Grace And Li Yu Family Foundation

The Grace and Li Yu Family Foundation is a closed-door, preselected-only private family foundation in Los Angeles, so the approach strategy is fundamentally relationship-driven rather than application-driven. The IRS Form 990-PF for tax year 2024 explicitly checks the box indicating the foundation "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited applications for funds." This means cold proposals, LOIs, and online application submissions will not be reviewed. The realistic path to a grant is to cultivate a direct connection with Li Yu (Founder, Chairman and CEO of Preferred Bank) or Grace Yu (the foundation's CEO), most often through institutions where they already give: The Huntington Library and its Chinese Garden, the Grammy Museum, City of Hope, CHOC Children's Foundation, and the Asian-American philanthropic and banking circles of greater Los Angeles. Effective tactics include securing a warm introduction via a current grantee's board or development office, attending Huntington / Grammy Museum / City of Hope donor events, engaging Preferred Bank's community-relations and CRA channels (especially for Asian-American community work in Southern California), and aligning your case for support with Chinese arts and culture, classical music, higher education, healthcare research, or Pasadena/San Marino civic life. Nonprofits with a Chinese-language or Asian-American cultural mission, or any organization that the Yu family already supports in a related capacity (e.g., San Marino schools, Asian arts), will have the strongest natural opening — but only if the introduction is personal and the ask is sized appropriately ($1K–$25K for most new entrants, much larger only after a multi-year relationship).

Across its IRS filings the foundation distributed roughly $842K in 2024 (62 grants, $550 median, range $100–$202K) and $470K in 2023, against $7.0M in net assets, a contribution pattern consistent with a mid-sized family foundation that pays out close to the 5% minimum on a long-tail of small repeat checks plus one or two anchor commitments. The median grant of about $550 and the fact that the foundation's own profile shows roughly 143 cumulative recipients averaging $7,956 means the typical first-time grant is small — often $100 to $1,500 — and reserved for organizations the Yu family personally encounters (schools their network attends, churches, athletic boosters, regional charities). Anchor grants in the $25K–$200K range are concentrated on a small number of marquee institutions: a $100,000 lead gift to The Huntington for "A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan," continuing support for the Huntington Chinese Garden's new art gallery, and named giving at City of Hope, the Grammy Museum and CHOC Children's Foundation. Revenue volatility is moderate — contributions into the foundation jumped to about $1.49M in 2024 from $1.27M in 2023 and just $223K in 2021 — suggesting Li Yu funds the foundation in lump sums tied to Preferred Bank performance and personal liquidity events, then spends them down over multi-year pledges. There is no published RFP cycle, no online portal, and no posted deadline; awards are made throughout the year at the family's discretion.

Compared with other Los Angeles–based Asian-American family foundations of similar scale, the Yu Family Foundation sits in the small-to-mid tier of asset size and is more "checkbook" than institutional in style. The closest peer set is summarized below.

Relative to the Ahmanson and Parsons foundations — which represent the "open door" tier of LA philanthropy — Yu is two orders of magnitude smaller and far less accessible to nonprofits without a Yu-family relationship. Within the preselected family-foundation peer group, Yu is distinguished by its visible commitment to the Huntington's Chinese Garden program and by Li Yu's public LA500 profile, both of which give nonprofits a clearer roadmap for cultivation than is typical for closed family foundations of this size.

The most recent IRS Form 990-PF filing (tax year 2024, published June 2025 on Grantmakers.io) shows the foundation distributing approximately $842K across 62 grants, a meaningful increase over the $470K distributed in 2023 and consistent with the larger contributions inflow Li Yu directed into the foundation in 2024 ($1.49M). Net assets reached an all-time high of about $7.0M. Public visibility of the Yu family has also increased: Li Yu was named to the Los Angeles Business Journal's LA500 list for the second consecutive year in 2025, with the profile explicitly highlighting Grace and Li Yu Family Foundation giving to City of Hope and the Grammy Museum. In 2024–2025 The Huntington publicly credited the foundation as a co-supporter of the Chinese Garden's new art gallery inaugural exhibition, alongside the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. New grantees that surfaced in 2024–2025 filings include Titan Athletic Boosters in San Marino ($1,450 in 2025), continuing the pattern of small, locally networked checks tucked alongside the foundation's larger institutional commitments. There have been no publicized leadership changes; Grace Yu remains CEO and Li Yu remains CFO/Secretary, both serving unpaid at zero reported hours per week, which signals continued limited staffing.

Practical tips for nonprofits considering an approach: (1) Do not submit a cold proposal. Because the 990-PF preselected-only box is checked, an unsolicited application will be filed away and almost certainly not reviewed; the same effort spent on a warm introduction yields dramatically better odds. (2) Identify a credible Yu-family touchpoint before writing anything. Map your board, major donors, and advisory committees against Preferred Bank's leadership, The Huntington's Society of Fellows and Chinese Garden donors, Grammy Museum trustees, City of Hope's Asian-American Leadership Council, and the San Marino / Pasadena Asian-American civic network — your warmest path is almost always through one of these communities. (3) Lead with mission alignment, not need. The Yus give to causes they personally care about: Chinese arts and language, classical music, higher education, and healthcare research. Reframe your case for support so the natural overlap is in the first sentence of the introduction, not buried on page three. (4) Start small and earn the renewal. The realistic first ask for a new grantee is $1K–$10K, often via a $100–$500 "test gift" followed by larger checks once a relationship is established. Treat the first gift as the beginning of a multi-year cultivation, not the goal. (5) Steward visibly. Both Yus appear to value public recognition (Huntington naming, LA500 profiles), so prompt acknowledgment, gracious public crediting, and invitations to events at your organization are disproportionately effective. (6) Use Preferred Bank channels appropriately. Preferred Bank serves Asian-American small businesses across Southern California; CRA-relevant nonprofits (small business support, financial literacy, immigrant services) may find the most efficient introduction through the bank's community-relations office. Contact address of record: c/o 601 S Figueroa Street, 48th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90017 — this is a mailing-only address; do not drop in.