Livingston Family Foundation

Livingston Family Foundation is a small, unstaffed family trust run entirely by Livingston-family trustees (Carder B. Livingston, C. Ronald Livingston, Sandra J. Livingston, and Lori Ann McKay), with a single paid office manager (Patt Concannon) rather than program officers. Two independent grant databases (Impala.digital, CauseIQ) confirm what the foundation's own IRS filing implies through its blank application_form_url and grants_page_url fields: this is a relationship-based, invitation-only funder with no formal unsolicited-proposal process. Grant seekers should not expect an LOI portal or open RFP cycle.

The foundation heavily favors organizations serving foster and transition-age youth — its largest and most repeated grantees are Just In Time for Foster Youth ($235K cumulative across three related entities), Orangewood Foundation ($160K across 6 grants), and Kidworks ($125K across 4 grants) — alongside a secondary cluster of Orange County/San Diego hospital foundations (Hoag, Scripps, CHOC) and campus-based 'Guardian Scholars' programs that fund former foster youth through college at seven different CSU/UC campuses. Nearly all of its 142 tracked grants (119, or 84%) go to California organizations, with small satellite giving in DC and Virginia (7 grants each) likely tied to a trustee's personal or family connection rather than an open geographic mandate.

For first-time applicants, the realistic path in is not a cold proposal but a warm introduction: attend or sponsor a fundraising event hosted by an aligned nonprofit (several grant purposes cite 'Ambassador Luncheon,' 'Casino Night,' 'Scholar Dinner'), build visibility within the Orange County/San Diego foster-care and youth-services community, and demonstrate outcomes at a modest scale first. The typical relationship starts small — median grant size across the most recent filing year was just $2,500 — and grows into sustained, multi-year support (several top grantees have received 3-6 separate grants over time) once trust is established. Because trustees personally review every gift, alignment with their demonstrated interest in transition-age foster youth and college access is far more persuasive than a generic proposal, however well-written.

Across 142 tracked grants totaling $1,268,463, the average grant is $8,933, but the distribution is skewed: the foundation's own most recent 990-PF reports a median grant of just $2,500 (average $7,067) across 37 individual grants, ranging from $200 to $60,000, while cumulative multi-year totals to top partners reach far higher — Just In Time at $235K, Orangewood Foundation at $160K, Hoag Hospital Foundation at $131K, and Kidworks at $125K. This gap between a $2,500 typical single check and six-figure cumulative totals is the clearest signal in the data: new relationships start small and compound over repeated years of giving.

By cause area, foster-care and youth-development organizations (Just In Time, Orangewood, Kidworks, CASA of Orange County, Boys Hope Girls Hope, Think Together, Samueli Academy, and similar) account for roughly 52% of tracked grant dollars. Campus-based Guardian Scholars/transition-age scholarship programs add another ~11%, hospital and healthcare foundations (Hoag, Scripps, CHOC) roughly 15%, youth sports and recreation (SCGA Junior Golf, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA) about 11%, arts (Segerstrom Center) around 4%, and faith-based/civic/other recipients the remaining ~7%.

Geographically, California dominates with 119 of 142 grants (84%), concentrated in Orange County and San Diego County; Washington DC and Virginia each account for 7 grants, with single grants in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Washington state rounding out the list.

On the balance-sheet side, total giving climbed from $137,812 in FY2011 to $444,058 (FY2021), $535,612 (FY2022), and $554,906 (FY2023) — roughly a fourfold increase over twelve years — closely tracking trust assets that grew from $2.78M to $8.47M over the same window and reached $10.99M by the FY2024 filing (per CauseIQ/Impala). Grants paid specifically (as distinct from total giving, which includes overhead) rose from $159,704 (FY2019) to $328,600 (FY2023), more than doubling in four years — a foundation actively scaling its giving alongside asset growth, not one holding to a static budget.

All six foundations sit within an unusually tight $10.98M-$11.00M asset band, which appears to be an artifact of how this peer set was matched (foundations of near-identical size and the same broad NTEE major category, "T" - Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking) rather than a meaningful strategic grouping. None of the five peers has a public website, disclosed grant-level data, or a documented application process on file, which is itself informative: like Livingston, they are almost certainly small, unstaffed family trusts that give quietly and by relationship rather than open competition. Livingston stands out only because its multi-year grant history happens to be well documented through IRS Form 990-PF filings and third-party aggregators — applicants should assume the peers behave similarly (closed, relationship-driven) even without confirming data.

Direct news coverage of this specific Livingston Family Foundation (EIN 72-1590152, San Diego/Laguna Beach, CA) is essentially nonexistent — web searches for its name repeatedly surfaced unrelated organizations sharing the 'Livingston' name (the Atlanta-based Livingston Foundation Inc., the Community Foundation for Livingston County in Michigan, and Livingston Public Schools in New Jersey, which even holds the domain listed as this foundation's website in IRS records). This is consistent with a small, unstaffed family trust that does not issue press releases or maintain an active public-facing communications presence.

The most concrete recent signal comes from third-party 990-PF aggregation (CauseIQ, Impala.digital) covering the foundation's most recent available filing year: total assets reached $10.99 million on $2.97 million in revenue, 89.7% of which came from contributions rather than investment returns — meaning the trust likely received a substantial new gift or family contribution rather than growing solely through market gains. Charitable disbursements that year totaled roughly $248,700 to 350,008 (sources vary slightly on the exact figure) spread across 51 grantees, with office manager Patt Concannon compensated $77,123. No leadership changes, new program announcements, or major single grants beyond the foundation's normal $2,500-$60,000 range were identified. Absent direct news, the strongest indicator of the foundation's trajectory remains its own financial pattern: fourfold growth in total giving since 2011 and a doubling of grants paid between FY2019 and FY2023, suggesting steady, quiet expansion of capacity rather than any abrupt strategic pivot.

Because Livingston Family Foundation has no public application form, no listed deadline, and no grants page (all three fields are blank in its IRS record), the standard 'submit an LOI' playbook does not apply here — and treating it as an open-application funder will waste effort. Two independent grant-research platforms (Impala.digital, CauseIQ) both describe it as invitation-only, funding almost exclusively through existing relationships.

The most effective path in is proximity and visibility within the Orange County/San Diego foster-care and youth-services ecosystem where the foundation already gives heavily. A meaningful share of its documented grants are tied to specific fundraising events — 'Ambassador Luncheon,' 'Casino Night,' 'Scholar Dinner,' 'Century Club,' and 'Holiday Luncheon' all appear as grant purposes — suggesting that sponsoring a table, attending a benefit, or otherwise showing up at events hosted by peer organizations (Just In Time, Orangewood Foundation, CASA of Orange County) is a documented way relationships with this funder start.

Mission fit matters enormously: the strongest alignment is with transition-age and former foster youth (independent-living support, college-access 'Guardian Scholars'-style programs, mentoring), followed by Orange County/San Diego hospital and health-system foundations. A generic proposal outside these lanes is unlikely to gain traction regardless of quality.

Expect a small first gift. The typical initial award is around $2,500; sustained, well-stewarded relationships can grow into $10,000-$180,000+ cumulative support over several years, as seen with the foundation's top current grantees. Lead with general operating need rather than a narrowly restricted program budget — the large majority of recorded grants are simple 'contribution to general fund' gifts, not project-restricted grants.

A practical caution: the website listed in public records for this foundation (livingston.org) is incorrect and actually belongs to Livingston Public Schools in New Jersey. Do not submit anything through that site, and verify any outreach against the IRS-listed mailing address (c/o C. Ronald Livingston, 11234 El Camino Real Ste 100, San Diego, CA 92130) before sending materials or payment information anywhere.