Leever Foundation Inc.

The Leever Foundation is a place-based, equity-driven family foundation that has been actively grantmaking in Waterbury, Connecticut since 1991. Under CEO Saran White — appointed in December 2018 — the foundation has made a decisive pivot away from conventional philanthropy toward a community power-building model that centers racial justice, BILPOC leadership, and systems-level change. White's compensation of $169,274 in FY2023 signals that this is a professionally staffed foundation, not a passive checkbook operation.

The foundation's giving philosophy rests on five public principles — equity, courage, community collaboration, integrity, and abundance — with particular emphasis on courage, captured in its internal motto: "Have the guts to fail." This ethos signals genuine openness to risk-taking organizations pursuing bold, untested approaches to entrenched structural inequities.

The foundation operates three distinct grant streams, each with a different access model. The Resilience of Grassroots program (spring, invitation-only) targets hyper-local neighborhood initiatives and requires a prior exploratory conversation with staff before any formal application. The Planning & Building for Social Justice grant (spring/summer, open RFP) distributes up to $100,000 total across multiple organizations annually and is the primary, and typically only, entry point for first-time applicants. The Transforming Systemic Inequality grant (fall) offers up to $40,000 per organization with potential three-year renewal — but recent cycles have shifted toward Adaptive Continuity Grants for existing portfolio partners rather than open competition.

For first-time applicants, PBSJ is the strategic entry point. The process begins with a mandatory 15-minute eligibility survey and requires attendance at a 45-minute orientation webinar — both hard gates with their own separate deadlines. Organizations with budgets between $150,000 and $2,000,000 are the sweet spot; below $150,000 requires a fiscal sponsor; above $2,000,000 requires demonstrated collaborative work with grassroots entities.

The foundation's 2025 shift to Adaptive Continuity Grants for established partners signals that building a multi-year relationship — starting with a modest PBSJ award — is the most reliable path into the higher-value, trust-based TSI portfolio.

From FY2019 to FY2023, the Leever Foundation maintained annual total giving between $821,309 (FY2022) and $991,779 (FY2023), with an earlier peak of $1,242,961 in FY2015. Total assets have declined from $18.7M (FY2015) to $13.96M (FY2023) — a reduction of roughly 25% — reflecting periods where spending exceeded investment returns, particularly during the COVID-19 years when community need surged.

A notable structural distinction exists between "total giving" and "grants paid" in the 990 data. In FY2023, total giving was $991,779 but grants paid to external organizations were $495,250. This gap reflects the foundation's direct program expenses: in-kind contractor work, technical assistance, and capacity-building costs that flow through the foundation rather than directly to grantees as cash. Actual cash grants paid ranged from $355,279 (FY2022) to $598,175 (FY2020) over the recent five-year window.

Among 108 tracked grants totaling $1,415,281, the average grant is $13,104 and the median is $5,000 — reflecting a two-tier structure. A small cohort of anchor relationships receives multi-grant, multi-year support: Neighborhood Housing Services of Waterbury ($233,511 across 3 grants), United Way of Greater Waterbury ($123,500 across 3 grants), Connecticut Community Foundation ($111,252 across 3 grants), Save Girls On Fyer Inc. ($100,209 across 2 grants), and Waterbury Symphony Orchestra ($90,000 single grant). A larger population of community organizations receives modest annual grants of $3,000–$15,000.

The TSI program is capped at $40,000 per award; PBSJ distributes $100,000 total across all awardees in a cycle, suggesting individual PBSJ awards typically run $10,000–$25,000 per recipient. The largest single documented grant on record is $90,000 to the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra's BRAVO program.

Geographically, 92 of 107 tracked grants (86%) went to Connecticut-based organizations. Eight went to Massachusetts-based entities, with scattered individual grants to DC, Iowa, California, and Vermont — all likely network partnerships rather than geographic scope expansion. Thematically, funding concentrates in youth development and education, community organizing and housing, arts and culture, health, and basic needs/social services.

The Leever Foundation's IRS EO BMF-reported asset figure of $22.7M differs from the most recent Form 990 value of $13.96M (FY2023) — likely reflecting different reporting dates or asset valuations. Database peers are matched on the BMF figure; the table uses available public data.

Among these similarly-sized foundations, the Leever Foundation stands out in three ways. First, it has a named, professional CEO (Saran White, $169,274 compensation in FY2023) running a full-time Waterbury operation — unusual for a family foundation at this asset level. Second, it operates multiple publicly named grant programs with websites, open RFPs, webinars, and documented eligibility criteria, rather than conducting closed family grantmaking. Third, its explicit social justice, racial equity, and community power-building framework distinguishes it sharply from peer foundations whose missions are broader and less ideologically defined.

The foundation's most significant 2025 development was the replacement of its open competitive Fall TSI cycle with Adaptive Continuity Grants for current and trusted past grantees — offering flexible, reduced-friction continuation support to its established portfolio rather than welcoming new applicants into the fall cycle. This reflects a trust-based philanthropy trend gaining momentum among equity-focused foundations.

For 2026, the Planning & Building for Social Justice spring cycle has been actively underway. The eligibility survey closed April 20, 2026; the full application deadline was June 1, 2026; and decisions are expected June 26, 2026 — just days from the current date. The grant period is set to begin July 13, 2026, with $100,000 in total available funding across multiple organizations.

CEO Saran White, in post since December 2018, has overseen the foundation's most programmatically active period. Her tenure includes the launch of "The People's Place" community hub in Waterbury, the "From Intention to Impact" capacity-building training series for nonprofit leaders, and the foundation's formal articulation of its five core values. The board includes Leever family members — M. Leever (President), Andrew Leever (Director/VP), and Morgan Leever (VP/Secretary) — alongside community-appointed directors including Bilal Tajildeen, Sean Mosley, and Jacquee Porter, reflecting the foundation's stated mixed governance structure.

The Leever Foundation's application process has several hard stops that disqualify applicants who miss them. These tips are specific to this funder:

Timing: The PBSJ cycle typically runs spring (eligibility survey in April, decisions in late June). The TSI cycle runs fall, though 2025 replaced open competition with Adaptive Continuity Grants for established partners. Watch the website closely in September/October for whether the fall cycle reopens to new applicants.

The eligibility survey has its own earlier deadline. For 2026 PBSJ, the survey closed April 20 — before the application portal even opened April 27. When a new cycle is announced, complete the survey within days, not weeks.

The orientation webinar is non-negotiable. A 45-minute webinar offered in late March/early April is required for PBSJ. Failure to attend disqualifies your application. Block it immediately upon announcement.

Budget guardrails are binary. Annual organizational budget must be at least $150,000 (for TSI) and no more than $2,000,000. Your grant request cannot exceed 15% of your total annual budget. Calculate this before applying — a $300,000 budget organization caps at a $45,000 request.

Use the foundation's exact language. Proposals centering "BILPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and historically marginalized communities," describing work as "systems change" and "structural transformation," and naming intersecting oppressions (race, economic status, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability) explicitly outperform generic equity framing.

Hard exclusions: buildings, renovations, capital campaigns, direct scholarship awards, disaster relief, 501(c)(4) organizations, public/private/charter schools, and government agencies.

For Resilience of Grassroots (invitation-only): Email info@leeverfoundation.org to request an exploratory conversation. This is a relationship-building program — there is no open application portal. Small, hyper-local Waterbury-based organizations under $150,000 operating under a fiscal sponsor are this program's target.

Do not double-apply: Receiving Resilience of Grassroots funding in a calendar year disqualifies the same organization from TSI in that year.

Portal: Applications go through the Foundant/Grant Interface system at grantinterface.com. Create your account only after receiving an eligibility confirmation and portal invitation link — do not pre-register.