Ehlert Family Foundation

The Ehlert Family Foundation is a small, closely held private foundation based in Palatine, Illinois (Chicago's northwest suburbs), with roughly $5.5-5.7M in assets and about $1.99M in reported income. It is unambiguously a relationship-driven funder, not an open-application one: aggregator profiles (Impala, Grantable, Candid) and the foundation's own website agree that it does not accept unsolicited proposals and that funding is effectively by invitation only, routed through the small circle of directors — Marilyn Ehlert (Secretary/Treasurer), Stacy Lee Harding (President/Director), and board members Rob Colbert, Sharyn Delaurentis Nakos, Barb Weber, Kathy Roeser, and Laurie Turner. None draw compensation, reinforcing this is a hands-on family/friends board rather than a staffed program office. First-time applicants should not expect a portal, LOI form, or published deadline; the realistic path in is a warm introduction — through a board member, an existing grantee (e.g., Live 4 Lali, Paws of Chicago, YMCA Metro Chicago), or a shared local connection in the Palatine/Chicago-suburbs nonprofit community — followed by outreach via the website's general contact form as a first, low-pressure touchpoint rather than a formal ask. The foundation favors grassroots, often small, locally rooted organizations: of 25 tracked grants, 19 went to Illinois recipients, with clusters around animal rescue (Humane Society/Humane World for Animals, Barb's Precious Rescue, Paws of Chicago, Beth's Furry Friends), community/youth outreach (YMCA Metro Chicago, Project Hood Communities, Fill a Heart 4 Kids), and substance-use recovery (McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition, Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition, Live 4 Lali). Several grantees recur across years (Humane Society, Barb's Precious Rescue, Paws of Chicago, Solly's Way Foundation, McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition each show 2-grant totals), signaling the board renews support for organizations it already trusts rather than constantly seeking new ones — durable relationships matter more than a single strong pitch.

Across the 25 grants captured in this dataset, total giving is $803,093 with an average grant of $32,124 — but that average is skewed by a few large gifts; the foundation's own reported typical grant size (from its most recent filing) shows a median of just $7,500, a mean of $18,375, and a range from $1,000 to $105,000 across 8 grants, which is more representative of what a new applicant should expect. The largest gifts on record are $150,000 to The Humane Society of the United States (animal welfare, 2 grants) and $150,000 to YMCA Metro of Chicago (community outreach, 1 grant), followed by $100,000 to Evanston Wilmette Golf Course Association (general support) and $75,000 across 2 grants to Barb's Precious Rescue. At the other end, gifts as small as $500 (Fill a Heart 4 Kids) and $1,000 (Pursue Church) show the board is willing to make modest, targeted gifts alongside six-figure ones. Geographically, giving is heavily Illinois-concentrated: IL received 19 of 25 tracked grants (roughly $1.3M or 82% of dollars per aggregator data), with smaller shares to DC (~10%, $150K — the Humane Society national HQ), FL (~5%, $83K), and single grants to NM, NY, and OR. By cause, animal welfare (Humane Society, Barb's Precious Rescue, Paws of Chicago, Beth's Furry Friends) totals roughly $300K of the tracked $803K (about 37%), with community outreach/violence prevention (YMCA, Project Hood, Turning Point) and substance-use/recovery programs (McHenry County, Illinois Harm Reduction, Live 4 Lali) forming the next largest clusters. Annual total giving has fluctuated with the endowment: $404,822 in FY2023, $509,524 in FY2022, down to $207,495 in FY2021 and $153,962 in FY2020, following a $3.98M lump-sum contribution received in FY2020 that roughly doubled assets from $2.4M to $6.3M — that capital is still being worked through in grant distributions, and FY2024 filings (per aggregator data) show giving near $532K, suggesting a stabilized annual payout in the $400K-$530K range.

Ehlert sits in a tight asset band ($5.5-5.5M) shared with five near-identical single-family foundations spread across TN, CO, MI, PA, and FL — all classified under the same Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category, which typically signals small, family-administered vehicles with no professional staff, no public RFP process, and giving driven by personal networks rather than competitive review. None of the five peers have public websites on file, which makes Ehlert somewhat more accessible than most of its peer set simply by having a live website and a contact form, even though its actual grantmaking remains closed to unsolicited applicants. Organizations should treat this entire peer tier the same way: as family philanthropy vehicles where the fastest path to funding is a personal or board-level introduction, not a cold proposal.

No press releases, news coverage, or public announcements were found for the Ehlert Family Foundation in 2025 or 2026 — consistent with its profile as a small, non-staffed family foundation that operates without a communications function. The most concrete recent data point is the FY2024 Form 990-PF, filed August 29, 2025, showing roughly 10-14 grants totaling near $532,000, with named recipients including Live 4 Lali Inc (substance-use/overdose-prevention services), Humane World for Animals (the Humane Society of the United States' 2024 rebrand), and Inspiration Outreach Foundation. This continues a giving pattern visible in the underlying financials: FY2022 giving of $509,524 and FY2023 giving of $404,822 bracket a foundation that has settled into an annual payout in the $400K-$530K range after working through the $3.98M lump-sum contribution it received in FY2020. The foundation's leadership has been stable across recent filings, with Marilyn Ehlert and Stacy Lee Harding holding officer roles in consecutive filing years and a consistent five-to-six-person director slate (Rob Colbert, Sharyn Delaurentis Nakos, Barb Weber, Kathy Roeser, and either Laurie Turner or a rotating secretary role) — no leadership turnover or succession announcements were found. Grant seekers should not expect new program announcements or an expanded application process; this remains a quiet, closely held funder whose activity is best tracked through annual Form 990-PF filings rather than news or social media.

Do not submit a cold, unsolicited proposal — every independent source (Impala, Grantable, Candid, the foundation's own site) confirms the Ehlert Family Foundation does not review unsolicited applications and funds by invitation only, so a mailed or emailed LOI with no prior relationship is very unlikely to be read. Instead, prioritize finding a warm connection: check whether any board member (Marilyn Ehlert, Stacy Lee Harding, Rob Colbert, Sharyn Delaurentis Nakos, Barb Weber, Kathy Roeser, Laurie Turner) has a known tie to your organization, or whether you share a funder, board member, or program partner with an existing grantee such as Live 4 Lali, Paws of Chicago, Barb's Precious Rescue, or YMCA Metro Chicago — all of whom have received repeat, multi-year support and demonstrate the foundation renews trust relationships rather than churning grantees. If no warm path exists, use the 'Contact Us' form on ehlertfamilyfoundation.com as a low-key first touch — introduce the organization and its work in one or two sentences and ask whether the foundation is open to a conversation, rather than pitching a specific dollar amount. Align your framing with the foundation's stated language: it describes its mission as offering 'hope to those without a home, healing for those suffering from substance use disorder, and guidance to youth searching for a brighter path,' plus animal welfare and marine/environmental protection — organizations whose work maps cleanly onto homelessness, substance-use recovery, youth mentorship, companion-animal rescue, or ocean/environmental conservation are the closest fit to demonstrated giving. Keep dollar expectations calibrated: the median tracked grant is $7,500 and the typical range runs $1,000-$105,000, so a first-time ask in the $5,000-$25,000 band (the range aggregator data flags as the foundation's most common) is more realistic than a six-figure request, which has so far gone only to large, established national or regional organizations (Humane Society/Humane World for Animals, YMCA Metro Chicago). Because the foundation is Illinois-concentrated (82% of tracked dollars to IL recipients, centered on the Palatine/Chicago suburbs), out-of-state organizations without an Illinois program presence or an Illinois-based board connection face a materially harder path in. Confirm 501(c)(3) status before any outreach — it's the one eligibility criterion the website states explicitly — and be patient: with a volunteer, unpaid board making all giving decisions, expect a slow, informal review timeline rather than a published cycle.