Lions Pride Foundation

Lions Pride Foundation (EIN 41-1289414, Beverly Farms, MA) is a closed, unstaffed family foundation controlled by the Polk family: Louis F. Polk (President/Trustee), James S. Polk (VP, Treasurer, Trustee), Anna C. Polk (Secretary), Christy P. Goldspink (Trustee), and Kelly Anna Polk (Trustee). All officers have served without compensation across every filed year — there is no program officer, communications staff, or public-facing grants operation. Critically, the website and phone number publicly associated with this EIN (lionspride.org, (715) 677-7000) actually belong to an unrelated organization, 'Lions Pride Endowment of Wisconsin,' which funds Wisconsin Lions Clubs' vision, diabetes, and camp programs. This foundation has no verified website of its own. The IRS filing boilerplate says applications 'may be made by letter' with 'no submission deadline,' but the FY2022 grant list (the only detailed grantee data on file, 18 grants totaling $313,000) shows every dollar went to organizations with a traceable personal connection to the Polk family: alma maters (Yale College Alumni Fund, Phillips Academy Andover, Shattuck-St Mary's), Palm Beach institutions the family patronizes (The Society of the Four Arts, The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea), the Bush presidential libraries/center, a Boston-area medical research center (McCance Center for Brain Health), and one large outlier gift to a niche craft-preservation nonprofit (The Stone Trust Corporation, $100,000). First-time applicants without an equivalent personal or institutional tie should treat this as effectively closed — there is no evidence of the foundation funding an unsolicited proposal from an organization without a prior relationship. The realistic path in is a warm introduction through one of the listed grantee institutions, a shared alumni network, or a Palm Beach civic/religious connection, not a cold letter to a general mailbox.

Total giving has ranged from a low of $190,483 (FY2014) to a high of $352,837 (FY2022) over the last decade, with grants paid (cash actually disbursed) swinging between $169,272 (2019) and $321,060 (2012); the most recent fully reported year, FY2023, paid out $195,000. FY2024 revenue was reported ($520,374) but grants_paid was not yet disclosed at time of research. Assets have fallen from a 2020 peak of $4,943,167 to $3,560,287 in 2024 — a ~28% drawdown — while the foundation receives zero contributions in every recent year, meaning its giving capacity is funded entirely by investment returns (net investment income ranged from $0 in 2012 to $715,400 in 2020). Using the only itemized grant year available (FY2022, 18 grants, $313,000 total, average $17,389): the median individual grant was $10,000, and amounts ranged from $1,000 (three grants: Phillips Academy Andover, the Burton & Phyllis Hoffman Foundation, Lake Minnetonka Association) to $100,000 (The Stone Trust Corporation, alone 32% of that year's total giving). The top two grants that year — Stone Trust ($100,000) and McCance Center for Brain Health ($50,000) — made up 48% of all dollars disbursed. By rough program category: arts/culture ($65,000 across Society of Four Arts, Ardea Arts, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, ~21%), medical research ($50,000, 16%), religion/civic ($35,000, Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, 11%), elite education ($21,000 across Yale, Phillips Andover, Shattuck-St Mary's, ~7%), civic bridge-building ($20,000, Braver Angels + Freedom For All, ~6%), presidential libraries ($10,000, ~3%), disaster relief ($10,000, Red Cross, ~3%), and the outlier craft-preservation gift ($100,000, 32%). Geographically, FY2022 grantees clustered in Florida (5 organizations), New York and Connecticut (3 each), Minnesota and Massachusetts (2 each), Texas (2), and DC (1) — consistent with Palm Beach, New England, and Twin Cities family ties rather than a stated geographic mandate. The foundation's own IRS-reported 'typical grant size' figures (max $60,000, min $5,000, median $5,000, average $15,000, across 12 grants) are broadly consistent with this pattern.

No peer foundations were returned in the underlying data bundle, so this table compares Lions Pride Foundation to generic benchmark categories for similarly sized private foundations rather than named funders, to avoid overstating specificity:

Lions Pride Foundation sits toward the lower-transparency end of this spectrum: unlike the community-focused or single-issue benchmark categories, it publishes no program areas, guidelines, or deadlines, and its FY2022 grant list shows 100% of dollars going to personally connected recipients rather than responsive giving to outside applicants. Its annual giving volume ($195K-$353K) is mid-pack for its asset size, but its total absence of a public program officer, website, or published criteria makes it structurally closer to a private family checkbook than to a grantmaking institution actively soliciting proposals.

No 2025 or 2026 news coverage, press releases, or social media activity exists for this foundation under any search performed — it maintains zero public communications presence (social_media is null in IRS/enrichment records, and there is no verified website). The most recent detailed financial data available is FY2023 (990 filed, $230,417 total giving, $195,000 grants paid) and a partial FY2024 snapshot showing $520,374 in revenue with grants_paid not yet disclosed at the time of this research. Leadership has been stable: Louis F. Polk (President), James S. Polk (VP/Treasurer), and Anna C. Polk (Secretary) appear consistently across the two most recent filing years captured, with Christy P. Goldspink and Kelly Anna Polk serving as additional trustees — no leadership transition, new program announcement, or major single gift beyond the already-noted FY2022 $100,000 grant to The Stone Trust Corporation was identified. Because this foundation does not issue press releases or maintain a website, grant seekers should not expect to track its activity through conventional monitoring (Google Alerts, foundation newsletters, social media) — the only reliable activity signal is the annual Form 990-PF filing, typically available via ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer roughly 12-18 months after the fiscal year closes.

The IRS filing states applications 'may be made by letter' with 'no submission deadline' and that all donees must complete a 'Statement of Potential Donee,' but treat this as standard 990 boilerplate rather than an active, responsive program — the FY2022 grant list shows no evidence of funding an applicant without a pre-existing Polk-family or institutional tie. Practical guidance: (1) Do not use lionspride.org or (715) 677-7000 to reach out — both belong to an unrelated Wisconsin organization; the only verified address is PO Box 5600, Beverly Farms, MA 01915-0522, c/o Bucknam Associates (the foundation's listed administrative contact). (2) Before drafting anything, look for a genuine connection: alumni ties to Yale, Phillips Academy Andover, or Shattuck-St Mary's; involvement with The Society of the Four Arts or The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach; a link to the Bush presidential libraries/center; or a Boston-area medical research tie (McCance Center for Brain Health) — these are the documented funding lanes. (3) If a connection exists, send a concise (1-2 page) letter, not a full grant proposal — the foundation's own process language explicitly favors letters over formal applications. State the ask amount plainly; realistic asks run $1,000-$25,000, with amounts above $35,000 reserved for the rare marquee gift (only 2 of 18 FY2022 grants exceeded that threshold). (4) Do not chase a deadline — 'accepted at any time and acted upon periodically' means batch review, so silence for several months is not necessarily a decline. (5) If invited to apply, expect to complete the unpublished 'Statement of Potential Donee' form on request — there is no downloadable template, so ask for it directly in your letter. (6) Do not expect a site visit, multi-year commitment, or renewal cadence — grants paid have varied by more than 80% year to year ($169K to $353K), consistent with opportunistic, relationship-driven giving rather than a structured multi-year program.