Li Yang Family Foundation

The Li Yang Family Foundation is one of the newest private foundations in the United States, having received its IRS tax-exempt determination in October 2024. Founded by Jingli Yang and Peter Hongcheng Li — two unpaid directors each devoting approximately one hour per week — the foundation was capitalized with approximately $20 million in its inaugural fiscal year 2024, funded almost entirely by a single large contribution. This is not an open-door institutional grantmaker. Per Grantmakers.io, the foundation is classified as 'preselected only,' meaning it makes contributions exclusively to charitable organizations chosen in advance by the directors and does not accept unsolicited applications for funds.

The foundation's governance is intentionally lean: no paid staff, no listed program officers, no contact email, no functional website, and no published mission statement. The website domain — liyang.org — is currently listed for sale on a domain marketplace at $3,000, confirming that no operational web infrastructure has been built. Against this backdrop, cold outreach by grant seekers is almost certainly unproductive at this stage.

The most likely profile of the Li Yang Family Foundation, based on naming conventions, New York City location (PO Box 10185-5016), and the Chinese-American family structure implied by the directors' names, is a family philanthropy vehicle established to formalize and scale charitable giving that previously occurred informally. Foundations in this profile typically spend one to three years in an internal incubation period — consulting advisors, making exploratory gifts to known organizations, and gradually developing a philanthropic thesis — before engaging with external applicants.

For sophisticated grant seekers, the appropriate posture right now is patient, intelligence-driven relationship building rather than proposal submission. Organizations with existing ties to New York's Chinese-American professional, business, or philanthropic communities — particularly those with connections to the founders' professional networks — are best positioned for early relationship-building. A first meaningful window of public intelligence will arrive when FY2025 990-PF data becomes available (expected late 2026 to early 2027), which will reveal the first named grantees and begin to define the foundation's actual philanthropic direction.

The Li Yang Family Foundation's funding data is almost entirely a blank slate. Its sole public financial record is the FY2024 IRS 990-PF, which covers the foundation's first year of existence. Total assets as of year-end 2024 stand at $20,058,317. The foundation received approximately $20 million in initial contributions during the year, with total reported revenue of $21,215,193 — the surplus above $20M reflects investment income in the inaugural year. Against this substantial endowment, documented grant distributions amount to approximately $13,000, likely representing exploratory or administrative disbursements rather than a settled grantmaking program. Zero named grantees appear in any public record.

Under IRS minimum distribution requirements for private foundations, the Li Yang Family Foundation is obligated to distribute approximately 5% of its prior-year net investment assets annually. Applied to a $20M endowment, this means approximately $1 million in annual distributions is required to maintain tax-exempt status. If the foundation begins meeting this threshold, annual grantmaking capacity would be in the $1M range — a meaningful figure that would make it a mid-tier independent family foundation. There is no public data indicating actual investment strategy, income yield, or whether distributions have caught up to this requirement since the FY2024 filing.

With no grantees, no geographic focus disclosure, and no sector breakdown available, grant size patterns cannot be established from internal data. For reference, independently operating family foundations with $20M in assets and a Philanthropy & Grantmaking (NTEE T50) classification — like all five of this foundation's closest asset-size peers — commonly make grants ranging from $5,000 to $500,000 per award, with medians typically between $25,000 and $100,000. Chinese-American family philanthropy at this asset scale has historically concentrated in education, health, arts and culture, and community services, frequently prioritizing organizations serving Asian-American populations or institutions with China connections. These patterns should be treated as informed inference, not established fact, until 990-PF filings reveal actual grantees.

The five foundations closest to Li Yang Family Foundation by asset size are all independently operating family foundations in the Philanthropy & Grantmaking category, clustered tightly around $20.05–20.06M in assets. None maintains an active public-facing grants program or published application guidelines.

Li Yang Family Foundation is statistically indistinguishable from its asset-size peers — all are independent, privately directed family foundations with no staff, no public grant programs, and assets clustered in the $20M range. What differentiates the Li Yang foundation is its newness (IRS determination October 2024 versus peers that have likely operated for years) and its near-zero distributions in year one. The peer comparison underscores a broader pattern: family foundations in this asset tier are almost universally relationship-driven and invitation-only. They reward patient network cultivation over cold application, and public grant cycles — if they exist — are typically announced through trusted intermediaries rather than open web portals.

The Li Yang Family Foundation has no documented public-facing activity as of June 2026. The foundation received its IRS tax-exempt determination in October 2024, making it fewer than two years old. Its inaugural 990-PF filing (fiscal year ending December 2024) is the sole public record: $20,058,317 in total assets, approximately $13,000 in distributions, two unpaid directors (Jingli Yang and Peter Hongcheng Li, each reporting one hour per week), and no named grantees.

The foundation's registered website — liyang.org — is currently listed for sale on Spaceship.com at a price of $3,000, confirming that no operational web presence has been established. No press releases, news articles, social media accounts, or philanthropic conference appearances were found for the Li Yang Family Foundation in searches covering 2025 and 2026. The directors do not appear in any publicly accessible profiles linked specifically to this foundation.

This pattern — substantial capitalized assets, minimal initial distributions, no communications infrastructure — is consistent with a family foundation in its standard incubation phase. The next meaningful public data point will be the FY2025 990-PF filing, expected to become available through IRS records, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, and Grantmakers.io in late 2026 or early 2027. That filing will be the first meaningful window into whether the foundation has begun structured grantmaking, and to which organizations. Grant seekers should set a calendar reminder to review it when it becomes available.

Given the Li Yang Family Foundation's 'preselected only' status and absence of any public application infrastructure, conventional grant application advice does not apply. The following tips are tailored specifically to this foundation's situation and should guide strategy over the next 12–24 months.

Do not submit unsolicited proposals now. The foundation has no application portal, no contact email, and no published grant guidelines. The directors each devote approximately one hour per week to foundation governance. Sending an unsolicited multi-page proposal to the PO Box (PO Box 5016, New York, NY 10185-5016) is almost certain to be ignored and may create an unfavorable first impression.

Focus on intelligence-gathering before outreach. Research Jingli Yang and Peter Hongcheng Li through professional directories, LinkedIn, New York State corporate filings, and Chinese-American business and civic networks. Identify their professional sectors — finance, real estate, technology, and healthcare are common among Chinese-American family philanthropists at this asset level — and look for shared board members, advisors, or institutional affiliations with your organization.

Monitor for readiness signals. Three events would indicate the foundation is moving toward external engagement: (1) liyang.org goes live with actual content; (2) FY2025 990-PF filings show named grantees and amounts; (3) either director appears on a nonprofit board roster or at a philanthropic forum. Check ProPublica (EIN 99-4853345) every six months.

Align language when the time comes. When outreach does become appropriate, lead with mission alignment rather than organizational capacity. Chinese-American family foundations in this asset range often prioritize education access, healthcare equity, cultural preservation, and economic mobility — particularly for underserved communities and Asian-American populations. Frame your work in those terms and demonstrate measurable community impact, not just program outputs.

Keep initial contact brief. When a website or contact channel appears, a two-to-three paragraph introduction letter — not a proposal — is the right first move. Reference any personal or professional connection to the founders. Signal alignment. Ask for a conversation, not funding. Brevity demonstrates respect for the directors' limited available time.