I-Rise Foundation

I-Rise Foundation is a small, closely held family foundation run entirely by Dean A. Stoecker (President) and Angela Stoecker (CFO), both drawing $0 compensation — a hallmark of a personally funded vehicle rather than a staffed grantmaking institution. Dean Stoecker co-founded and led Alteryx, the Irvine-based data-analytics company, as CEO/Chairman until 2020; that background shows up directly in the foundation's grantee roster. With only 20 recorded grants totaling $1,457,590 since its 2017 IRS ruling, this is a low-volume, high-conviction funder, not an open RFP shop: the foundation's own database record marks it 'preselected_only,' and there is no listed application form, LOI process, or published deadline. The foundation's live website, irisefoundation.org, is literally still under construction ('very soon you will be able to browse our website'), reinforcing that public solicitation is not how this funder currently operates. Grant seekers should not expect an online portal — outreach through Orange County philanthropic networks, board connections, or warm introductions tied to STEM/tech-workforce education is the realistic path in.

The grantee pattern shows the Stoeckers favor deep, repeat relationships over one-off gifts: Samueli Academy (a STEM-focused Orange County charter high school) has received 3 grants totaling $550,000, and Vital Link received 4 grants totaling $350,000 — together 62% of all recorded giving. Both align tightly with a tech founder's interest in the STEM/workforce pipeline. Udacity, an online tech-skills platform, received a single $100,000 grant, further underscoring the tech-education thesis. Laura's House (domestic violence support, $250,000 across 3 grants) and Orangewood Foundation (foster-youth services) show the foundation also supports Orange County safety-net organizations, likely reflecting personal or board relationships rather than a programmatic RFP.

First-time applicants should treat this as a relationship-first funder: identify a genuine STEM-education, workforce-development, or Orange County nonprofit connection, seek an introduction rather than a cold application, and be prepared to build a multi-year partnership case, since the data shows repeat, escalating support to trusted grantees rather than one-time grants to new organizations.

Across the 20 grants on record, I-Rise Foundation has distributed $1,457,590 total, averaging $72,880 per grant. The foundation's own typical-grant-size metric (calculated across 6 distinct grant records) shows a median of $62,500 and a mean of $85,000, with a floor of $10,000 and a ceiling of $250,000 — a wide range reflecting willingness to make both modest one-off gifts (School of Arts and Culture, $5,000; One Tree Planted, $5,000) and large multi-year commitments (Samueli Academy, $550,000 across 3 grants).

By purpose, STUDENTS/EDUCATION dominates: Samueli Academy ($550,000), Vital Link ($350,000), Udacity ($100,000), and School of Arts and Culture ($5,000) combine for $1,005,000 — roughly 69% of all recorded giving. Youth-focused programming (Discovery Cube Orange County, $105,000, and Orangewood Foundation, $66,800) adds another 12%. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT (Laura's House, $250,000) accounts for 17%, CHILDREN/HEALTH (Roosters Foundation, $25,790) for roughly 2%, and ENVIRONMENT (One Tree Planted, $5,000) under 1%. Geographically, 19 of 20 grants (95%) went to California organizations, almost entirely in Orange County; the single Vermont grant is the outlier.

Annual giving has been volatile with a possible step-change ahead. Total giving ran $124,293 (FY2019), $333,097 (FY2020), $571,051 (FY2021, the peak year), $546,305 (FY2022), and $234,561 (FY2023) — grants_paid over the same years ran $90,500 to $510,000. FY2024 shows no total_giving figure reported yet, but total assets roughly doubled year over year, from $3,979,368 (FY2023) to $9,121,382 (FY2024), while total revenue jumped to $5,355,298 from a prior run-rate of roughly $100,000-$150,000/year. That spike lines up with the March 19, 2024 close of Alteryx's $4.4 billion take-private sale to Clearlake Capital Group and Insight Partners — Stoecker, Alteryx's co-founder and then-Executive Chairman, held roughly 49% of voting power going into that deal — suggesting a fresh capital infusion that could support materially larger giving in FY2025-2026, though this has not yet been confirmed in a public 990 filing.

All six foundations sit within a remarkably tight $9.12M-$9.13M asset band, likely reflecting a cohort of similarly capitalized single-family foundations tracked together in the same NTEE category rather than any coordinated giving strategy. Notably, three of I-Rise's five peers (Irions, Elpis, Hand) maintain live public websites describing their work, while I-Rise's own site remains a placeholder — making I-Rise comparatively the least discoverable of this peer set despite similar asset capacity. For grant seekers, this reinforces that I-Rise's asset size is unremarkable among small California/national family foundations, but its low grant count (20 total since 2017) suggests either a narrower giving mandate to date or a foundation still ramping toward larger-scale distribution as its capital base grows.

Web searches for 'I-Rise Foundation' news in 2025-2026 surfaced no foundation-specific press coverage, award announcements, or leadership changes — consistent with a quiet, closely held family foundation that does not issue press releases. The foundation's website, irisefoundation.org, remains an under-construction placeholder as of July 2026 ('very soon you will be able to browse our website and become part of the iRise community'), pointing only to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube accounts rather than programmatic content.

Note for grant seekers: a similarly named but entirely distinct organization, 'I Rise Foundation' (irisefoundation.com), operates in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, delivering direct after-school STEM, robotics, and arts programming to at-risk and Native American youth. That organization is a program-delivery nonprofit, not this grantmaking foundation, and should not be confused with it when researching funding history or contacts.

The most consequential recent development is financial rather than programmatic: I-Rise Foundation's total assets nearly doubled between FY2023 ($3,979,368) and FY2024 ($9,121,382), and total revenue jumped to $5,355,298 from a historical run-rate near $100,000-$150,000/year. This timing coincides with the March 19, 2024 closing of Alteryx's $4.4 billion take-private acquisition by Clearlake Capital Group and Insight Partners — a deal in which foundation president Dean Stoecker, Alteryx's co-founder and then-Executive Chairman, held approximately 49% of voting power. No 990 filing yet confirms a resulting increase in grantmaking, but the capital base is now roughly double what it was when the foundation made its largest historical gifts.

Given the foundation's own record lists application_instructions as blank/none and flags it 'preselected_only,' the single most important tip is: do not submit a cold, unsolicited application through a web form — none exists. Contact information on file is limited to a phone number, (714) 516-2400, and a mailing address (50 Golden Eagle, Irvine, CA 92603) addressed to 'Dean A Stoecker' — treat this as a direct-to-principal relationship, not an intake office.

Because the officer team is unpaid (both Dean and Angela Stoecker show $0 compensation) and the foundation makes only a handful of grants per year, expect a founder-driven, conviction-based decision process rather than a committee review cycle with published timelines. Given the strong pattern toward STEM/tech-workforce nonprofits (Udacity, Vital Link, Samueli Academy) and Orange County-based organizations, applicants furthest from that thesis geographically or programmatically face the steepest odds; organizations working in Orange County youth STEM education, workforce readiness, or after-school programming are the closest fit.

Concrete steps to improve odds: - Lead with outcomes data tied to STEM/tech skill-building or workforce pipelines — the kind of measurable, data-driven case a former analytics-software CEO would find credible. - Seek a warm introduction through Orange County philanthropic or business networks rather than a cold letter. - Note the pattern of escalating repeat support: Samueli Academy and Vital Link each received 3-4 grants over time. Cultivating a relationship after an initial smaller gift appears to be the real path to $250,000-scale support, not a single large first ask. - Do not assume the foundation is actively soliciting broad public applications: aggregator flags like 'accepting applications' typically reflect IRS grantmaker status, not an open call for proposals. - Given the FY2024 asset surge, 2025-2026 may be a window of expanded capacity — but confirm current appetite via direct outreach before investing in a full proposal, since no updated public application process has been posted.