Lawrie Family Foundation

The Lawrie Family Foundation is a small, closely-held private foundation controlled entirely by its two trustees, J. Michael Lawrie — former Chairman, President and CEO of DXC Technology and CSC, and current founder/CEO of The Lawrie Group and TLG Capital Management — and his wife Kimberley R. Lawrie. With roughly $9.1-9.2M in assets and total charitable disbursements averaging $300,000-$475,000 per year, this is fundamentally a vehicle for the Lawries' personal philanthropic relationships rather than a grantmaking program soliciting broad applications. Its own recent Form 990-PF filings state it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations," and no database record shows published guidelines, an LOI process, or a deadline — a strong signal that unsolicited proposals face long odds.

The clearest pattern in the 27 grants tracked in the underlying data ($1.5M total) is loyalty to institutions tied to Mike Lawrie's personal biography. Drexel University alone has received 8 grants totaling $568,750 (37.9% of all tracked giving), funding the "Lawrie Advanced Global Leadership Program" he personally launched at Drexel's LeBow College of Business in 2018, where he also serves as a trustee, plus a named scholarship fund and a case-study fund honoring Professor George Tsetsekos. The Kennedy Center ($402,000 across 6 grants, largely "Sustainability Fund" and membership-style gifts) reflects arts patronage. A $433,423 flow to Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund is a donor-advised-fund contribution, not a direct program grant — meaning a meaningful share of "giving" never reaches an outside applicant at all. Smaller, local grants (Neighborhood House Club, Mount Desert Nursing Association) track to the family's presence near Northeast Harbor/Mount Desert Island, Maine.

For first-time applicants: this is not a cold-application funder. The realistic path in is a warm introduction — through Drexel LeBow's network, DXC/CSC executive circles, Palm Beach or Mount Desert Island community ties, or organizations already serving mental-health causes (the Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation has received $12,500 across 3 grants) or Ohio University (Mike Lawrie's undergraduate alma mater, $55,000 via a named scholarship fund). Absent such a relationship, expect no response to a standard letter of inquiry.

Across the ten fiscal years captured in the underlying data (2011-2023) plus a 2024 filing located via ProPublica, giving has been narrow and essentially flat: grants_paid was $409,000 (2019), $397,250 (2020), $300,923 (2021), $402,000 (2022), $352,500 (2023), and $338,217 in charitable disbursements for FY2024 — a five-year band of roughly $300K-$475K, down from the 2019 peak. Total assets have fallen steadily from $12.8M (2019) to $9.1M (2024), a ~29% decline driven by investment losses (FY2024 revenue was -$378,443, including -$456,281 in asset-sale losses) rather than by increased giving — the foundation has received no new contributions since a $2M gift in 2019.

Grant size: across the 27-grant historical sample, median award is $16,000 and average is $33,104 (skewed upward by outliers), with the smallest single gift $500 (Rockend Inc) and typical awards capping near $125,000 per the platform's typical_grant_size field; Instrumentl separately reports 2024 activity of 7 grants totaling $303,000 with a range of $2,500-$185,000. This is consistent with a foundation making a handful of large, recurring commitments rather than many small one-off gifts.

By recipient, funding is heavily concentrated: Drexel University accounts for 37.9% of total tracked dollars ($568,750 of $1,502,173), Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund (a donor-advised-fund pass-through) 28.9% ($433,423), and the Kennedy Center 26.8% ($402,000) — these three recipients alone represent over 93% of all tracked giving, leaving under 7% (about $67,000) spread across five smaller grantees: Ohio University Foundation, Neighborhood House Club, the Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation, Mount Desert Nursing Association, and Rockend Inc. Geographically, by grant count the data shows Pennsylvania (8 grants, Drexel), DC (6, Kennedy Center), Maine (5, local causes near the family's summer residence), New York (4, Goldman Sachs/NYC), Illinois (3), and Ohio (1) — matching the foundation's own stated geographic focus of PA, DC, and ME. By cause area, this reads as roughly 50%+ higher-education/scholarship funding, about 27% arts and culture, and the remainder split between health/mental-health causes and local community services.

The Lawrie Family Foundation sits in a cluster of similarly sized private foundations near $9.2M in assets — but asset size is nearly the only trait it shares with these database-matched "peers," most of which disclose no active or public grant program either.

All six foundations share the same NTEE "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" classification and cluster within roughly $2,500 of one another in total assets — an artifact of asset-proximity matching rather than genuine programmatic similarity. Seed Fund Grants Inc. is the one peer with a public-facing website (seedfundgrants.org), suggesting a more conventional application process, while Lawrie and the remaining peers show no evidence of published guidelines. The practical takeaway for applicants: foundations in this asset bracket are frequently closely-held family vehicles, and each should be checked individually for a live grants portal before investing time in outreach, since most, like Lawrie, likely fund only through personal relationships.

No 2025-2026 news coverage, press releases, or grant announcements for the Lawrie Family Foundation surfaced in web search — this is a low-visibility family foundation that does not issue public communications, and the website listed as its own in most third-party directories (lawrie.org) does not actually belong to the foundation; it resolves to an unrelated freelance web developer's personal portfolio site. The most current verifiable data comes from the foundation's FY2024 Form 990-PF via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: net assets of $9,145,207, charitable disbursements of $338,217 (88.1% of $384,079 in total expenses), and a continued decline in assets amid investment losses (-$456,281 in asset sales, partly offset by $76,755 in dividend income). Instrumentl separately logs 7 grants totaling $303,000 for 2024, in line with the foundation's historical range.

The last identifiable programmatic milestone is J. Michael Lawrie's 2018 launch of the Lawrie Advanced Global Leadership Program at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business, which continues to operate and receive foundation support (case-study and scholarship funds tied to Professor George Tsetsekos), and remains the foundation's single largest and most durable commitment. Lawrie's other public roles — founder/CEO of The Lawrie Group LLC and TLG Capital Management, and former Chairman/CEO of DXC Technology (2019-2020) and CSC (2012-2017) — have not produced any announced new philanthropic vehicle or expanded foundation activity as of mid-2026. Absent a triggering event such as a liquidity event, board change, or newly named program, expect the foundation's giving to stay flat-to-declining and concentrated in its existing three anchor relationships (Drexel University, the Kennedy Center, and a Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund donor-advised account).

1. Do not apply cold. The foundation's own IRS filings state it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations," and the application_instructions field on record is explicitly empty — no database (IRS, ProPublica, Candid, GuideStar, Instrumentl, Cause IQ) shows a published LOI process, portal, or deadline. Standard unsolicited outreach has essentially no track record of success with this funder.

2. The highest-odds path is an existing tie to Mike or Kimberley Lawrie's personal network: Drexel University's LeBow College of Business (especially anything touching the Lawrie Advanced Global Leadership Program or Professor George Tsetsekos), Ohio University (Mike Lawrie's undergraduate alma mater), the Kennedy Center's membership/patron circles, or Palm Beach, FL and Northeast Harbor/Mount Desert Island, ME community organizations where the family maintains residences.

3. If your organization works in bipolar disorder or mental health, note the multi-year relationship with the Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation ($12,500 across 3 grants) — a plausible signal of a personal or family interest in this cause area worth referencing only if you have a genuine connection.

4. Frame any outreach around named funds and recognition, not general operating asks — nearly every grant on record ties to a specific named fund (e.g., "J.Michael Lawrie Fund," "J.Michael Lawrie Global Scholarship Fund," "Sustainability Fund") rather than an unrestricted grant to an unfamiliar organization. This foundation funds legacy and naming opportunities more than general programs.

5. Do not confuse lawrie.org, listed as the foundation's website in most directories, with an actual grants page — it belongs to an unrelated individual (a freelance web developer) and contains no foundation content. Treat the absence of a verifiable public application channel as a hard signal, not a data gap to work around.

6. Given the shrinking asset base (down from $12.8M in 2019 to $9.1M in 2024) and no new contributions since 2019, do not expect this foundation to expand its grantee roster — total disbursements have been essentially flat to declining for five straight years.

7. Because Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, a donor-advised fund, received $433,423 across 4 grants, some of what appears as "Lawrie Family Foundation giving" is actually re-granted through a DAF at the family's discretion — a further sign that new outside organizations are unlikely to be added directly.

8. The most realistic move for an unconnected nonprofit is to build a genuine relationship with Drexel LeBow, Ohio University advancement, or Kennedy Center development offices, since those are the demonstrated channels through which this foundation's money actually flows.