Krfrench Family Foundation

The KRFrench Family Foundation is the private philanthropic vehicle of Kenneth R. French — Roth Family Distinguished Professor of Finance at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and co-creator of the landmark Fama-French factor model — and his wife Vickie A. French. Founded in Etna, New Hampshire in June 2013, the foundation operates with a lean family-governance structure: Kenneth chairs the board and Vickie serves as Treasurer and Secretary, with no paid employees and zero officer compensation. All grant decisions are made by the family, making this one of the most relationship-driven, personal-judgment funding environments in private philanthropy.

This foundation does not accept unsolicited applications. Foundation records classify it as preselected-only, with no published portal, no documented guidelines, and no listed deadlines. Cold outreach — unsolicited LOIs, email inquiries to the foundation address, or online grant applications — is almost certain to be unproductive and may be counterproductive. The database records explicitly note application instructions as none.

The foundation's giving philosophy mirrors Kenneth French's intellectual profile: rigorous, evidence-based institutions, free-market economic research, and high-impact humanitarian service. Every documented major recipient — the Cato Institute, the University of Rochester, Grassroots Soccer, the International Rescue Committee — reflects a personal-relationship-first dynamic. The $5 million naming gifts to University of Rochester (KRFrench Family Scholars Program, 2018) and Lehigh University (2019) demonstrate a preference for transformational institutional partnerships over transactional project grants.

Organizations most likely to enter the French family's orbit share several characteristics: they are research universities or programs with academic merit-based scholarship components; they align philosophically with free markets and individual liberty; or they deliver measurable humanitarian outcomes at scale. Healthcare donations to Dartmouth Hitchcock, Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, and Mass General suggest the Frenches also give locally and to institutions within their personal medical community — likely driven by gratitude and community ties.

The realistic pathway into this foundation's grantmaking is through Kenneth French's professional network: Dartmouth's Tuck School, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the American Finance Association, and finance faculty networks at MIT, Yale, and the University of Chicago — institutions where French has held positions. Development officers at research universities are best served engaging through finance faculty channels. For organizations that do secure a relationship, the foundation tends toward multi-year giving: top grantees have each received two or more grants, with per-installment amounts historically ranging from approximately $58,000 to $451,000.

The KRFrench Family Foundation has grown from $5.6 million in assets (2014) to $40.8 million (2024) — a sevenfold expansion in a decade — fueled by significant family contributions: $11.9 million added in 2022, and $17.6 million added in 2023 alone. Net investment income has tracked this growth, rising from $201K (2014) to $1.35 million (2023).

Annual grantmaking has followed a growth trajectory with significant 2024 acceleration: $527K (2014), $942K (2015), $1.28M (2019), $1.09M (2020), $563K (2021), $701K (2022), $1.38M (2023), and an estimated $6.77M (2024) — the largest single grantmaking year on record, spanning 10 awards. This 2024 step-change likely reflects deployment of the large 2022–2023 asset contributions.

Individual grant sizes have ranged from $586 (minimum historical) to $451,397 (University of Rochester, 2020), with a median around $265,000–$370,000 for the largest documented awards. The 2024 portfolio (10 grants totaling $6.77M) implies an average grant of approximately $677K that year, suggesting at least some very large undisclosed individual awards beyond those surfaced in public data.

Documented 2024 grants include: International Rescue Committee ($410,393), Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health ($267,593), Valpo Surf Project ($265,000), Waynflete School ($219,056), Grassroot Soccer ($186,794), and Lehigh University ($58,833). The 2023 portfolio included Cato Institute ($354,989) and Dartmouth College ($250,000) among 12 awards. In 2022–2020, University of Rochester received $356,428 and $451,397 respectively, with Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital receiving $370,272 in 2020.

By program area, Education is the dominant category, capturing the two largest historical relationships (University of Rochester: $712,856 total across 2 grants; Grassroots Soccer: $316,826 across 2 grants). Policy research (Cato Institute: $309,872 across 2 grants) and healthcare (multiple hospital systems) are secondary pillars. Geographic distribution centers on New Hampshire, New York, and Maine, with Washington DC (Cato Institute) and Massachusetts (Mass General) as secondary markets. The 2024 addition of Waynflete School (Portland, Maine) and Valpo Surf Project signals continued geographic expansion within the northeast.

The KRFrench Family Foundation occupies a specific niche among similarly-sized private family foundations. All peer foundations in the database share a comparable asset tier (approximately $40.8 million) and are classified under the Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category.

Among this peer cohort, the KRFrench Family Foundation stands out for its distinctive intellectual identity and unusually transparent public record. While peer foundations at this asset tier typically maintain minimal disclosures and give to broad local community causes, the Frenches direct giving through an academic-professional lens shaped by Kenneth French's career in quantitative finance. The Cato Institute grants signal libertarian policy alignment uncommon in family philanthropy at this scale; the $5 million naming gifts to research universities signal a preference for institutional legacy partnership over transactional giving. Of these peers, only Shelton Family Foundation and Nova Vista Foundation have publicly identifiable websites, suggesting the KRFrench foundation's low public profile is consistent with standard practice at this tier — though its 990 data is among the more detailed available.

The most consequential recent development is the 2024 grantmaking surge: $6,769,638 awarded across 10 grants, more than quadrupling the prior year's $1.38M total. Documented 2024 recipients include the International Rescue Committee ($410,393), Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health ($267,593), Valpo Surf Project ($265,000), Waynflete School in Portland, Maine ($219,056), Grassroot Soccer ($186,794), and Lehigh University ($58,833). The remaining four 2024 grants are not yet publicly surfaced, but the arithmetic implies at least some very large individual awards not captured in available data.

New 2024 grantees — Valpo Surf Project and Waynflete School — represent geographic and programmatic expansion into Maine and experiential youth programming not previously documented in the foundation's portfolio. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health's $267,593 award deepens the foundation's healthcare giving, adding to prior grants to Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital ($370,272 in 2020) and other hospital systems.

No press releases, social media announcements, or public news coverage of the foundation's 2025–2026 activities could be identified. The foundation maintains an extremely low public profile — no social media accounts, no public grants database, and a website (krfrench.org) currently returning a certificate error suggesting limited active maintenance. Kenneth French remains Chair and Vickie French continues as Treasurer and Secretary; no leadership changes have been documented. The foundation's asset base grew to $40.8M as of FY2024, up from $38.9M in FY2023, reflecting ongoing capitalization through investment returns.

Because the KRFrench Family Foundation operates on a strictly invitation-only basis with no public application process, the following guidance reflects a relationship-first approach rather than a conventional grant application strategy.

Do not cold-apply. The foundation has no published portal, no listed deadlines, and no application instructions. Submitting an unsolicited letter of inquiry or proposal is almost certainly counterproductive. The foundation's records explicitly note no application mechanism exists for external intake.

Build into Kenneth French's professional network first. French maintains active roles at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the American Finance Association, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. University development officers should engage their quantitative finance or economics faculty as relationship intermediaries. Organizations in academic research — particularly economics, finance, and public policy — have the clearest natural connection points.

Lead with impact evidence, not need. Kenneth French is a rigorous quantitative academic. The foundation favors institutions with measurable outcomes and systematic evaluation: Grassroots Soccer uses evidence-based programming (soccer as a vehicle for HIV prevention curricula with published efficacy data); the Cato Institute produces ranked policy research. Any conversation should foreground data, evaluation methodology, and demonstrated results rather than anecdotal impact narratives or service volume claims.

Think in naming-gift terms if you are a university. The two largest known commitments ($5M each to University of Rochester and Lehigh University) both created named scholarship programs. If your institution can offer a meaningful named program at the $5M tier or above, frame any eventual conversation as a legacy partnership — a permanent institutional expression of the French family's values — not an annual gift renewal.

Align explicitly with the three demonstrable pillars. The foundation's giving clusters around: (1) access to higher education for merit-deserving students with financial need; (2) free-market policy research and libertarian thought leadership; (3) high-impact international humanitarian relief and regional healthcare. Organizations outside these three buckets should self-select out regardless of other merits.

Cultivate over 18–24 months before any funding conversation. Top grantees each have two or more grant relationships, indicating sustained engagement over time. Any relationship should be built across multiple interactions — conference sidebars, NBER workshops, campus visits, shared faculty connections — before a funding conversation is appropriate. The goal of early contact is mutual familiarity, not a pitch.