Hatch Foundation

## How to Approach the Hatch Foundation

The Hatch Foundation is a relatively young family foundation (established 2019) that takes a place-based, relationship-driven approach to grantmaking in Springfield, Missouri. Unlike large national foundations with formal RFP cycles, Hatch operates through direct community engagement and proactive identification of projects that align with their three strategic pillars: arts, outdoors, and entrepreneurship.

The foundation does not appear to maintain a public, open-application grant process. Instead, their grantmaking emerges from community relationships, strategic partnerships with organizations like Ozark Greenways and the Springfield Art Museum, and their own initiative-driven programs like Neat Neighborhoods, Celebrate Springfield, and the Outdoor Wellness Program. This means the path to Hatch funding runs through demonstrated community impact and alignment with their place-based vision for Springfield.

The Hellweg and Danastasio families — who founded Hatch after selling American Dehydrated Foods and International Dehydrated Foods for a combined $900 million in 2019 — are deeply embedded in the Springfield community. Their philosophy, articulated by Kurt Hellweg, emphasizes stewardship: "We rent it from our grandkids, so we have to always be looking to the future." Organizations seeking support should demonstrate long-term community benefit rather than short-term project needs.

The best entry point is direct outreach to Executive Director Erin Danastasio at info@hatchsgf.org or (417) 872-2382 with a clear articulation of how your project builds on Springfield's inherent community strengths — the foundation explicitly focuses on "blue ribbons" (existing community assets) rather than "red flags" (problems to solve).

## Funding Patterns and Grant Distribution

The Hatch Foundation has grown rapidly since its founding in late 2019:

• 2020: 4 awards (founding year)
• 2021: 5 awards
• 2022: 35 awards
• 2023: 47 awards
• 2024: 44 awards ($1.96M total giving)

The foundation has pledged over $2.5 million to 35+ projects since its formation, drawing from a funding pool of approximately $40 million in assets ($44.3M as of latest 990 filing).

Grant size distribution: Grants range from $542 to $600,765, with a typical range clustering between $5,000 and $116,000. The foundation makes a mix of large anchor grants to institutional partners and smaller community-level investments.

Notable grants: - Springfield Art Museum capital campaign: $500,000 - Ozark Greenways (Lone Pine Bike Park, Galloway Village): $255,000 - Lake Springfield planning and feasibility: $200,000 - James River Power Station redevelopment study: undisclosed amount

Sector breakdown across three pillars: 1. Arts: Museum capital campaigns, public art installations (Fassnight Creek Mural), cultural programming 2. Outdoors: Trail infrastructure, bike parks, greenway development, Lake Springfield master plan, outdoor wellness 3. Entrepreneurship: Economic development initiatives, community placemaking

Geographic concentration: Nearly all grantmaking is focused on Springfield and the surrounding Ozarks region, with some giving extending to other Missouri locations and occasionally Maryland and New York. The foundation's identity is fundamentally place-based — they exist to serve Springfield.

## Peer Comparison

The Hatch Foundation operates in Springfield's philanthropic ecosystem alongside several other significant funders. Here is how it compares to peer foundations in the region:

Key distinctions: Hatch is unique in the Springfield landscape for its narrow thematic focus on arts, outdoors, and entrepreneurship — a deliberate strategy that avoids the broad "community foundation" model. Its giving-to-assets ratio of roughly 4.4% is near the IRS-required 5% minimum for private foundations, suggesting a long-term endowment preservation strategy rather than aggressive distribution. This contrasts with its rapid growth in grant count, indicating the foundation is expanding its reach through many smaller grants rather than a few large ones.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks dwarfs all other Springfield funders in scale and scope, but Hatch fills a distinct niche as an initiative-driven family foundation that proactively identifies and shapes projects rather than responding to applications. The CFO's 2025-26 competitive grant programs include $120,000 for "Everyone Outdoors" — a fraction of what Hatch has committed to outdoor recreation infrastructure alone.

## Recent Activity and Trends

The Hatch Foundation's most significant recent activity centers on its involvement in the Lake Springfield master plan — a transformative, billion-dollar redevelopment initiative that could reshape 1,000 acres around the decommissioned James River Power Station. The foundation contributed $200,000 toward planning and feasibility studies, drawing explicit inspiration from two transformational placemaking projects: The Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas (a contemporary art space in a repurposed cheese factory) and The Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma (a $465M public park).

The Lake Springfield plan was unanimously adopted by City Council, and the foundation's early investment in planning positions Hatch as a key philanthropic partner in what could become one of the largest community redevelopment projects in the Ozarks region. This signals a strategic shift toward larger-scale, catalytic investments rather than exclusively small community grants.

The foundation's Celebrate Springfield event has become an annual fixture, fostering community engagement and civic pride. The Neat Neighborhoods program continues to invest in neighborhood-level improvements, and the Outdoor Wellness Program maintains an ongoing focus on connecting residents with nature.

The Fassnight Creek Mural project was completed in September 2023, representing the foundation's commitment to public art as a community-building tool.

Leadership remains stable with Erin Danastasio as Executive Director and the six Hellweg and Danastasio family members serving as directors. The foundation has grown from 4 grants in its founding year (2020) to 44 in 2024, suggesting it has hit a sustainable operating cadence of roughly 40-50 grants per year.

## Application Tips and Strategic Advice

The reality: The Hatch Foundation does not operate a formal, open-application grant process. There is no published grant cycle, no online application portal, and no publicly available grant guidelines document. This does not mean the foundation is inaccessible — it means the approach must be different from a standard grant application.

How to position your organization:

1. Lead with place: Hatch is fundamentally a Springfield foundation. If your project does not directly benefit Springfield or the immediate Ozarks region, this is not the right funder. Every successful Hatch grant has been rooted in a specific Springfield location — the art museum, Galloway Village, Lake Springfield, Fassnight Creek.

2. Align with their three pillars: Arts, outdoors, and entrepreneurship are not just categories — they are the foundation's identity. Projects that span two or more pillars (e.g., a public art installation along a greenway trail) are particularly compelling.

3. Frame around strengths, not problems: Executive Director Erin Danastasio has explicitly stated the foundation focuses on "blue ribbons" (inherent community strengths) rather than "red flags" (problems). Don't pitch your project as solving a crisis — pitch it as building on something Springfield already does well.

4. Think catalytic, not operational: Hatch's largest grants have gone to capital projects, infrastructure, and planning studies — not ongoing operating costs. The Lake Springfield feasibility study ($200K) and Art Museum capital campaign ($500K) are prototypical Hatch investments.

5. Build the relationship first: Contact info@hatchsgf.org or call (417) 872-2382. Attend Celebrate Springfield events. Engage with the Neat Neighborhoods program. The foundation's family-led structure means personal relationships and community visibility matter more than a polished grant proposal.

6. Demonstrate long-term vision: Kurt Hellweg's philosophy — "We rent it from our grandkids" — signals a preference for projects with generational impact. Quick, disposable programming is unlikely to resonate.

What will not work: Generic grant applications copied from other funders, deficit-framed proposals focused on community problems, requests for ongoing operational funding without a capital or transformative component, and projects with no clear connection to Springfield.