Further Forward Foundation Inc.

Further Forward Foundation Inc. is a small, family-administered private foundation (EIN 47-3993256, ruled tax-exempt October 2015) with roughly $8.4M in assets and no in-house program staff — all three officers (President Meredith McAlister, Treasurer Donald R Milligan, Secretary Katy Ferbert) report zero compensation and zero weekly hours on its Form 990-PF. Correspondence routes through 'DRM Group' at a Lawrenceville, GA address with a Long Island phone number, the classic signature of a third-party administrator handling paperwork for a family's giving rather than a staffed grantmaking operation. Most importantly, the foundation's own tax filing checks the box for 'preselected organizations only' and explicitly does not accept unsolicited applications. There is no grants page, no LOI process, no application form, and no public RFP — the website on file for this record (blackgirlmagicmama.com) turns out to be an unrelated personal coaching and podcast site with no connection to the foundation's grantmaking. Grant seekers should treat this as a closed, relationship-driven funder, not an open one. The grantee list is instructive: 73 recorded grants worth $1,109,000 concentrate heavily (48 of 73, roughly two-thirds) in Massachusetts, and the largest dollars go to institutions with long track records with this donor family — Brandeis University ($235,000 across 7 grants for the AR Memorial Scholarship, Rose Museum, and a Salman Toor exhibit), African Community Education ($210,000 across 3 grants), and MASS MoCA ($75,000 for an EJ Hill exhibition). This pattern reads as personal-network philanthropy tied to specific board members' affiliations with Massachusetts arts, education, and Jewish-community institutions, supplemented by opportunistic disaster-relief giving. First-time, cold applicants have essentially no realistic path in. The only credible strategies are: (1) build a genuine relationship with a current trustee or the DRM Group administrator well before any ask, (2) position as a fiscal-sponsor or partner to organizations already in the grantee network (Brandeis, MASS MoCA, Whitney Museum, African Community Education, Fivesparks), or (3) be visible as a vetted disaster-relief conduit (e.g., a community foundation or established relief nonprofit) during a major domestic disaster, since that is the one category where the foundation has funded organizations outside its core network.

Giving has swung significantly year to year, driven by investment income rather than a fixed distribution policy: total giving was $978,569 in 2019, fell to $267,174 in 2020, rebounded to $585,073 in 2021, eased to $403,641 in 2022, dropped further to $288,739 in 2023, then rose to roughly $403,000 for tax year 2025 (14 grants, median $17,000, range $5,000–$100,000, per the most recent public filing). Across the fuller grantee history captured in this record (73 grants totaling $1,109,000), the average grant is $18,797; a separately reported typical-grant-size figure shows a median of $10,000, a mean of $13,786, and a tighter $3,000–$30,000 range for a subset of 14 grants — consistent with a funder that makes a handful of large flagship gifts and a long tail of small ones. Arts, culture, and education dominate by dollar volume: Brandeis University ($235,000/7 grants), African Community Education ($210,000/3 grants), Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art ($75,000/3 grants), Crocodile River Music ($70,000/1 grant), Whitney Museum of American Art ($50,000/4 grants, tied to the Adam Weinberg Artists First Fund), and Fivesparks ($38,000/4 grants) together account for roughly $678,000 — about 61% of all recorded giving — concentrated in a handful of repeat relationships. A second tier of smaller, more diffuse giving covers disaster relief (Hurricane Ida and Ian, the 2023 Kentucky tornadoes, and the 2023 Maui wildfires, each funded at $10,000 through established intermediaries like All Hands and Hearts, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and the Hawaii Community Foundation) and pandemic-era food-bank support (Worcester County Food Bank, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston Rescue Mission, Loaves & Fishes, each in the $3,000–$25,000 range). A third recurring theme is Jewish-community and refugee support (HIAS, Jewish Vocational Services, Leo Baeck Institute, Jewish Fdn for the Righteous), typically $10,000–$30,000 per grant. Geographically, 48 of 73 recorded grantees (66%) are Massachusetts-based, with secondary clusters in New York (9), Pennsylvania and Maryland (3 each), and single grants in California, Oregon, DC, Hawaii, Kentucky, and South Dakota tied to disaster response rather than a stated geographic mandate.

The near-identical asset figures across all five peers (each within $5,000 of $8.44M) is a strong signal that these are separate family foundations pooled in a single managed investment account or administered by the same outside firm, similar to how Further Forward is run through 'DRM Group.' None of the five peers have a public website on file, reinforcing that this entire cohort operates as quiet, closely-held family philanthropy rather than public-facing grantmaking programs. Grant seekers should assume all six funders in this peer set require a personal introduction rather than a written application, and should prioritize outreach through professional or institutional networks over cold submissions.

The most recent Form 990-PF, covering tax year 2025 (ended December 2025), was posted by the IRS on June 3, 2026, and shows $8.4M in assets, $403,000 in charitable distributions, and 14 grants with a median size of $17,000 and a range of $5,000 to $100,000 — a modest rebound from the $288,739 given in 2023. No independent press coverage, press releases, or news announcements about Further Forward Foundation Inc. could be located; the foundation maintains no public communications presence. The most notable recent development is a leadership transition: the board once led by Jennifer M Combs (President) and Alexander C Combs III (Vice President), with Susan M Riley as Secretary, has been replaced by a board led by Meredith McAlister (President) and Katy Ferbert (Secretary), with Donald R Milligan the sole officer retained as Treasurer across both eras. Because grantmaking at this foundation tracks trustees' personal and institutional relationships rather than a published program strategy, this full change in the President and Secretary roles is the single most consequential 'news' item for prospective grantees — it may signal a shift away from the prior board's apparent Massachusetts arts and education network toward priorities tied to the new officers, though no filing yet shows evidence of that shift in the grantee list.

There is no formal application process to optimize: the foundation's own IRS filing marks it 'preselected organizations only,' the application_instructions field is explicitly blank, and no grants page, LOI form, or portal exists anywhere online. Any guidance claiming otherwise should be disregarded. What does matter: (1) Relationship over paperwork — every large grant in this foundation's history (Brandeis, MASS MoCA, Whitney, African Community Education, Fivesparks) reflects a pre-existing tie between a board member and the institution, not a submitted proposal, so the highest-leverage move is identifying a personal or professional connection to current officers Meredith McAlister, Donald R Milligan, or Katy Ferbert. (2) Geography matters — 66% of grant dollars go to Massachusetts organizations; a nonprofit without any MA presence or MA-based leadership faces a much steeper climb. (3) Disaster relief is the one channel that has funded organizations outside the core personal network, but always through large, established intermediaries (All Hands and Hearts, regional community foundations) rather than direct grants to small relief nonprofits — so the realistic path there is being a known partner of those intermediaries, not applying directly to Further Forward. (4) Do not contact the administrator (DRM Group, Lawrenceville GA / 631 phone number) with a cold pitch expecting a response; its role appears to be back-office filing and payment processing for a preselected list, not intake. (5) The most common mistake would be treating this like a typical mid-size foundation with an open cycle — with only 14 grants a year and a board that changes composition, unsolicited proposals have effectively zero conversion odds. (6) If your organization already has any relationship with a past grantee (Brandeis, MASS MoCA, Whitney, Fivesparks, African Community Education), a warm introduction or co-funding conversation through that institution is far more promising than direct outreach. (7) Budget size: if a connection is made, calibrate the ask to the observed range — $5,000 to $100,000 in the most recent filing, with a median around $10,000-$17,000 — rather than requesting outsized general operating support.