Jobson Family Foundation

The Jobson Family Foundation operates as a private invitation-only trust founded in June 2018 and headquartered in Wellesley, Massachusetts (39 Livingston Rd, ZIP 02482). Led by trustees Charles E. Jobson and Donna M. Farrell — both of whom serve without compensation — the foundation gives expression to a specific personal conviction: that children have a fundamental right to free, unstructured play in natural environments.

The foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals. This is confirmed by the foundation's own website ("We do not currently accept unsolicited grant proposals"), its 990 filings showing no formal application process, and its classification as preselected-only in multiple philanthropic databases. All grant relationships are initiated by the trustees through their own research, site visits, and personal networks within the natural play movement, environmental education circles, and Boston-area philanthropy.

The foundation's giving philosophy is most legible through its flagship investment: 31 grants totaling $11.7 million to Colene Hoose Elementary School in Normal, Illinois for construction and programming of the Ilse and Charles Jobson Natural Play Park, designed by Danish landscape architect Helle Nebelong. This single project accounts for 97.8% of total documented grantmaking and reveals a preference for deep, sustained partnership over broad competitive grants. The trustees are not passive donors — they co-travel with educators to Copenhagen to study park design, make personal site visits, and remain engaged with the park's artistic and horticultural development across years.

A secondary giving stream, rooted in Wellesley, Massachusetts, supports educational institutions serving economically disadvantaged youth (Epiphany School, Boston), women's leadership (Wellesley College, $76,000 in three grants), STEM and experiential learning (Newton Country Day School, Massachusetts College of Art, Fessenden School), and international education access (Caravan to Class, Child's Dream in Thailand and Cambodia). These secondary grants range from $2,000 to $76,000 and reflect the trustees' local philanthropic relationships.

First-time prospective grantees should not expect a formal pathway. The effective approach is to make your organization visible within the trustees' real networks: at natural playground convenings, through practitioners connected to Helle Nebelong's international circle, and through Boston-area educational philanthropy. Direct, low-formality contact via jobsonfoundation@gmail.com or Charlie Jobson's LinkedIn can open doors, but only for organizations with genuine alignment to the foundation's specific philosophy — not generic educational or community health framing.

The Jobson Family Foundation's grantmaking is defined by extreme concentration in a single flagship project. Of 48 total documented grants totaling $11,991,377, Colene Hoose Elementary School in Normal, Illinois has received 31 grants totaling $11,724,377 — representing 97.8% of total documented dollars. The remaining 17 grants to 9 other organizations account for approximately $267,000 combined, averaging roughly $15,700 per secondary grant.

Grant size varies dramatically by recipient type. The Colene Hoose grants average $378,207 each, reflecting sustained capital and programming investment in the park. For all other grantees, awards range from $250 (smallest recorded) to $76,000 (Wellesley College, women's leadership), with individual grants to Newton Country Day School ($35,000 across three grants), Animal Rescue Foundation ($60,000 across two), New York University ($50,000), and Caravan to Class ($25,000). The database reports a portfolio-wide median grant of $28,605 and average of $268,051 — both heavily skewed by the Colene Hoose outlier.

Annual grants paid have grown substantially: $1.1M in FY2019, $1.6M in FY2020, $2.1M in FY2021, $4.5M in FY2022 (peak), and $3.0M in FY2023. Total assets have declined from a peak of $43.3M (FY2020) to $29.2M (FY2023), as distributions have consistently outpaced net investment income. FY2023 net investment income was $619,613 against $3.0M in grants paid — indicating deliberate principal drawdown rather than an endowment-preservation model.

Geographically, 64.6% of grant count flows to Illinois (31 of 48), driven entirely by Colene Hoose. Massachusetts accounts for 22.9% (11 grants), California 6.3% (3), Vermont 4.2% (2), and New York 2.1% (1). On a dollar basis, Illinois receives ~97.8% of total documented giving, with Massachusetts a distant second at ~1.4% (~$167,000).

By focus area: natural play and outdoor environment (~98% of dollars), general education (~1.5%), animal rescue (~0.5%), and arts/media/music (<0.1%). The foundation does not publish a geographic restriction policy, but giving history is driven by trustee relationships rather than geographic mandates.

The Jobson Family Foundation's five closest asset-size peers — all classified under NTEE T90 (Philanthropy & Grantmaking) with assets in the $32.8M range — share a similar financial profile but offer limited public transparency.

The Jobson Foundation stands apart from its peer cohort in two significant ways. First, it has a substantively defined and publicly articulated mission — children's rights to free play and nature connection — whereas peer foundations at this asset level typically operate as general vehicles without programmatic specificity. Second, the Jobson Foundation maintains a functional website with documented projects, an active Instagram presence, and published contact information, making it more approachable (though not more open to applications) than comparable private trusts.

The foundation's FY2023 payout rate of approximately 10.3% of assets (grants paid as a share of total assets) substantially exceeds the legally mandated 5% minimum for private foundations, confirming an active distribution posture and suggesting that trustees prioritize mission impact over asset preservation at current levels.

The most significant recent activity centers on the ongoing stewardship of the Ilse and Charles Jobson Natural Play Park at Colene Hoose Elementary School in Normal, Illinois — the foundation's $11.7M flagship investment and the defining expression of its grantmaking philosophy.

In March 2025, Robin Brailsford, the artist who created the fish river mosaic at the park, passed away on March 9. Foundation leadership traveled to Normal, Illinois to visit the park and personally celebrate his life and birthday. This response demonstrates the trustees' hands-on relationship with every artistic and creative element of the project.

In July 2025, Danish landscape architect Helle Nebelong — designer of the Jobson park — visited U.S. school playgrounds including the Jobson park during an American tour. Her ongoing visits underline the foundation's sustained partnership with world-class natural play design practitioners.

In August 2024, educators from the Bloomington-Normal, Illinois area traveled to Copenhagen — a trip that appears to have been supported or organized through foundation connections — to study natural playground design. They met with Helle Nebelong in Denmark and toured her Copenhagen parks, suggesting the foundation is investing in community capacity-building beyond the original park construction.

Also in 2024, the foundation completed installation of new entrance signage and commemorative medallions at the Jobson park, with medallion designs matching coins distributed to children at the original opening — a detail reflecting the trustees' care for community memory and project continuity.

No new program announcements, leadership changes, or grant application openings have been identified for 2025-2026. The most recent public 990 on file covers FY2023.

The single most important fact for any prospective grantee: the Jobson Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals and has no application cycle, portal, or RFP process. The foundation's website explicitly states this, and no submission mechanism of any kind exists. Organizations that send formal proposal packets without a pre-existing trustee relationship will receive no response.

For natural play and environmental education organizations: The foundation's entire giving philosophy flows from Charles E. Jobson's personal commitment to the natural playground movement. Organizations building school-based natural play environments — especially in underserved communities — should seek visibility through natural playground convenings, via practitioners in Helle Nebelong's international network, and through organizations the foundation curates on its Resources page: Green Schoolyards America and Project Learning Tree. Being present in these communities is more valuable than any written application.

For Massachusetts educational organizations: The secondary giving stream targets institutions near Wellesley, MA, serving economically disadvantaged youth, women's leadership, and experiential STEM learning. If your institution operates in this geographic and thematic space, identify warm introductions through Wellesley-area funders, peer institutions such as Epiphany School or Newton Country Day School, or shared professional networks.

Direct outreach approach: The foundation's email (jobsonfoundation@gmail.com) and Charlie Jobson's LinkedIn are legitimate contact points. An effective first message runs 3-5 sentences: a specific reference to something the foundation has funded or shared publicly (the park, a recent Instagram post, the Copenhagen educator trip), a brief concrete description of your organization's natural play or related educational work, and an invitation to connect — not a funding request. Avoid formal cover letters and do not attach a proposal.

Language alignment: Use the foundation's own framing: "children's rights to free play," "independent activity," "connection to the natural environment," "natural play spaces," "unstructured outdoor experience." Avoid generic grant-speak such as "youth development outcomes" or "educational equity" unless directly anchored to outdoor/nature-based programming.

Timing: No deadline or review cycle exists; the foundation gives year-round at trustee discretion. Given declining assets (from $43.3M in FY2020 to $29.2M in FY2023), organizations should not delay relationship-building on the assumption the foundation will remain at current giving levels indefinitely.