Flying Horse Foundation

Flying Horse Foundation (EIN 82-4061560) is fundamentally an operating foundation, not a traditional grantmaking one — the vast majority of its spending funds its own free Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) program for at-risk youth (ages 7-17), a seniors' ranch-visit program, and veteran groups across sites in Colorado Springs/Larkspur, Kaua'i (HI), and Costa Rica. Grant seekers should recalibrate expectations accordingly: this is not a foundation with a competitive RFP cycle, an online portal, or a program officer fielding proposals. The nine identifiable grants in its most recent itemized filing (FY2021) total just $47,731 against $1.36M in that year's total giving — meaning outside grants are a small, discretionary layer on top of direct-service spending, most likely informal community sponsorships rather than a structured giving program. All nine went to Colorado Springs-area organizations: The Place ($10,000), Dream Centers of Colorado Springs ($10,000), Springs Recovery Connection ($10,000), Colorado Springs Chorale ($8,231), Fostering Hope Foundation ($6,000), Pikes Peak Suicide Prevention Partnership ($2,000), Griffith Centers ($1,000), and two local 4-H clubs ($250 each). The foundation is closely held: the board is dominated by Smith family members (Jeffrey B. Smith as Chair/President, Cindy, Patty, Katherine, Jacob, and Maxwell Smith all serving as directors alongside a handful of outside directors like Matt Schmidt, Gregory Gandy, David Wismer, Marlene Green, and Alyssandra Huffman), pointing to a family-directed giving style where personal relationships and community visibility likely matter more than a competitive written proposal. First-time applicants should not expect a large check — the historical range is $250 to $10,000 — and should expect the relationship to start with a phone call or email rather than a portal submission. Organizations serving Colorado Springs-area youth, families, seniors, veterans, or recovery/human-services populations, especially those whose work is complementary to (not competitive with) the foundation's own EAL programming, are the most plausible fits.

Based on the only itemized grant year available (FY2021), Flying Horse Foundation made 9 grants totaling $47,731, for a median grant of $6,000 and an average of $5,303 — a tight range running from $250 (two 4-H club gifts) to $10,000 (three separate $10,000 gifts to The Place, Dream Centers of Colorado Springs, and Springs Recovery Connection). All nine grants (100%) went to organizations in Colorado, and specifically to the Colorado Springs metro area, confirming an exclusively local geographic footprint for outside giving. This $47,731 in itemized grants sits far below the foundation's reported 'total giving' figures of $1,362,238 (FY2021), $1,331,087 (FY2022), and $1,585,563 (FY2023) — the gap (over 96% of total giving) is consumed by the foundation's own program-service spending, chiefly its EAL curriculum (one program line reported $519,751 in direct expenses). The asset base has grown sharply: from $60,386 (FY2018) and $100,914 (FY2020) to $7.03M (FY2021) after a one-time $8.19M contribution that year, then steadily to $8.09M (FY2022), $10.76M (FY2023), and $12.65M (FY2024) on revenue of $3.58M. Officer/director compensation is $0 across every reported year — an all-volunteer board. No grants-paid figure is yet available for FY2022-2024, and no updated grantee list beyond FY2021 could be located in the data bundle or via web search, so applicants should treat the $250-$10,000 range as directionally reliable but dated. Program focus by NTEE classification is P20 (Human Services — Multipurpose), consistent with the mission's emphasis on at-risk youth, families, and seniors rather than a specific vertical like education or health.

Flying Horse Foundation sits in the middle of a tight asset band ($12.4M-$12.8M) among its closest Human Services peers nationally, but it is distinguished by being an operating foundation with a public website and a named, identifiable program — none of the five peer foundations in this cohort have a listed website in available data, suggesting Flying Horse is comparatively more discoverable and transparent for prospective applicants. Because none of these peers disclose grant-level data publicly, Flying Horse's own itemized FY2021 grant list ($250-$10,000 range, Colorado-only) is the most concrete benchmark available in this set, and grant seekers should expect similarly modest, locally-scoped awards rather than large institutional grants from any foundation in this peer tier.

No dated news coverage, press releases, or grant announcements for Flying Horse Foundation from 2025 or 2026 could be located through web search — the search results returned only the foundation's own evergreen website content, nonprofit directory listings (CauseIQ, Charity Navigator, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer), and unrelated Colorado Department of Agriculture equine-welfare grant news. The most recent activity signal in the data bundle is financial: FY2024 total assets reached $12,654,361 on $3,575,400 in revenue, continuing multi-year growth from the FY2021 base year when an $8.19M contribution (likely from founders Jeff and Cindy Smith) pushed assets from roughly $100K to $7M in a single year. The foundation's programmatic footprint has expanded geographically to include Kaua'i, Hawaii and Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica alongside its original Colorado Springs/Larkspur, CO base — this expansion appears in current website content (Colorado, Hawaii, and Costa Rica program pages) but is not independently dated, so it's unclear whether these are new-in-2025/2026 additions or established multi-year programs. No leadership changes were identified beyond the existing Smith-family-led board (Jeffrey B. Smith, Chair/President; Cindy, Patty, Katherine, Jacob, and Maxwell Smith as directors) and outside directors Matt Schmidt (Secretary), Gregory Gandy (Treasurer), David Wismer, Marlene Green, and Alyssandra Huffman. Given the absence of recent public activity, grant seekers should treat this as a low-visibility, low-frequency-communication funder and rely on direct outreach rather than monitoring for public announcements.

Flying Horse Foundation has no published application form, LOI process, deadline calendar, or online portal (`application_instructions` is explicitly blank in IRS filings, and no such content exists on its website) — the entire relationship-building process runs through direct contact: 303-660-3583 or info@flyinghorsefoundation.org. Because the board is majority Smith family and all-volunteer (zero officer compensation reported every year), decisions likely happen informally and quickly relative to institutional funders, but that also means there's no standardized rubric to reverse-engineer — a warm introduction or an existing Colorado Springs community connection will matter more than proposal polish. Given the historical grant range ($250-$10,000, median $6,000), ask for an amount that scales to project need rather than assuming five- or six-figure capacity typical of a $12.65M-asset foundation — nearly all of that capacity is committed to running the foundation's own EAL, senior, and veteran programs, not to external grantmaking. The strongest alignment language should tie directly to the foundation's stated C.A.R.E.S. framework (Connection, Awareness, Resilience, Empathy, Self-Regulation) and its focus on at-risk/underserved youth (ages 7-17), families, seniors, and veterans in the Colorado Springs area — the FY2021 grantee list (The Place, Dream Centers of Colorado Springs, Springs Recovery Connection, Fostering Hope Foundation, Griffith Centers, Pikes Peak Suicide Prevention Partnership) skews toward trauma recovery, foster/adoptive family support, and youth development, though two small $250 grants to 4-H clubs show the foundation will also make token community-goodwill gifts. A common mistake would be pitching this foundation as if it's a peer to national or regional grantmakers with formal cycles — it isn't; treat it more like a family/community foundation where a phone call, a site visit invitation (they have an active volunteer and tour program), or a mutual local partner introduction is the realistic entry point. Because the foundation runs its own hands-on EAL program, proposals that offer complementary services (e.g., referral partnerships, co-located human-services support, transportation, or mental-health treatment that legally requires a licensed professional, which EAL explicitly is not) may resonate more than requests that simply ask for a check.