Grove Foundation Inc.

The single most important fact for any grant seeker researching this record is a name collision: the mission statement, website, and five named programs (Civic Engagement, Black Led Power Building, Immigration, Reproductive Health Rights & Justice, Safety Net) attached to this data are those of an unrelated, far larger 'Grove Foundation' in Los Altos, CA (EIN 77-0108124, ~$102.9M in assets), founded by former Intel CEO Andy Grove. The actual legal entity behind this record — Grove Foundation Inc., EIN 26-0000488, based at 919 Green Grove Rd, Neptune, NJ 07753 — is a small, trustee-directed private foundation with $12.28M in total assets (FY2024) governed by three uncompensated trustees: Jacob Frommer, Sara M Frommer, and Mordechai Schon. Public filings show no grants page, no staff, no published guidelines, and its Form 990-PF grant activity is filed as an attached schedule rather than itemized in most public databases — the data bundle's own aggregated grantee record shows just two grant relationships, both in New Jersey, totaling $1,447,404 (average $723,702), which is consistent with a foundation that concentrates its giving on a small, likely pre-existing set of relationships rather than running a competitive grants program. The bundle's own `preselected_only: true` flag corroborates this reading, even though a separate `accepting_applications: true` flag and generic `application_restrictions` text appear to be inherited from the unrelated CA foundation's enrichment and should not be trusted at face value. For a first-time applicant, the realistic path is not a cold LOI: there is no portal, no listed contact beyond '% Jacob Frommer,' and no evidence this vehicle has ever funded an organization without a pre-existing relationship. Organizations in Monmouth County, NJ, or with ties to the Frommer/Schon network, have the only plausible in — and even then, outreach should go through a warm introduction rather than a written proposal. Everyone else should treat this foundation as effectively closed and redirect energy toward funders with disclosed, competitive programs. If the goal is specifically to reach the Los Altos Grove Foundation's civic engagement/immigration/reproductive justice programs, that is a different foundation entirely and this report is not a reliable guide to it.

Grove Foundation Inc.'s own decade-plus filing history (2012-2024) is the most reliable signal here, since it belongs unambiguously to this EIN. Total assets have been essentially flat over the long run: $8,099,405 (2012) rising to a peak of $12,589,837 (2019) and $12,566,746 (2020), then settling around $12.28M through 2024 ($12,255,793 in 2021; $11,924,489 in 2022; $11,723,961 in 2023; $12,284,218 in 2024). Grants paid have tracked a similar modest, gradually rising band: $502,840 (2012), $329,445 (2013), $484,405 (2014), $381,006 (2015), $554,419 (2020), $741,213 (2021), $663,130 (2022), and $784,274 (2023) — the FY2024 grants-paid figure is not yet available in filings reviewed. Contributions received (i.e., new money into the foundation, largely from the Frommer/Schon family) have ranged from $275,000 (2022) up to $690,000 (2019) and $1,550,000 (2015), indicating this is an actively replenished family vehicle rather than a fully depleting corpus. Net investment income has fluctuated with markets, from $32,333 (2013) to $244,912 (2019). The only grantee-level detail available is a single aggregated record: two grant relationships, both to New Jersey-based recipients, totaling $1,447,404 (average $723,702 per relationship) — the underlying organization names were not disclosed in structured data (filed as 'See Attached Schedule' in the 990-PF), which itself signals a very small number of large, recurring beneficiaries rather than a broad grants portfolio. There is no program-area breakdown, no geographic diversification beyond NJ, and no evidence of multi-year grant commitments to new organizations. Anyone modeling a realistic ask should assume near-total concentration: 100% of disclosed grant dollars go to two NJ relationships, and annual disbursement capacity is roughly $500,000-$800,000 against a stable ~$12.3M asset base (a payout rate of roughly 4-6%, in line with the IRS 5% minimum distribution requirement for private foundations).

The five peer foundations below were matched on the 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' NTEE category and near-identical asset size (~$12.28-12.29M) — an unusually tight asset band that suggests these are all similarly-scaled, closely-held family foundations rather than institutional funders with public programs.

None of the five peers have a listed website in available data, which mirrors Grove Foundation Inc.'s own lack of a genuine public presence (its apparent website is actually a different organization's). This peer set as a whole reinforces that foundations in this exact asset tier are typically closely-held vehicles serving a founding family's pre-selected causes, not competitive grantmakers — grant seekers should expect the same pattern (private, relationship-based, no open call) across most of this cohort rather than treating Grove Foundation Inc. as an outlier.

No news, leadership changes, or program announcements specific to EIN 26-0000488 were found in web research — there is no evidence this foundation issues press releases, maintains social media, or has been covered by philanthropy trade press. The most concrete recent data point is financial: total revenue rose from $592,495 in FY2023 to $1,151,252 in FY2024, roughly a 94% increase, while the FY2024 grants-paid figure had not yet posted in the sources reviewed — this is worth monitoring, since a revenue jump of this size (likely a larger family contribution or investment gain) could translate into a larger-than-typical disbursement once that filing is available. Trustee composition has been stable across the records reviewed: Jacob Frommer, Sara M Frommer, and Mordechai Schon, all uncompensated, with no turnover indicated. The one piece of 'activity' grant seekers most need to know is not this foundation's own: a same-named, much larger foundation in Los Altos, CA (EIN 77-0108124) has been actively visible in 2025-2026 — named a philanthropic partner in Housing Trust Silicon Valley's $200 million fund (October 2025), featured in a Center for Effective Philanthropy interview on reporting practices (November 2025), and included in the Schott Foundation's inaugural Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark (February 2026). None of that activity belongs to Grove Foundation Inc. of Neptune, NJ, and conflating the two would misdirect outreach entirely.

Because Grove Foundation Inc. (EIN 26-0000488) has no public grants program, no listed staff, and no disclosed guidelines, standard grant-writing advice does not apply here — the tips below are about realistic positioning, not proposal craft. First, verify you are targeting the correct entity: grovefoundation.org, its stated mission, and its five named programs belong to a different, unrelated foundation in Los Altos, CA. Sending a proposal referencing 'civic engagement,' 'immigration,' or 'reproductive justice' programs to Grove Foundation Inc. of Neptune, NJ will not reach a real reviewer for those programs. Second, treat the two-recipient, $1,447,404 aggregate grant history as the strongest available signal: this foundation appears to fund the same one or two New Jersey organizations repeatedly rather than run an open cycle, so a cold proposal from an unconnected organization has essentially no precedent of success in the data reviewed. Third, the only listed human contact is '% Jacob Frommer' at the foundation's Neptune, NJ address (908-421-3130 is the phone of record) — there is no email, portal, or LOI form disclosed in any source checked, so any outreach would need to go through this contact directly and should be treated as a cold approach to a closely-held family trustee, not a program officer. Fourth, organizations based in or serving Monmouth County, NJ (Neptune's home county) or with any pre-existing relationship to the Frommer or Schon families have the only plausible path in; broad-based national or issue-advocacy nonprofits with no NJ or community tie should not prioritize this foundation. Fifth, given the roughly $12.3M asset base and 4-6% historical payout rate, even a successful approach should expect an ask in the tens of thousands, not the $700K+ range seen in the aggregate grantee record — those large figures likely reflect cumulative, multi-year giving to entrenched relationships, not a typical single-grant size for a new applicant.