Livingston Foundation Inc.

Livingston Foundation Inc. is a family-governed Atlanta private foundation administered through the law firm Arnall Golden & Gregory (171 17th St NW, Ste 2100), with a board drawn from the Golden, Brannon, and Gregory families — Jonathan Golden (Chairman), Milton Brannon (President/Treasurer), Ce Gregory III (Secretary), and trustees Charles Gregory, William Jacobs, Greer E. Brannon, and Michael Golden. Its own 990 states applications may be submitted at any time with no standard form, but independent grant directories consistently describe it as a relationship-driven funder that leans on referrals and existing ties rather than open solicitation — a nuance applicants should weigh heavily. First-time applicants are expected to send a short introductory letter (need statement, amount requested, supporting facts) rather than a full proposal; only organizations that clear that screen and land on the foundation's 'approved mailing list' are asked for a formal packet (original plus 8 copies, plus 3 copies of financial statements — a paper process, not a digital portal). Geographic preference is explicit and borne out in the data: 38 of the 41 most recent tracked grants (93%) went to Georgia organizations, almost all in metro Atlanta, with only isolated exceptions in Maine and New York. Sector-wise, the foundation favors established, reputable institutions over small grassroots groups: its largest single relationship, Shepherd Center Foundation ($200,000 across two grants for catastrophic injury/disease care), and its second-largest, Rollins School of Public Health at Emory ($100,000), both sit with major medical/academic institutions. Mid-tier grants ($20,000-$54,000) go to well-known human-services and arts nonprofits (Clubhouse Atlanta, Cure Childhood Cancer, Center for the Visually Impaired, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Zoo Atlanta), while smaller grants ($2,500-$18,000) support community, historic-preservation, and youth-serving organizations. First-time applicants should therefore expect to compete for grants at the smaller end of the range unless they can demonstrate institutional scale comparable to the foundation's top recipients, and should anticipate a multi-step process: introductory letter, staff review for fit, a possible site visit, and a final decision by the full Board.

Livingston Foundation Inc.'s typical grant size (per its own reporting) runs $2,500 to $100,000, with a median of $10,000 and an average of $19,795 across 22 tracked awards. A broader sample of 41 recent grants totaling $806,411 shows an average of $19,669 per grant, skewed upward by two outsized relationships: Shepherd Center Foundation ($200,000 combined) and Rollins School of Public Health ($100,000) together account for roughly 37% of that sample's dollar volume, even though they represent only 2 of the 41 grants. The remaining ~90% of grants cluster between $2,500 and $35,000, meaning most successful applicants should calibrate expectations toward five-figure awards, not six. Total giving has been volatile but investment-driven: $344,924 (2010) climbed to $780,107 at its 2020 peak, then declined to $488,935 by 2022 — every dollar of revenue in every year on record came from net investment income and asset sales, with zero contributions received, so grantmaking capacity rises and falls with market performance rather than fundraising. The foundation's asset base has stayed remarkably flat, ranging $6.8-7.5 million across the full 2010-2022 record and standing at $7.41 million in the most recent filing (FY2024, filed February 2025), which also reported $996,486 in revenue and $707,175 in expenses. Geographically, 38 of 41 recent grants (93%) went to Georgia nonprofits, with isolated grants to Maine (2, likely tied to Camp Sunshine) and New York (1). Officer/trustee compensation was cut nearly in half over the past decade — from roughly $47,600/year combined (2011-2014) to $24,600-25,650/year (2018-2022) — a sign of board-level belt-tightening that has not come at the expense of grant totals. By program area within the available sample, health and medical causes (Shepherd Center, Rollins, Cure Childhood Cancer, Center for the Visually Impaired, Skyland Trail) account for roughly 45-50% of dollars, with arts/culture (Atlanta Symphony, Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta Opera, Museum of Contemporary Art of GA) and human services/education (food bank, youth academy, truancy intervention) splitting most of the remainder.

Livingston sits at the small end of this Atlanta family-foundation peer set — its $7.4M asset base is roughly half the size of Charles Loridans and a fraction of Sara Giles Moore, Glenn, or Fraser-Parker, which explains its comparatively modest median grant ($10,000) against peers whose median or average awards run into six figures. All five foundations share the same closed-door posture: none run open RFP portals, and all favor pre-existing relationships or referral-based introductions, so applicants without an existing connection should expect a longer runway to a first grant regardless of which peer they approach. Livingston's advantage for smaller nonprofits is precisely its size — a $10,000-$25,000 ask is proportionally significant to Livingston in a way it would not be to Fraser-Parker or Glenn, making it a better fit for organizations seeking a meaningful mid-size gift rather than a marquee six-figure grant.

Livingston Foundation Inc. keeps an unusually low public profile — dedicated web searches for 2025-2026 news, press mentions, or program announcements returned no dedicated coverage; the only publicly indexed activity is routine IRS filing data. The foundation's own website (livingstonfoundation.org) currently resolves to a bare single page with no accessible About, Grants, How-to-Apply, or Contact subpages (all returned HTTP 404 during this research), reinforcing that this is not an outward-facing communications operation. The most concrete recent data point is its Form 990-PF filed February 18, 2025 (covering the most recent completed fiscal year), which reported $996,486 in revenue (driven by asset sales, 80%, and dividends, 20%), $707,175 in expenses, $289,311 in net income, and net assets holding at $7.41 million with no debt. Independent 990-tracking services report 19 grants awarded in that cycle, totaling roughly $572,000-$656,000 with a median award near $25,000 — consistent with the foundation's long-run pattern of 19-25 grants annually. No leadership changes were identified; the same family trustees (Golden, Brannon, Gregory, Jacobs) have held their roles across the filings reviewed, with trustee compensation essentially flat at $1,800-$1,950 per person per year for standard trustees and roughly $13,800-$13,950 for the more actively compensated trustee, Charles Gregory. Given the absence of a maintained public-facing grants program page or social media presence, the safest interpretation for applicants is that the foundation operates quietly and by referral, with its Form 990 remaining the most authoritative and current source of programmatic information.

Because Livingston Foundation Inc. does not run a public RFP process or maintain an accessible grants page, cold digital outreach (web forms, mass email) is unlikely to succeed — treat this as a relationship-first funder. Start with a concise (1-2 page) letter of inquiry addressed to the foundation care of Arnall Golden & Gregory, 171 17th Street NW, Suite 2100, Atlanta, GA 30363, phone (404) 873-8500; state the need, the specific dollar amount requested, and enough factual detail (budget context, population served, track record) for the trustees to gauge fit without requiring a full proposal up front. Anchor the ask to Georgia, ideally metro Atlanta — 93% of recent grants (38 of 41) stayed in-state, and the two out-of-state exceptions (Maine, New York) both trace to long-standing institutional ties rather than new relationships, so organizations without an Atlanta or Georgia nexus face a materially harder path. Align the mission language with the foundation's demonstrated pattern: catastrophic injury/disease care, public health research, mental-health recovery services, childhood cancer, vision rehabilitation, and mainstream arts/cultural institutions (symphony, opera, zoo, history museums) have all received repeat, multi-year support — position your organization's language and outcomes data similarly rather than using generic 'community impact' framing. Calibrate the ask: with a median grant of $10,000 and 90% of awards falling between $2,500 and $35,000, request a specific, modest, program-restricted amount rather than a large capital or multi-year commitment, and frame Livingston as one funder within a broader multi-funder campaign rather than the primary source. If a staff screen results in an invitation to formally apply, be ready to produce a traditional paper packet — an original application plus 8 copies, plus 3 copies of audited/reviewed financial statements — since this foundation has not modernized to an online portal. Because there is no stated deadline (applications are accepted year-round per the foundation's own filing), there's no urgency to rush a submission, but budget for a multi-month review cycle that may include a site visit before the full Board renders a final decision. Avoid: requests from outside Georgia without an existing tie, first-time asks above $100,000 (the observed ceiling), and one-off event sponsorship requests with no prior relationship — the data shows a strong preference for organizations that already appear more than once in the foundation's grant history.