Flournoy Cares Foundation Inc.

Flournoy Cares Foundation is a young, fast-growing family foundation, not a traditional nonprofit-to-nonprofit grantmaker. Its board is entirely unpaid Flournoy family members — Faris L. Flournoy III (President), Evalena B. Flournoy (Treasurer and IRS contact), Melanie Flournoy (Secretary), and Caleb Flournoy (Director) — with officer compensation reported as $0 in every year on file. The foundation's own grantee data confirms its actual funding model: in FY2022, all 13 disbursed grants ($26,000 total, $2,000 each) went to named individuals ('NEEDS BASED AWARD'), 11 in Georgia and 2 in South Carolina — not to 501(c)(3) organizations. Grant seekers who are nonprofits looking for a program partner or general-operating grant should recalibrate expectations immediately: this is fundamentally an individual-scholarship and direct-hardship-relief funder operating under a private foundation structure. The one open, competitive door is the annual FCF Academic Achievement and Need-Based Scholarship cycle, run through the AwardSpring platform, aimed at Georgia-resident high school seniors and undergraduate/vocational students. There is no LOI-to-full-proposal-to-site-visit progression here; it is a single-stage, deadline-driven competitive application judged against stated GPA and need criteria, not a cultivated funder relationship. First-time applicants should note the foundation explicitly states a preference for first-time recipients over repeat/renewal applicants, and that community-service involvement is treated as a real eligibility signal, not boilerplate. Beyond scholarships, the foundation runs in-kind and voucher-based community programs (senior holiday care packages, family-bonding events, a 2026 shutdown-relief voucher effort) that don't appear to have a formal open application process — these look more like foundation-initiated outreach than something an outside applicant can request funding for. Given the foundation's assets nearly doubled between FY2023 ($6.29M) and FY2024 ($9.37M) on continued large family contributions, its total giving capacity is likely to grow, but its current disbursement pattern (roughly $26K-$107K per year in reported giving) means it remains a small, highly targeted funder best suited to individual scholarship applicants rather than organizational grant seekers.

The foundation's balance sheet has grown explosively on family contributions, not investment income: total assets moved from effectively $1 (FY2020) to $1,019,890 (FY2021, on $1.02M in contributions), to $4,180,870 (FY2022, on $3.2M in contributions), to $6,285,453 (FY2023, on $2.2M in contributions), to $9,365,694 (FY2024). Net investment income is reported as $0 in every year with data, meaning growth is entirely donor-driven rather than endowment performance. Actual giving remains modest relative to assets: total giving was $0 (FY2020), $110 (FY2021), $39,102 (FY2022), and $107,439 (FY2023); FY2024's total giving figure is not yet disclosed in the return data captured. Cash grants specifically ('grants paid') were $0 (FY2020/FY2021), $26,000 (FY2022), and $57,000 (FY2023). At the grantee level, the only itemized data available (FY2022) shows a flat, uniform award size: 13 individual recipients at exactly $2,000 each, totaling $26,000 — 11 in Georgia, 2 in South Carolina, all coded 'NEEDS BASED AWARD.' Web research corroborates and extends this: the foundation distributed roughly $57,000 in scholarships in 2023 and describes awarding 'close to $60,000' annually in combined hardship grants and scholarships, with individual award sizes generally in the $300-$5,000 range depending on the Academic Achievement vs. Need-Based track and level of documented need. The gap between total giving ($107,439 in FY2023) and cash grants paid ($57,000 that year) — roughly $50,000 — likely reflects non-scholarship program spending: the Cover with Love senior holiday initiative, family-bonding events (Father & Son fishing outing, Mother & Daughter brunch), and related in-kind or event costs, none of which appear to flow through a competitive application. There is no evidence yet in the financial data of the foundation's stated affordable-housing/real-estate community-development goal converting into disbursed grant dollars — it currently reads as an aspirational program line rather than an active funding stream.

These five peers were matched purely on near-identical asset size (all within about $5,300 of Flournoy Cares' $9,365,694), spanning Arizona, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, and none currently have public websites or disclosed giving/focus data in this dataset, which itself is telling: Flournoy Cares is unusually transparent for its asset tier, publishing a live scholarships portal, an annual impact report, and active social media, where its size-matched peers appear to be dormant or minimally documented private foundations. That transparency, plus its clearly defined open scholarship program, makes Flournoy Cares a comparatively accessible target for individual applicants versus a peer set that offers no visible application pathway at all.

The foundation opened its 2026 FCF Academic and Need-Based Scholarship cycle on February 15, 2026 (announced via Facebook around February 17, 2026), running through an April 15, 2026, 12:00 PM EST deadline, with winners to be announced May 20, 2026, and an awards reception on May 30, 2026 at the Tubman African American Museum in Macon, Georgia — a shift from the 2025 reception's venue at the Midway Event Center in Milledgeville. Separately, the foundation posted about a 'Shutdown Relief Voucher Program,' an ad hoc hardship-relief voucher effort for families, apparently tied to a federal government shutdown; exact launch date and scope were not specified in available materials. The foundation also ran a Giving Tuesday/December fundraising push with a stated $36,000 goal to support students, seniors, and families across Georgia, and has posted a downloadable 2025 Annual Impact Report on its site summarizing the year's scholarship and community programming. No leadership changes were found — the same four Flournoy family officers (Faris L. Flournoy III as President, Evalena B. Flournoy as Treasurer, Melanie Flournoy as Secretary, Caleb Flournoy as Director) have held their roles across all filing years reviewed. No major new large-dollar grant announcements or new institutional partnerships were identified beyond the recurring scholarship cycle and community programs described above.

Apply exclusively through the AwardSpring portal at flournoycares.awardspring.com — no email, mail, or informal LOI pathway exists for the scholarship program, and there is no evidence this foundation accepts unsolicited proposals from organizations. Treat the stated deadline literally: the 2026 cycle closes at 12:00 PM (noon) EST on April 15, 2026, not midnight, so submit at least a day early to avoid time-zone or platform errors. Choose the correct track deliberately — the Academic Achievement Scholarship requires a 3.4+ cumulative GPA, transcripts, and recommendation letters, while the Need-Based Scholarship requires only a 2.8+ GPA but demands documented financial hardship (FAFSA data, tax returns) and explicitly favors applicants pursuing healthcare careers; misreading which track fits your profile is the most common avoidable mistake. Both tracks require a tight 300-500 word essay — Academic applicants should center achievements and career goals, Need-Based applicants should center financial challenges and aspirations; padding beyond the word limit or submitting a generic personal statement not tailored to the prompt is a frequent weakness reviewers will notice given the foundation's small, hands-on family board. Explicitly document 'active community involvement' — this is named as a general eligibility factor across both scholarship tracks, so cite specific volunteer hours, organizations, or leadership roles rather than a vague reference to being a 'team player.' Because awards are one-time and non-renewable with stated preference for first-time recipients, do not reapply expecting continuation funding — encourage other eligible Georgia residents in your network who have not previously applied. Given the tiny, all-family board with zero paid staff, there is no discretionary major-gift or site-visit relationship track to cultivate — resist the urge to cold-email board members, since the scholarship competition is the only documented open channel. Finally, remember the foundation is a Georgia-residency program open to accredited institutions nationwide, so out-of-state applicants without Georgia residency do not qualify regardless of need or merit.