H W Durham Foundation

H.W. Durham Foundation is a small, family-run funder with a single, unambiguous mandate: benefiting the elderly ('God's Older Children,' per founder H.W. Durham's stated wish) primarily within roughly 100 miles of Memphis, Tennessee. It behaves like a relationship funder rather than a competitive grants program — only two compensated officers run it (combined officer compensation of roughly $198K-$213K/year across the last decade), and returning grantees can substitute a phone call or brief email for a fresh Letter of Intent. New applicants must clear an LOI-first gate: a short letter covering organization description, cost estimate, funding rationale, and expected outcome, accepted at any time. Only if the Foundation finds the request an appropriate fit is the applicant invited to submit a formal proposal against its current Proposal Guidelines (updated for 2026).

The grantee list (56 tracked grants, $1,159,154 total) confirms a strong bias toward organizations delivering tangible, quantifiable direct services to seniors rather than advocacy, awareness campaigns, or research for its own sake: senior arts and enrichment (Creative Aging, $199,220 across 4 grants), affordable senior housing (Home For Hearts, $178,500 across 3 grants), meals and food security (MIFA's meals-on-wheels technology upgrade at $138,588, Mid-South Food Bank at $125,000), legal aid (Community Legal Center, $70,170), and medical/adult day care (Church Health Center, Memphis Jewish Home, Baddour Center, Page/Paige Robbins Adult Day Care). First-time applicants should study this pattern closely — nearly every top grantee ties its ask to a specific, named activity rather than a broad mission statement.

Scale matters: with FY2024 assets of $11,358,942 and FY2023 grants paid of $340,650, this is a modest, community-scale funder well suited to small and mid-size nonprofits requesting project-specific support (median $15,500, average $21,511 per the most recent typical-grant-size data) rather than large capital campaigns. Geographic discipline is strict in practice: 53 of 56 tracked grants (95%) went to Tennessee organizations, with only 2 to Arkansas and 1 to Mississippi, despite the Foundation's stated tri-state Mid-South eligibility. Exceptions exist only for 'projects of national significance that could be replicated in the local area.' Applicants should treat the LOI as a genuine screening step, not a formality, and expect the relationship — not the paperwork — to determine renewal odds.

Over FY2012-FY2023, the Foundation's total giving (a broader figure that includes officer compensation and administrative costs alongside grants) ranged from $642,444 (FY2020) to $879,863 (FY2021), averaging roughly $750,000/year. This tracks net investment income far more closely than contributions — the Foundation reports $0 in new contributions in every year on file, operating purely off its endowment (assets have held steady between $10.3M and $13.7M over the decade, standing at $11,358,942 in FY2024). The 2021 peak coincided with $1,326,750 in net investment income that year, versus $161,816-$721,984 in more typical years.

Actual grants paid — a narrower, more direct figure than 'total giving' — were $340,650 in FY2023, $280,184 in FY2022, and $469,760 in FY2021, meaning grants-paid typically runs 40%-55% of total giving; the remainder covers officer compensation (roughly $198,164-$213,874/year, split across the Executive Director/President roles held by the Durham/Cooper family) and administration.

Grantee-level data (56 tracked grants, $1,159,154 total, average $20,699) shows heavy concentration at the top: Creative Aging ($199,220/4 grants, senior arts performance), Home For Hearts ($178,500/3 grants, housing services), MIFA ($138,588/4 grants, meals-on-wheels technology), and Mid-South Food Bank ($125,000/2 grants, food for homebound seniors) together account for $641,308 — roughly 55% of all tracked giving. By contrast, the most recent typical-grant-size snapshot (FY2023, 12 grants) shows a median of $15,500, average $21,511, and range of $350-$65,000 — a much smaller check size than the historical top relationships, suggesting either broader dollar distribution across more grantees recently or that the largest legacy commitments have lapsed.

By program area, medical/health care for seniors is the single largest category by grantee count (Church Health Center, Memphis Jewish Home, Baddour Center, Page/Paige Robbins Adult Day Care, Alzheimer's-related services — at least 7 of the top 27 grantees), followed by housing/food security and quality-of-life/enrichment (Creative Aging, Memphis Botanic Garden, Spay Memphis's veterinary care for seniors' pets). Geographically, 95% of tracked dollars (53 of 56 grants) stayed in Tennessee, with only 2 grants to Arkansas and 1 to Mississippi.

At roughly $11.4M in assets, Durham is about 1/20th the size of Assisi Foundation and grants at a small fraction of Assisi's scale ($340K-$775K vs. ~$10.5M/year), positioning it as a niche, high-touch funder rather than a major regional player. Its median grant ($15,500) sits far below Assisi's reported $75K grant floor, meaning Durham fills a gap for smaller, discrete elder-services projects that larger funders like Assisi or AARP Foundation typically won't consider. Unlike Plough (actively dissolving) or AARP (national, highly competitive), Durham's LOI-first, phone-call-for-repeat-grantees model makes it one of the more accessible entry points for small Memphis-area senior-service nonprofits, provided the project fits its narrow aging mandate.

No 2025-2026 press coverage of specific new grant awards surfaced in search, but the Foundation's own website (last content update reflected in 2026) points to a real generational transition: longtime third-generation President Jenks E. McCrory has recently passed away, and Christopher Cooper — H.W. Durham's great-grandnephew, previously Executive Director/Secretary with compensation of roughly $123,111-$127,437 across recent 990 filings — has stepped up as President. Cat Cooper has joined as Associate Program Director, the first title of its kind noted on the site. This is a notable handoff for a foundation that has been led by direct Durham/Cooper family descendants since its 1988 pivot from operating the Durham Retirement Home to pure grantmaking.

The transition appears to have shifted the Foundation's operational contact points: the how-to-apply page lists electronic submissions to cc1020@wspice.com, while the current funding/contact page lists clc122340@icloud.com and a new phone number, (901) 752-0176 — different from the (901) 683-3583 on file with the IRS. Applicants should rely on the live hwdurhamfoundation.org site rather than older third-party directory listings for current contact details.

On the grantmaking side, the most recently disclosed full-year figures (FY2023 Form 990-PF) show $340,650 in grants paid — down from the FY2021 peak of $469,760 but roughly in line with FY2022's $280,184, consistent with a return to pre-2021 grant levels after that year's market-driven investment-income spike. The Foundation's site confirms its next application deadline as September 1, 2026, for the October 2026 board meeting, and it has posted updated '2026 Proposal Guidelines' for that cycle.

Timing is everything: the board meets only twice a year, in April and October, with hard LOI/proposal deadlines of March 1 and September 1 respectively (or the next working day if the date falls on a weekend or holiday). Missing a deadline means a six-month wait, not a rolling resubmission — plan submissions at least several weeks ahead of March 1 or September 1.

Lead with the Letter of Intent, not a full proposal: the Foundation explicitly uses the LOI to screen fit before inviting a formal proposal, so don't over-invest time in a full narrative until asked. Keep the LOI to organization description, cost estimate, funding rationale, and expected outcome.

If your organization has been funded before, skip the formal LOI — a phone call or email update is explicitly sufficient for returning grantees, a strong signal that relationship continuity outweighs paperwork for this funder.

Design a one-year, discrete project, not a multi-year ask or general operating request — the Foundation states it funds 'projects for one year at a time,' and multi-year commitments, endowment campaigns, and operating/salary support for established agencies are explicitly out of scope, as are construction/building costs, biomedical research, and scholarships outside dedicated senior-student programs.

Use the Foundation's own 'Aging Issues' framing and, where genuine, echo founder H.W. Durham's mission to serve 'God's Older Children.' Root every ask in a concrete, named activity rather than a general mission pitch — grantee purposes in the data are specific line items (e.g., MIFA's grant purpose was literally 'Computerizing Meals-on-Wheels,' not general food-security funding).

Right-size the request: FY2023 grants ranged $350-$65,000 with a $15,500 median. A request in the low-to-mid five figures fits the pattern; a six-figure ask is far outside the norm unless proposing something with a documented track record comparable to Creative Aging or Home For Hearts.

Submit electronically when possible, per the site's stated preference; if mailing paper copies, send five unstapled copies with numbered pages, paper clips preferred, per the 2026 Proposal Guidelines.

Double-check current contact details before sending — the Foundation's phone number and submission email have changed in the past year following its leadership transition to Christopher Cooper as President; use the live hwdurhamfoundation.org listings, not older directory sites.

Common mistake to avoid: proposing programs outside the roughly 100-mile Memphis radius. Ninety-five percent of tracked grants (53 of 56) went to Tennessee-based organizations, and out-of-region exceptions are reserved for 'projects of national significance that could be replicated in the local area.'