Herrendorf Family Foundation Inc.

The Herrendorf Family Foundation operates as a deeply relationship-driven family foundation whose formal IRS designation — "preselected only" — reflects a genuine grantmaking philosophy rather than bureaucratic gatekeeping. Founded in 1987 and led by President Joshua Herrendorf, VP/Co-CEO Kasondra Cohen Herrendorf, VP Suzi Glassman, and Executive Director Corey Hardiman, the foundation grew from $287,000 in assets in 2014 to over $40.8 million by 2022, enabling a dramatic expansion of its scholar-centered programs.

The foundation's stated mission — investing in "strategic partnerships with global change leaders" to advocate for "education, empowerment, and generational resilience" — is not marketing language. Their 170-grant grantee history shows an institution that funds the same organizations and students repeatedly over multiple years. The largest single grantee, Friends of the IDF, received $1.6 million across 6 grants. Face of Today Foundation received $539,000 across 3 grants. Individual scholars such as Mikhaila Doyle (Brown University, $90,239 across 3 grants), Elijah Senior (Loyola University, $50,524 across 3 grants), and Jamar Bailey III (Howard University, $34,863 across 5 grants) illustrate the foundation's commitment to multi-year, named scholar relationships.

For first-time applicants, the most important insight is that HFF is not a traditional grantmaker seeking proposals — it is a family foundation that builds a portfolio of trusted partners and scholars. The clearest entry points are: (1) nominating specific, named scholars from underserved communities who match their OWLS or We Got You profile, (2) engaging through the Global Leadership Conference (annual, in-person) where community partners and foundation leadership interact directly, and (3) checking the Submittable portal at herrendorffamilyfoundation.submittable.com/submit for active intake cycles.

Geographic alignment is essential. HFF concentrates its giving on Chicago, Illinois; Vancouver, Canada; and Israel. Organizations outside these three corridors face a significantly steeper path. The foundation also holds a strong Jewish identity, consistently funding tolerance education, Israeli humanitarian causes, and Holocaust remembrance programs alongside its youth scholarship work. Any organization whose mission can authentically intersect with these dual priorities — education access and Jewish community values — stands in the strongest position.

Across 170 documented grants totaling $4,590,425, the Herrendorf Family Foundation's giving is highly concentrated at the top but broadly distributed through many smaller scholar-support payments. The database-reported median grant is $5,470, average is $27,003, with a range of $250 (minimum) to $733,333 (maximum single grant).

The distribution breaks into three distinct tiers:

Tier 1 — Major Strategic Gifts ($100K+): Six grantees account for the majority of dollar volume. Friends of the IDF received $1,601,666 across 6 grants (education scholarships, Sports Centre building fund). Friends of IDF Sports Centre received a single $733,333 grant. Face of Today Foundation (Vancouver) received $539,484 across 3 grants (wrap-around student support). Arie Crown Endowment Foundation (IL) received $166,666 across 2 grants. Simon Wiesenthal Center received $150,000 across 2 grants (tolerance education initiatives). Friends of United Hatzalah received $131,600 across 5 grants (including Ukraine relief and equipment). These six relationships account for approximately 71% of all documented giving.

Tier 2 — Institutional Partnerships ($10K–$99K): A cluster of organizations receives mid-range grants: Admirals Cove Foundation ($100K), Jewish United Fund ($50K), Britannia Elementary school in Vancouver ($55,450 across 3 grants for wrap-around student/family support), HEROS/Hockey Education Reaching Out Society ($45,000+ across multiple grants), Illinois Holocaust Museum ($20K), Camp Moshava ($20K), Tikva Children's Home ($20K), Born This Way Foundation ($25K for TMHFA training in Chicago high schools), and others. Grants in this tier typically range $10,000–$50,000.

Tier 3 — Individual Scholar Support ($1K–$25K/year): Named scholars receiving direct bursaries and scholarships paid to their universities. Examples: Nia Johnson at Cornell ($21,167 across 5 grants), Kynnedy Smith at Columbia ($9,857), Cameron Hill at Purdue ($12,397), Alexis Harvey at Spelman College ($10,500), and many others. Individual annual scholar payments typically range $5,000–$12,000.

Financial trajectory: grants paid rose from $1.09M (FY2020) to $2.28M (FY2021) to $2.31M (FY2022), with total giving (including non-grant charitable distributions) reaching $3.73M in FY2022. Net investment income of approximately $2.1M–$2.7M annually funds the bulk of grantmaking. Officer compensation was $50,000/year in FY2020–2022, split between Joshua Herrendorf and Suzi Glassman at $25,000 each.

The following table compares Herrendorf Family Foundation to five peer foundations of similar asset size categorized under Education by the NTEE classification system:

Among its asset-class peers, Herrendorf Family Foundation stands out for its unusually transparent program structure — four named programs (We Got You, OWLS, LIVE Summit, Global Leadership Conference) with an active website and Submittable portal make it more accessible than foundations that operate with zero public-facing documentation. Its dual identity as both a Jewish philanthropic institution and a youth leadership development funder is distinctive in this peer set. For grant seekers, HFF's Submittable portal and clear scholar-nomination pathway offer more accessible entry points than most family foundations of equivalent size, despite the formal "preselected only" designation.

No major leadership transitions were reported in 2025-2026 web searches. The foundation's core leadership team — Joshua Herrendorf (President), Kasondra Cohen Herrendorf (VP/Co-CEO), Suzi Glassman (VP), David P. Pogrund (Secretary/Treasurer), and Corey Hardiman (Executive Director of Scholar and Community Impact) — appears stable.

The most significant 2025 developments are programmatic rather than structural. The We Got You program added Professional Success Coaches as a new support pillar, moving beyond tuition and emergency financial assistance into career-readiness mentorship. The HBCU expansion via Hope Dealers Inc. represents the most notable geographic and demographic shift, extending HFF's scholar community beyond its traditional Chicago and Vancouver base into a national HBCU network.

The Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour scholarship partnership was renewed for 2025-2026: $5,000 in scholarships ($1,000 each to 5 scholars), with 3 Playing Scholars continuing from 2025 into 2026, and an additional $10,000 designated for MJT National Championship participation support. This marks at least the third consecutive year of MJT partnership, confirming the foundation's preference for multi-year institutional relationships.

A 2025-2026 Scholar Tuition Portal went live, formalizing the intake process for scholar tuition support requests. The foundation's tax return for 2024 activities was filed February 26, 2025. No major capital campaigns, building projects, or one-time gifts to new organizations were identified in public sources for 2025-2026.

Understand the access model before reaching out. HFF's formal IRS designation is "preselected only" — but the Submittable portal (herrendorffamilyfoundation.submittable.com/submit) and email intake (info@herrendorf.org) exist precisely because the foundation does engage with new partners, primarily through scholar nominations and the We Got You wrap-around support structure. Do not cold-send a generic grant proposal. Do send a specific, scholar-centered inquiry.

Lead with named scholars, not organizational budgets. Virtually every successful grantee relationship in HFF's 990 history is either a named individual (Mikhaila Doyle at Brown, Elijah Senior at Loyola) or a named organization with a clear scholar pipeline (Face of Today Foundation, Britannia Elementary, HEROS). If your organization serves identifiable students who are community leaders pursuing post-secondary education, that is your pitch — not your overhead ratio.

Geographic alignment is non-negotiable. HFF concentrates on Chicago (South and West Side youth programs), Vancouver (BC school-based partnerships), and Israel (humanitarian and Jewish identity causes). If your work is in these geographies, name that explicitly. If it is not, you need a compelling rationale for why HFF's priorities extend to your location.

Speak the foundation's language. The terms "generational resilience," "strategic partnerships," "global change leaders," and "wrap-around support" appear consistently across HFF's communications. Frame your program in this vocabulary — not because it is performative, but because it signals genuine alignment with their theory of change.

The conference is the relationship. The Global Leadership Conference (annual, in-person) is where HFF meets community partners. Attending and meeting Corey Hardiman (Executive Director of Scholar and Community Impact) is likely more effective than any written proposal. Monitor herrendorf.org and Instagram @herrendorffamilyfoundation for event announcements.

Tolerance education organizations: Grants to Simon Wiesenthal Center ($150K), Illinois Holocaust Museum ($20K), and Born This Way Foundation ($25K for high school mental health) indicate openness to education programs that address prejudice, mental health, and hate prevention. These are viable entry points for mission-aligned organizations.

Timing: No public application deadline cycle has been confirmed. The 2025-2026 Scholar Tuition Portal suggests academic-year intake aligned with fall enrollment. Contact info@herrendorf.org in July-August to inquire about the upcoming cycle.