Griffith Foundation

The Griffith Foundation is not a staffed grantmaking institution — it is a private charitable trust with a single trustee, Alan Griffith, administered through a Bank of New York trust office in New York City on behalf of a Pittsburgh-registered entity (EIN 13-7436765, PO Box 185, Pittsburgh, PA). There is no program officer, no published mission statement, no grants portal, and the foundation's own IRS filing lists its application instructions as '__none__.' This is the profile of a personal or family philanthropic vehicle, not an institutional funder soliciting proposals.

Every grant in the tracked history — 13 grants totaling $665,500 — was recorded for 'GENERAL OPERATING PURPOSES,' with no restricted or project-specific awards. The grantee list (YMCA of the Chesapeake, ALS Association Greater New York, Lafayette College, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Queen Anne's Conservation Association, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Princeton Day School) points to a Mid-Atlantic personal network: Chesapeake Bay-area civic and conservation groups, a Lehigh Valley college, and a New Jersey prep school, suggesting the trustee's own community, alumni, or family ties drive selection rather than an open competitive process.

The foundation also shows loyalty rather than breadth: YMCA of the Chesapeake and ALS Association Greater New York each received three separate grants over the tracked period, while several organizations appear only once. That pattern — repeat gifts to a small, stable set of grantees — is the strongest signal in the data. Organizations without an existing relationship to this trust have effectively no visible pathway to a first grant; the realistic strategy is relationship-building (board introductions, alumni or civic connections in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, or Vermont) rather than a written proposal. When an organization is already known to the trustee, the ask that has consistently worked is unrestricted general operating support, not a program-specific grant. First-time applicants should not expect a published deadline, review cycle, or site visit process — none is evidenced anywhere in the filings or web presence.

Across the 13 tracked grants totaling $665,500, the average grant size is $51,192, but that figure masks a wide spread driven by repeat giving: the largest cumulative relationships are YMCA of the Chesapeake ($150,000 across 3 grants) and ALS Association Greater New York ($140,000 across 3 grants), while single-instance gifts range from $100,000 (St. Paul's Episcopal Church; The Chesapeake Bay Foundation) down to $25,000 (Queen Anne's Conservation Association; Southern Vermont Arts Center) and as low as $500 (Princeton Day School) — a token gift likely tied to a personal connection rather than a programmatic award.

Geographically, Maryland dominates with 6 of 13 grants, followed by New York (3), Pennsylvania (2), and one grant each to New Jersey and Vermont — a footprint entirely consistent with a Chesapeake Bay/Mid-Atlantic personal network rather than a national or even regional open program. There is no health, education, or arts 'program area' split to report because 100% of tracked grants are coded 'GENERAL OPERATING PURPOSES'; the funder does not appear to run restricted or project-based grantmaking.

Total giving has swung considerably year to year: $670,369 in 2012 (the historical peak in the tracked data), down to $144,957 in 2010, up again to $417,745 in 2019 (a year that also saw a $2,027,338 contribution received, likely a trust funding event), and down to a low of $72,924 in 2022. The most recent available figure, FY2025, shows charitable disbursements of $372,281 against total assets of $8,135,068 — a payout rate of roughly 4.6%, close to the 5% minimum distribution requirement the IRS imposes on private foundations, which suggests near-baseline, compliance-driven giving rather than an actively expanding program. Total assets have grown from $2.9 million (2010) to $8.14 million (current), funded primarily by net investment income rather than new outside contributions — contributions received were $0 in 8 of the 10 tracked fiscal years.

These five peers were matched primarily on asset size (all cluster within $2,000 of $8.135M) and shared NTEE classification (T22, Philanthropy & Grantmaking) rather than on a common program focus — none has public grant guidelines indexed, which is itself the pattern worth noting: foundations of this size and structure (single-trustee trusts, no staff) are systematically closed to unsolicited applicants. Grant seekers should not treat this peer set as a menu of comparably accessible funders; instead, use it as confirmation that Griffith Foundation's invitation-only posture is typical for its size tier, not an outlier.

No foundation-specific press coverage, leadership announcements, or program news could be located for the Griffith Foundation (EIN 13-7436765, Pittsburgh, PA) — expected for an unstaffed single-trustee trust with no communications function. Alan Griffith is listed as sole trustee across all reviewed filings, with no reported compensation and no evidence of a trustee change.

The most recent verifiable activity is the FY2025 Form 990-PF data: total revenue of $356,881 (60.5% dividends, 39.5% asset sales), total expenses of $400,527, charitable disbursements of $372,281, and a net loss of $43,646 for the year — the loss reflects investment performance and expense timing, not a reduction in giving, since disbursements were actually higher than several recent prior years (2022: $72,924; 2021: $132,226; 2020: $154,647). Total assets stood at $8,135,068, essentially flat versus the $8,135,068 recorded in the underlying data bundle, indicating a stable asset base being drawn down at close to the IRS-mandated minimum distribution rate.

One important data-quality note for any grant seeker researching this funder online: the domain griffithfoundation.org, which surfaces prominently in web searches for 'Griffith Foundation,' belongs to an entirely different organization — The Institutes Griffith Insurance Education Foundation, a policy-education nonprofit focused on insurance and risk management, unrelated to this Pittsburgh trust. Grant seekers should disregard that site and any others (a Georgia-based 'Griffith Family Foundation,' an Indianapolis-based 'Griffith Family Foundation Inc.,' and others) as unrelated funders sharing only the surname.

There is no formal application process to optimize for timing, so the standard grant-writing playbook does not apply here. The single most important fact is structural: this is a personal/family trust administered by a Bank of New York trustee office, not a program with a portal, RFP, or LOI cycle. Sending an unsolicited proposal to the listed phone number ((212) 922-8319) or the PO Box 185, Pittsburgh, PA 15230 mailing address is very unlikely to reach a decision-maker — that contact routes to trust administration, not grant review.

The realistic path in is relationship-based. Every dollar in the tracked grant history went to organizations with a plausible personal or institutional tie to the Mid-Atlantic corridor (Maryland's Chesapeake Bay region, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont) — a Lehigh Valley college (Lafayette), a New Jersey prep school (Princeton Day School), a Chesapeake-area YMCA and conservation groups, and a New York ALS charity. Organizations should look for a warm introduction — a board member, alumnus, or community leader who has a direct connection to trustee Alan Griffith — rather than a cold proposal.

When an ask is made, frame it as unrestricted general operating support: 100% of the 13 tracked grants were coded 'GENERAL OPERATING PURPOSES,' with none earmarked for a specific program or capital project. Avoid submitting a detailed logic model or multi-year program budget; the data suggests this funder responds to trust in an organization's overall mission and stewardship, not project-level metrics.

Common mistakes to avoid: treating this like a large institutional funder with published guidelines (none exist); assuming the griffithfoundation.org website represents this funder (it does not — see Recent Activity); and expecting a reply to an unsolicited email or letter. Instead, monitor the foundation's annually filed Form 990-PF (Part XV lists all grants paid) via ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer or a similar database to track whether new organizations are entering the giving pattern, which can signal an evolving personal network worth approaching indirectly.