Learning Pathways Foundation Inc.

Learning Pathways Foundation Inc. is a small, closed-door family philanthropy, not a program office that fields proposals. Its Form 990-PF checks the box stating it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications for funds," and Granted's own data confirms there is no application form URL, no posted deadline, and no application instructions on file (the field reads "__none__"). President Richard Hoffman is the sole listed officer across every filing year captured, drawing no compensation — a strong signal this is a personally-directed vehicle, likely funded and steered by one family or individual, rather than a staffed grantmaking institution with program officers.

The giving pattern reinforces this. Of the largest documented grants, $1,000,000 across four installments went to New York University and $145,000 across four installments went to the University of Maryland School of Medicine, both flagged "RESTRICTED" — consistent with a multi-year pledge to a specific program, chair, scholarship, or research fund rather than general operating support. Towson University Foundation received two small unrestricted gifts totaling $2,000 (plus a $1,000 gift under a near-duplicate "Touson University Foundation" entry, likely a data-entry variant of the same relationship), suggesting incidental, symbolic local giving alongside the two anchor commitments.

For any organization other than NYU or UMD's medical school, the realistic path in is not a cold letter of inquiry — it's a warm introduction to Richard Hoffman or whoever currently directs the foundation, or being adopted as a new "preselected" beneficiary through an existing board or family connection. Organizations affiliated with NYU or the University of Maryland School of Medicine should route through their institutional advancement/major-gifts offices, which likely already manage this relationship. Baltimore-region nonprofits with a credible link to Towson University or the broader Lutherville/Towson community have the next-best shot, given the existing small local gift, though at token dollar levels. Expect any relationship, once established, to run multi-year and installment-based rather than single lump-sum — plan any invited proposal around a 3-4 year restricted-use pledge structure, matching the NYU and UMD patterns already on file.

Total assets stood at $9,823,561 as of the most recent enrichment (2026-07-20), down from a peak of $11,157,961 in FY2019 and $11,150,683 in FY2020 — roughly a 12% contraction over three years, driven partly by a sharp FY2023 investment loss (total revenue of -$662,588 against $678,770 in qualifying distributions that year, meaning the foundation paid out more than it earned and drew down principal). Despite that, grants_paid has climbed almost every year on record: $25,000 (FY2011) to $65,000 (FY2012) to $75,000 (FY2013) to $94,000 (FY2014) to $210,415 (FY2015) to $281,000 (FY2019/FY2020) to $291,000 (FY2022) to $302,400 (FY2023) — roughly a twelvefold increase over twelve years, tracking the asset base's growth from $820,122 in FY2011. The step-change between FY2013 ($75,000) and FY2015 ($210,415) lines up with a $3,588,200 contribution the foundation received in FY2014 (versus tens of thousands in typical annual revenue) — almost certainly the seed gift that took total assets from $1.4M to $5M and set the foundation on its larger giving trajectory.

Reported "total_giving" (qualifying distributions, $678,770-$732,559/year since 2019) consistently runs well above "grants_paid" ($281,000-$302,400/year), a gap of roughly $400,000/year likely reflecting multi-year pledge accounting, administrative/operating costs, or set-asides rather than new cash reaching new grantees — a reminder that the headline "giving" figure overstates funds available for new relationships.

Within the documented grantee data (11 total grants across the largest recipients, $1,148,000 combined, average $104,364/grant), concentration is extreme and geographically split: Maryland recipients account for 7 of 11 grants but a small share of dollars (Towson's $3,000 combined across two entries), while the sole New York recipient, NYU, accounts for 4 of 11 grants but 87% of documented dollar volume ($1,000,000 of $1,148,000). University of Maryland Medical School represents the remaining 13% ($145,000). Practically, this foundation is not diversifying across many causes — it is sustaining two large, restricted, multi-year institutional commitments in higher education and medical research/education, plus token local giving, a pattern unlikely to free up significant new capacity for other applicants.

Granted's peer-matching data returned no comparable named foundations for this record, so the table below benchmarks Learning Pathways Foundation Inc. against general categories of similarly-sized private foundations using IRS/990-PF norms, rather than fabricating specific peer names and figures that cannot be verified.

At $9.8M in assets, Learning Pathways sits in the smallest tier of private foundations Granted tracks, but its concentration on two institutions rather than a broad regional or cause-based portfolio, plus its "preselected only" 990 designation, puts its behavior closer to a university-affiliated giving vehicle than to a conventional community or family foundation with published guidelines. Unlike most peers its size, which at minimum publish a contact point or loose funding areas, Learning Pathways has no public mission statement, no NTEE classification, and no application portal on file — making it one of the least accessible foundations in its asset class for an outside applicant.

No news coverage, press releases, or media mentions of Learning Pathways Foundation Inc. surfaced in any of the four searches conducted (grant announcements, application guidance, general news, funding priorities) — expected for a foundation this size with an uncompensated, single-officer structure and no communications function. The website on file, learningpathways.org, does not belong to this foundation at all: it resolves to an unrelated UK-based private tutoring business ("Bespoke Tutoring Services For Your Child") with no reference to grants, philanthropy, or Richard Hoffman — a data/domain mismatch grant seekers should know about before attempting outreach through that site.

The most recent verifiable activity is financial rather than editorial. The foundation's FY2023 Form 990-PF (the latest reflected in the financials reviewed) shows grants_paid of $302,400, up from $291,000 in FY2022 and $285,000 in FY2021, continuing a decade-long upward trend even as total assets fell to $9,011,472 (990-reported) amid a -$662,588 investment loss that year. ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer lists a filing for the fiscal year ending December 2024 as the most recent on record, though its full text was not retrievable via automated fetch at the time of this research; a manual pull of that filing would be the single best way to confirm whether the NYU/UMD Medical School installment pattern continued into FY2024, and whether Richard Hoffman remains the sole officer. No leadership changes were identified in any source reviewed — Hoffman appears as President across every filing year captured in Granted's data.

The single most important fact for any prospective applicant: Learning Pathways Foundation Inc. checks the 990-PF box stating it accepts no unsolicited applications and gives only to preselected organizations, and Granted's records confirm there is no deadline, no application form, and no published instructions. Treat a cold letter of inquiry or grant proposal as very unlikely to be read, let alone funded — this is not a case of hard-to-find guidelines, it is a foundation that has structurally opted out of an open process.

Given that, the realistic strategies are:

• Work the existing relationships. If your organization is New York University (or a unit within it), or the University of Maryland School of Medicine, your institutional advancement/major-gifts office is almost certainly the entity that already manages this donor relationship — loop in that office rather than approaching the foundation directly.
• Look for the personal connection. With Richard Hoffman as the sole, uncompensated officer across every filing year on record, this reads as a personally-directed family foundation. Any pathway in runs through a genuine relationship with Hoffman or another family/board member, not through marketing materials or a submission portal.
• Match the giving structure if a conversation does start. Existing grants to NYU and UMD Medical School are "RESTRICTED" and paid in level installments (four payments each), suggesting the foundation prefers funding a specific named program, chair, fellowship, or research initiative over several years rather than one-time general operating gifts. If invited to propose, frame the ask as a 3-4-year restricted commitment tied to a concrete, named use of funds.
• Consider the local/regional angle. The foundation's only other documented giving — two small unrestricted gifts to Towson University Foundation totaling $2,000 — suggests some willingness to make token gifts to Baltimore/Towson-area higher-ed institutions. A credible, modest, regionally-rooted ask tied to Towson or the broader Lutherville community may be the most plausible opening for a new, unaffiliated organization, though the dollar amounts on file are small.
• Common mistake to avoid: don't rely on the listed website (learningpathways.org) for contact information — it belongs to an unrelated tutoring company, not this foundation. Use the phone number on file, (410) 344-7110, or the mailing address (PO Box 6097, Lutherville, MD 21094-6097) for any direct outreach, and expect no response absent a warm introduction.