in any outreach.

There is no open call, portal, published RFP, or stated deadline for Dice Foundation — application_instructions and application_form_url are both blank across every source checked (IRS 990, Candid/Foundation Directory, Instrumentl, Cause IQ). Candid's own funder profile states plainly that this foundation is dedicated to one or very few recurring recipients and that unsolicited applications are unlikely to succeed without an existing relationship. Treat this as a private family giving vehicle, not a staffed grants office.

Because both officers serve without compensation and no program staff are listed anywhere, any outreach should go directly to the President, care of the foundation's address (1910 E Kimberly Rd, Davenport, IA 52807-2033) or phone ((563) 359-3200) — this is a personal review process, not an institutional one, so a generic mass-mailed proposal is unlikely to get read.

Geography is the single strongest filter: virtually every identifiable direct grant goes to an organization within roughly 50 miles of Davenport, IA (the Quad Cities IA/IL metro), with a smaller number reaching central Iowa. Organizations outside eastern Iowa / western Illinois should not expect a response regardless of mission fit.

The foundation strongly favors renewing existing relationships over funding new organizations each cycle — Birdies For Charity, Mount Calvary Cemetery, Handicapped Development Center, Women's Choice, YMCA, and Salvation Army all show multiple repeat gifts across the tracked history. A warm introduction from a current grantee, a Quad Cities community or business leader, or someone connected to the Duffy family will matter far more than proposal quality. Keep any written inquiry short (1-2 pages), state the local community benefit plainly, and anchor the ask to the documented range: direct grants to real organizations run from roughly $1,000 to $82,800, with a median around $20,822 — asking for amounts well above $50,000 is unrealistic given the filed history.

A common mistake would be assuming this is a competitive, staffed grantmaking program with published priorities; it is not. A second angle worth exploring: since 31 of the 48 tracked "grants" actually flow to a Fidelity Charitable donor-advised fund, organizations with any connection to Fidelity Charitable's donor-advisor network in the Quad Cities may have a more realistic path to this family's philanthropic capital than applying to the foundation directly.