Mount Pleasant Foundation

The Mount Pleasant Foundation is a young family foundation established in October 2022 by co-trustees Harreld N Kirkpatrick III and Sara R Kirkpatrick. Registered at 300 East Randolph Street, Suite 3850 in Chicago — a prestigious downtown address suggesting financial industry or professional services backgrounds — the foundation explicitly lists Baltimore, Maryland as its geographic focus and carries a 410-area-code phone number, indicating deep Baltimore community roots alongside a Chicago operational presence.

This foundation operates strictly by invitation. No public application process, RFP, or grant portal exists. Database records confirm application instructions of "none" and mark it as preselected-only. Unsolicited proposals are not entertained. All grantee relationships originate with the Kirkpatricks, who identify and cultivate recipients on their own timeline.

The grantee record is small but highly instructive. The Obama Foundation has received the majority of all known giving — $460,000 in FY2023 and $540,000 in FY2024, totaling approximately $1 million in cumulative grants across just two years. This extraordinary concentration in a single civic institution signals personal conviction and network connection at the trustee level, not transactional philanthropy. Urban Initiatives, a Chicago-based nonprofit serving children through athletics, received $7,500 in FY2022 as the foundation's inaugural grant. National Philanthropic Trust received two grants in FY2024 totaling $161,340, suggesting the trustees are also building a donor-advised fund vehicle for broader or more flexible giving channels.

Organizations seeking to enter the Kirkpatrick philanthropic circle should approach this as a long-horizon relationship-building exercise rather than a grant application cycle. The most direct pathway runs through the Obama Foundation's civic ecosystem — through events, board service, or programmatic partnerships that surface your organization naturally to the trustees. Baltimore community organizations focused on civic leadership development or youth sports programming fit the foundation's profile most directly.

First-time relationship-builders should note that this foundation has no staff, no grant officer, and no published guidelines. Every touchpoint flows directly through Harreld N Kirkpatrick III or Sara R Kirkpatrick. Patience and network depth are essential: in its first three years, the foundation has given to only three organizations, confirming that the Kirkpatricks favor deep, concentrated relationships over broad portfolio grantmaking.

Mount Pleasant Foundation's grant history is brief but analytically rich. In three fiscal years of active grantmaking (FY2022–FY2024), the foundation has established a sharply concentrated distribution pattern anchored by one major civic institution.

Annual giving trajectory: - FY2021: $0 in grants (pure asset-building year; all $10M in revenue received as family contributions) - FY2022: $62,385 total giving; $7,500 in grants paid (Urban Initiatives, children's athletics) - FY2023: $535,628 total giving; $460,000 in grants paid (Barack Obama Foundation) - FY2024: $704,590 in charitable disbursements (Obama Foundation: $540,000; National Philanthropic Trust: $149,949 and $11,391)

Year-over-year giving growth has been exceptional — from $7,500 in FY2022 to $704,590 in FY2024, a nearly 9,300% increase in two years. This reflects the classic family foundation ramp-up: initial years seeding assets, followed by accelerating distributions as the foundation matures.

Grant size range: Known grants span $7,500 (Urban Initiatives, FY2022) to $540,000 (Obama Foundation, FY2024). There is no discernible middle tier. In FY2024, three grants averaged $234,863 each. The $7,500 athletics grant exists in a separate philanthropic category from the flagship civic giving.

Concentration: Approximately 88% of all cumulative giving has flowed to a single recipient — the Obama Foundation. This is an unusually high concentration for a $33M private foundation; comparable foundations at this asset level typically give to 10–30+ organizations annually. Mount Pleasant has distributed to only three organizations across its entire history.

Asset growth vs. giving ratio: The foundation's giving-to-assets ratio is approximately 2.1% in FY2024 ($704K of $33M), below the IRS-mandated 5% minimum distribution requirement for private foundations. As assets grow and 5% payout requirements tighten, expect grant volume to increase materially — potentially to $1.5M–$1.7M annually if assets hold at $33M.

Investment profile: Net investment income reached $396,850 in FY2023. In FY2024, the foundation realized $2,478,615 from asset sales alongside $377,725 in dividends and $87,704 in interest, suggesting active portfolio rebalancing to fund larger grant commitments. Annual family contributions of $5–10M continue to dwarf investment returns as the primary growth driver.

Geography of giving: All known grantees (Obama Foundation and Urban Initiatives) are headquartered in Washington, D.C./Chicago, and National Philanthropic Trust in Pennsylvania — not Baltimore. The Baltimore geographic focus likely reflects the causes and communities the trustees ultimately wish to benefit, with current grantees serving as civic infrastructure vehicles for that broader vision.

The following table compares Mount Pleasant Foundation against its five closest asset-size peers, all classified as Philanthropy & Grantmaking foundations with approximately $33 million in assets as of the most recent filings:

Mount Pleasant Foundation's giving-to-assets ratio of approximately 2.1% is below the IRS-mandated 5% minimum distribution threshold for private foundations — consistent with a foundation still in active asset-accumulation mode. Among its closest asset-size peers, only McPherson Family Foundation (Colorado) and Vattikuti Foundation (Michigan) maintain publicly accessible websites, suggesting any degree of openness to external applicants. The remaining four peer foundations, including Mount Pleasant, operate with minimal public presence and favor relationship-driven grantmaking. Mount Pleasant distinguishes itself among these peers by the extraordinary concentration of its giving in a single recipient — the Obama Foundation — and by its unusually rapid asset growth trajectory, both of which reflect a family foundation with strong personal conviction and significant ongoing capital commitments rather than a maturing, diversified endowment.

No press releases, public announcements, or media coverage specific to the Mount Pleasant Foundation (EIN 87-6826312) were identified in web research through June 2026. The foundation maintains no independent public web presence; the website listed in foundation databases (mountpleasant.org) resolves to Mount Pleasant Church and Ministries at 6000 Radecke Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland — a church sharing the foundation's 410-area-code phone number (410-325-3080), likely reflecting a Kirkpatrick family community connection in Baltimore but not an active foundation web property.

All confirmed recent activity derives from IRS filings and third-party nonprofit databases:

FY2024 (most recent available): $704,590 in charitable disbursements across three grants — Obama Foundation ($540,000), National Philanthropic Trust ($149,949), National Philanthropic Trust ($11,391). New $5,947,067 family contribution received. Total assets reached $33,042,045. This marks both the foundation's largest grant year and the first year a donor-advised fund vehicle (NPT) appeared in the grantee list.

FY2023: Barack Obama Foundation received $460,000 — the foundation's first major grant and the start of what has become its primary philanthropic relationship. Total giving reached $535,628.

FY2022: Urban Initiatives (Chicago) received $7,500 for children's athletics, marking the foundation's inaugural grant. Total giving was $62,385.

Leadership: Co-trustees Harreld N Kirkpatrick III and Sara R Kirkpatrick have remained consistent since the foundation's October 2022 founding. Both serve without compensation. The foundation carries no paid employees.

Because Mount Pleasant Foundation is strictly invitation-only, the following tips are calibrated to the realities of a relationship-first, no-RFP private foundation — not conventional grant-writing mechanics.

The path runs entirely through the Kirkpatrick network. With no staff and no grant portal, every funding decision flows directly through Harreld N Kirkpatrick III and Sara R Kirkpatrick. Before any outreach, research their professional backgrounds, civic board memberships, and community affiliations via LinkedIn, Bloomberg professional profiles, and Baltimore and Chicago civic organization directories. Identify shared networks or mutual connections who could provide a credible warm introduction — this is the only viable entry point.

Enter through the Obama Foundation ecosystem. With approximately $1 million committed to the Obama Foundation in two years, this is a personal-conviction gift, not portfolio diversification. Organizations that partner with, are endorsed by, or have meaningful programmatic ties to the Obama Foundation will be most naturally visible to these trustees. Obama Foundation convenings, civic leadership programs, and affiliated alumni networks are realistic introduction venues.

Lead with Baltimore impact — specifically. The foundation's stated geographic focus is Baltimore, Maryland. Any relationship-building communication should foreground Baltimore community outcomes with neighborhood-level specificity: census tract data, local coalition partnerships, and community leadership credentials will resonate more than national or abstract mission language.

Youth athletics is a real, if secondary, interest. The $7,500 Urban Initiatives grant for children's athletics is the foundation's only non-Obama-Foundation grant. Chicago- or Baltimore-area youth athletics organizations serving under-resourced communities have an authentic opening to build awareness through shared civic events or community sports networks.

Use the National Philanthropic Trust angle. FY2024 grants to NPT suggest the Kirkpatricks maintain a donor-advised fund through NPT alongside the foundation. Organizations registered or recommended within the NPT ecosystem may surface to the trustees through that parallel channel without requiring direct foundation contact.

Never send an unsolicited proposal. There is no intake mechanism. A cold proposal packet is more likely to signal misalignment than generate interest — and could foreclose future relationship opportunities.

Plan for a multi-year timeline. This foundation is three years old and has funded three organizations. Build for year two or three of relationship cultivation, not an immediate grant cycle. Shared visibility at civic convenings, incremental trust-building through mutual connections, and consistent programmatic impact reporting are the levers available to patient organizations.