John H And Regina K Scully Foundation

The John H and Regina K Scully Foundation is a deeply personal family philanthropy founded in 2013 (formerly the Scully Memorial Foundation) by technology investor John H. Scully and documentary filmmaker-activist Regina K. Scully. Headquartered in San Rafael, California, the foundation holds $724M in assets as of FY2024 — placing it among the 50 largest private foundations in California — yet its grantmaking philosophy departs radically from foundations of comparable scale.

This is not a foundation seeking new grantees through open RFPs. The foundation explicitly states in its IRS filings that it "makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds." There is no application portal, no published grant guidelines, and no formal LOI process. Giving is tightly concentrated around a small cluster of deeply trusted relationships built over years of personal commitment.

The dominant relationship is with Artemis Rising Foundation, which received $124.3M across five grants — representing 51% of all documented giving. Artemis Rising is directly tied to Regina K. Scully's personal advocacy in gender equity, women's empowerment, and social justice. Making Waves Foundation and Making Waves Academy together received $110.8M across 14 grants for Bay Area education infrastructure serving underserved youth in Richmond, CA.

Outside this concentrated core, the foundation maintains a secondary tier of 80+ smaller grants in the $5,000–$250,000 range, flowing to arts organizations, women's rights groups, environmental causes, and elite university programs across California, New York, Florida, and New Jersey. These smaller grants reflect the personal philanthropic interests of John and Regina Scully and suggest a somewhat more accessible layer of giving for organizations that successfully build a personal connection.

First-time applicants should reframe their strategy entirely: the path to Scully funding runs not through grant portals but through personal relationship — understanding what moves John and Regina Scully, identifying shared networks, and positioning your organization authentically within their lived philanthropic commitments.

The Scully Foundation's grantmaking reveals dramatic year-to-year swings that reflect a highly discretionary, personal approach rather than an institutionalized cycle. Annual grants paid have ranged from $18.0M (FY2020) to $82.5M (FY2019), with FY2023 hitting $70.3M before pulling back to $38.0M in FY2024 — a 45.9% single-year decline.

Total documented portfolio: $241.7M across 92 recorded grants at an average of $2.6M per grant. The median grant sits at approximately $860,000 per the foundation's own filings, but this number is heavily skewed by the extreme concentration at the top of the portfolio:

• Artemis Rising Foundation: $124.3M (51.4% of all giving) across 5 grants
• Making Waves Foundation: $75.9M (31.4%) across 9 grants, covering construction and general support
• Making Waves Academy: $34.9M (14.4%) across 5 grants for general operations

These three recipients alone account for 97.2% of all documented giving. Outside this core, most secondary grants cluster in the $10,000–$250,000 range, with occasional larger outliers (Stanford University: $1.32M; Pittsburgh Arts & Community Foundation: $1.1M across 3 grants; KIPP Bay Area Schools: $600K across 3 grants).

By program area (inferred from grantee purposes): - Education/Youth Development: ~62% ($150M+), anchored by Making Waves - Women's Rights/Gender Equity: ~30% ($72M+), anchored by Artemis Rising - Arts & Culture: ~3% ($7M+), including Academy Museum Foundation, Creative Visions, Creative Time - Environmental/Ocean Conservation: ~1% (Oceana, Everglades Foundation, Coastwatch) - Health/Social Services: ~1% (Child Mind Institute, Good Plus Foundation, Project ALS) - Community/Civic: ~2%, various

Geographic distribution: California dominates with 46 grantees (50%), followed by New York with 26 (28%), DC at 6, Florida at 5, and New Jersey at 4. The Bay Area specifically is the center of gravity for major multi-year investments.

Among foundations with approximately $718–$724M in assets — the peer cohort by size — the Scully Foundation stands out for its extreme giving concentration and family-controlled, invitation-only posture.

The Scully Foundation's $38M in FY2024 giving is broadly in line with the peer group, but its giving concentration is exceptional — 97% to three organizations — compared to peer foundations that typically spread giving across 50–200+ grantees annually. The John A Hartford Foundation, despite comparable assets, runs structured RFP processes in the aging/health space with published deadlines. Arnold Beckman and Meadows both maintain open application windows with formal review processes. The Scully Foundation's purely relational model is unusual at this asset scale and reflects its founders' personal, values-driven approach to philanthropy rather than an institutional mandate.

The most recent publicly available data is from the FY2024 Form 990-PF filed November 5, 2025. Key highlights: total assets grew from $681.2M (FY2023) to $724.0M (FY2024) — a 6.3% increase — despite $38.0M in grants paid. This growth was driven by $20.6M in net investment income and $7.6M in new contributions received, suggesting John or Regina Scully continued to capitalize the foundation with personal funds in 2024.

The FY2024 giving of $38.0M represents a significant deceleration from the FY2023 peak of $70.3M — the sharpest year-over-year drop in the foundation's documented history. This may reflect the completion of a major multi-year commitment phase (particularly to Making Waves, which received nine grants over multiple years for construction and operations), rather than a retreat from giving broadly.

No public press releases, grant announcements, or program launches were identified for 2025–2026 through web research. The foundation maintains no public-facing website (the localnewsmatters.org URL in IRS records resolves to a Bay Area journalism nonprofit, not the foundation), no social media presence, and no media relations program. Lori Kulvin Crawford serves as CFO/Secretary at a $130,000 annual compensation — the sole paid staff member identified in filings. All board members, including John and Regina Scully, serve without compensation.

Because this foundation is explicitly preselected-only, traditional grant-seeking tactics do not apply. The following intelligence is specific to navigating the Scully ecosystem:

Route through Artemis Rising Foundation first. With $124.3M flowing to Artemis Rising across five grants, this re-granting vehicle is the most accessible channel for gender equity, women's leadership, and social justice storytelling organizations. Artemis Rising maintains its own grant programs and application processes — research their current open cycles at artemisrising.org before any other step.

Align specifically with Making Waves' model. The $110.8M investment in Making Waves (Foundation + Academy) signals deep, long-term commitment to college prep education for low-income students of color in the Bay Area. Organizations replicating or partnering on this model — especially in Richmond CA, Newark NJ, or similar Scully-footprint cities — hold the strongest programmatic alignment.

Target the secondary giving tier strategically. The 80+ smaller grants ($5K–$250K) to arts organizations, women's rights groups, and environmental causes reflect Regina and John Scully's personal interests. For arts organizations specifically: the Academy Museum Foundation ($250K, 4 grants), Fractured Atlas ($100K), and Creative Time ($59.5K, 2 grants) suggest a preference for organizations at the intersection of art and social impact rather than traditional fine arts institutions.

Map board connections before any outreach. The foundation's named officers — John Scully, Regina K. Scully, Kenneth J. Blum, Eli Weinberg, and Ronald A. Cohan — represent a tractable relationship network. A warm introduction through any shared board member or trusted advisor is worth more than any proposal document.

Monitor 990 filings annually. New grantees appear in IRS filings typically published each November on ProPublica. Tracking first-time grantees year over year can reveal emerging relationships and opening directions before they become public knowledge.

Never submit unsolicited requests. IRS filings explicitly confirm the foundation does not consider them. Any unsolicited contact will not be reviewed and risks creating a lasting negative impression.