Lifeway Foundation Inc.

Lifeway Foundation Inc. is a small, closely held family foundation run entirely by unpaid directors -- Steve Griffith (President), Melinda Griffith, John Gary Frisby, and, per 2024 filing data, Bob Roenig (Secretary) -- operating out of Lott, Texas, a town of roughly 700 people in McLennan County. With $3.8M in total assets built largely from notes receivable secured by land (the foundation's own IRS mission statement says it exists "to ensure future income" from these notes "for continued support of the ministry"), this is fundamentally a family-directed giving vehicle tied to a specific Christian ministry network, not an open grant program. Independent trackers (Grantable, Instrumentl) both confirm the foundation "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications" -- a pattern borne out by its own grantee list, which reads like the Griffith family's personal giving circle: Central Texas Baptist and nondenominational churches (Temple Bible Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Heights Baptist Church), crisis-pregnancy and pro-life organizations (Carenet, Hope Mommies), prison ministries (Discipleship Unlimited, Bridges to Life, Gospel Express Ministries), and overseas missions (Global Banjara Baptist Ministries in India, Uttermost International, Restoration Gateway in Africa). The single largest grant on record -- $200,000 to "Lifeway Haven Inc" to "empower women in business" -- and the shared "Lifeway" name strongly suggest an affiliated or founder-linked organization, reinforcing that most capital flows to entities already personally known to the directors. For an outside applicant, the realistic path in is relational, not transactional: a warm introduction through a shared church, a McLennan/Bell/Falls County nonprofit connection, or a pro-life/faith-based ministry network the Griffiths already support. Do not expect an LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline, a program officer, or a public RFP -- none exist in IRS or third-party data. First-time grantees tend to be small, explicitly Christ-centered nonprofits in Central Texas or overseas missions fields requesting modest four- or five-figure amounts, not large program grants. With total giving in the $139K-$230K range annually, this should be treated as a supplemental, relationship-built funding line rather than a primary target.

Across its filed grant history, Lifeway Foundation Inc. has made 106 recorded grants totaling $869,250, averaging $8,200 per grant. The most recent 990-PF cycle in the database shows 18 grants ranging from $500 to $30,000, with a median of $3,750 and an average of $6,097 -- while Instrumentl's independent read of the 2024 filing shows 13 grants totaling $139,000, ranging $1,000-$59,000 with a $3,500 median. Both views agree: the typical grant is small (well under $10,000), with a handful of much larger, long-tenured relationships pulling the average up. Total giving has swung meaningfully year to year: $384,646 (2020, on $337,450 in grants paid), $148,138 (2021, $109,750 paid), $186,811 (2022, $135,000 paid), $229,485 (2023, $152,050 paid), and an estimated $139,000 in 2024. Assets grew from $1.59M (2021) to $3.82M (2024), driven by episodic capital infusions -- $1.5M in contributions received in 2022 and $500,022 in 2023 -- rather than steady annual fundraising, indicating the family periodically re-funds the endowment. By program purpose, the top-50 grantee list skews heavily toward explicit religious/missions giving (Temple Bible Church $55,000/4 grants, Fellowship Bible Church $20,000/3 grants, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship $40,000/2 grants, Strong Tower Christian $17,000/5 grants); pro-life and crisis-pregnancy support (Carenet $95,000/5 grants, Hope Mommies, And Then There Were None); prison reentry and ministry (Discipleship Unlimited $80,000/5 grants, Bridges to Life, Gospel Express Ministries); international missions (Global Banjara Baptist Ministries $66,800/5 grants in India, Uttermost International $40,000/2 grants, Lifeshape $20,000/2 grants for Ukraine); and pro-family policy advocacy (Alliance Defending Freedom $21,000/4 grants, Family Research Council $12,000/3 grants, Judicial Watch $14,000/3 grants). Despite the IRS's "Health" / F12 (Mental Health, Crisis Intervention) classification, direct health-service giving is minor -- limited to line items like Alzheimer's Association ($3,500) and Children's Miracle Network ($2,000). Geographically, Texas dominates (61 of roughly 103 geo-tagged grants, concentrated in the Waco/Temple/Lott corridor), with smaller clusters in DC (6, policy organizations), TN (6), IL (6), NC (6), OH (5), CO (5), and AZ (4). Five-year, five-consecutive-grant relationships with Carenet, Discipleship Unlimited, Global Banjara Baptist Ministries, and Christian Women's Job Corp show the foundation strongly favors renewing existing partnerships over funding new one-off requests.

Lifeway sits mid-pack by asset size among this Health-NTEE peer set ($2.9M-$4.5M), but operates very differently in practice: while all six share the IRS Health classification, Lifeway's actual grant purposes run almost entirely to Christian ministry, missions, and pro-life causes -- an artifact of its Mental Health/Crisis Intervention (F12) code rather than a true health-services focus. None of the five peer foundations has a publicly documented application process either, which is typical at this $3-5M asset tier: foundations this size rarely maintain formal RFP infrastructure, and referral or personal connection remains the dominant path to funding across the entire peer group, not just at Lifeway.

No 2025-2026 news coverage specific to Lifeway Foundation Inc. was found; web searches for the name return only unrelated organizations sharing the "Lifeway" brand (the publicly traded kefir company Lifeway Foods, Inc. and the Nashville-based publisher Lifeway Christian Resources), confirming this is a private, non-public-facing family foundation with no communications presence. The most recent verified filing data (fiscal year 2024) shows total assets of $3,822,029, total revenue of $241,336 (98%+ from investment/other income rather than new contributions), and roughly $113,405-$139,000 in charitable disbursements depending on source. That represents a continued asset build-up from the $1.59M low in 2021, following two large capital infusions -- $1.5M in contributions received in 2022 and $500,022 in 2023 -- that appear to be deliberate re-funding events by the Griffith family rather than routine fundraising. The one governance change visible in the data: 2024 filing aggregators list Bob Roenig as Secretary, a role not present in the foundation's earlier officer records (which list only Steve Griffith, Melinda Griffith, and John Gary Frisby as directors), suggesting a recent board addition. In the absence of any public program announcements, grant deadlines, or press activity, the most reliable signal of the foundation's current priorities remains its filed grant list, which shows consistent, renewed support for the same handful of Central Texas churches, pro-life ministries, and overseas missions partners year over year.

Because Lifeway Foundation Inc. operates on a preselected, invitation-only basis with no application portal, LOI form, deadline, or program officer listed anywhere in IRS or third-party data, cold applications are very unlikely to succeed -- a warm introduction is essential. The strongest entry points, based on the funded grantee list, are: Central Texas Baptist or nondenominational churches and ministries in the Waco/Temple/Lott corridor (McLennan, Bell, and Falls counties); pro-life and crisis-pregnancy organizations; prison reentry and ministry programs; and overseas Baptist missions organizations, particularly in India and Africa. The foundation's own IRS mission language -- funding drawn from notes receivable held "for continued support of the ministry" -- signals its giving traces back to a specific church or ministry community connected to the Griffith family; researching that connection before reaching out will do more than any generic proposal. Successful grantees consistently use explicit, Christ-centered purpose language ("SUPPORT THE SPREAD OF THE WORD OF JESUS," "GLORIFY JESUS CHRIST AND SERVE HIS PURPOSE ON EARTH") rather than secular framing of an otherwise mission-aligned program -- match that tone rather than softening it. Request sizes should be calibrated to the relationship: first-time asks in the $500-$5,000 range are far more common than the rare five- and six-figure gifts, which the data shows going only to partners with multi-year track records (Carenet, Discipleship Unlimited, and Global Banjara Baptist Ministries each received five consecutive annual grants). The most common mistake would be treating this like a conventional foundation with a submission process to follow -- application_instructions on file is literally "none," and there is no evidence a written proposal alone has ever triggered a first-time grant. Note also that the lifewayfoundation.org domain associated with this EIN in some directories actually belongs to an unrelated Ghana-based nonprofit -- do not use it for contact or research purposes. The reliable postal contact from IRS filings is c/o Melinda Griffith, 330 FM 3145, Lott, TX 76656; given the all-volunteer, three-to-four-person board, a personal introduction or mailed letter addressed to Melinda or Steve Griffith is more realistic than any digital submission, and building that relationship well before the annual disbursement cycle matters more than proposal polish.