Nordlys Foundation

Nordlys Foundation is a small, closely-held family private foundation (est. December 2000, EIN 14-6205088) run entirely by unpaid volunteer directors — Barbara Glaser (President, ~5 hrs/week), Susan Bokan (Treasurer), Kimara Gustafson, and Kenneth Glaser — out of a Saratoga Springs, NY address with zero paid staff. Every third-party database that tracks its Form 990-PF checkbox (Grantmakers.io, Cause IQ, Instrumentl) confirms the same operative fact: Nordlys checks the box stating it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications for funds." This is not a formality — there is no published LOI process, no online portal, and as of this report the foundation's own website (nordlys.org) has lapsed into a parked GoDaddy domain-for-sale page, meaning there is currently no active public-facing application channel at all. For organizations not already in the foundation's orbit, the realistic strategy is relationship-based, not application-based: the grantee list is dominated by long-tenured repeat recipients (5-year, multi-grant relationships with organizations like Pitney Meadows Community, American Swedish Institute, and Sagamore Institute of the Adirondacs) rather than one-off responsive grants. First-time prospects should treat this as a warm-introduction target: identify board-level or community connections in Saratoga Springs (arts, land conservation, historic preservation circles) or in the Twin Cities Swedish-American community, and seek an introduction rather than a cold LOI. The typical program-support grant (per 88 tracked grants averaging $14,500, median $10,000-$20,000 depending on year) suggests Nordlys prefers modest, unrestricted general-operating gifts to organizations whose missions align with land/heritage conservation, Scandinavian-American cultural preservation, and Saratoga-area human services — not large capital campaigns or first-time discovery grants.

Across the 88 grants captured in the platform's grantee dataset, total disbursed is $1,276,010 at an average of $14,500 per grant, but the distribution is sharply top-heavy: the largest relationship (South Colonie CSD, 3 grants) totals $189,000, followed by Pitney Meadows Community ($150,000/5 grants) and American Swedish Institute's Kaffestugan Project ($150,000/5 grants) — together these top three relationships account for roughly 38% of tracked giving. The tail is long and thin: half of the top-50 grantees received $12,000 or less lifetime, with the smallest tracked awards at $500. External 990 data shows FY2025 giving of $739,547 across 21 grants (median $20,000, range $5,000-$250,000 per Grantmakers.io) — a sharp pullback from FY2024's outlier $2,039,500 across 25 grants, itself roughly 7-8x the $228K-$303K annual range that held steady from 2015-2023 (per DB financials: 2019 $272,806; 2020 $237,147; 2021 $268,093; 2022 $287,194; 2023 $251,452). Geographically, the DB's grantee stats show NY absorbing 74 of 88 tracked grants versus 14 in MN, but total dollars skew more evenly given the size of the Minnesota-focused American Swedish Institute relationship. By purpose, the overwhelming majority of grants (nearly all top-50 recipients) are coded simply "PROGRAM SUPPORT" rather than project- or capital-restricted, with a rare "FUNDRAISING CAPACITY" grant to Asa ($15,000/2 grants) as the exception. Total foundation assets sit at $6.35M-$8.2M depending on valuation date, with net investment income ($322,797 in 2023) roughly funding the annual payout — a stable, moderately-sized endowed family foundation rather than a growing one.

Nordlys sits in a tight cluster of near-identically-sized ($6.35M asset) family foundations nationwide, all classified under the same Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category — a strong signal these are peer-group comparables generated by asset size rather than mission overlap (their states span UT, MI, SC, OR, WY with no obvious thematic connection to Nordlys's NY/MN focus). None of the five peers publish grant-size or application-process detail in public databases, reinforcing that this entire tier of family foundations operates with minimal public transparency and little-to-no unsolicited-applicant infrastructure. Prospective grantees should expect this peer set, like Nordlys, to reward personal relationships and geographic/mission proximity over formal proposal quality.

No dedicated press coverage, leadership announcements, or program launches for Nordlys Foundation surfaced in web search for 2025-2026 — this is consistent with an all-volunteer, no-staff family foundation that does not issue press releases. The most concrete recent-activity signal is financial: FY2025 (filing period ending December 2025, per Grantmakers.io) shows total giving of $739,547 across 21 grants, a return toward historical norms after FY2024's outlier $2,039,500 across 25 grants — a spike roughly seven to eight times the foundation's typical $228K-$303K annual payout sustained from 2015 through 2023. That 2024 spike, absent any reported capital campaign or merger, most plausibly reflects a one-time distribution (e.g., a bequest, asset sale, or planned drawdown) rather than a durable increase in grantmaking capacity, and applicants should not assume 2024-level giving is the new baseline. Leadership remains unchanged and stable: Barbara Glaser continues as President (~5 hrs/week), with Susan Bokan as Treasurer and Kimara Gustafson and Kenneth Glaser as Directors, all uncompensated — no personnel turnover was found. The one notable operational finding from this research cycle is that the foundation's website, nordlys.org, has lapsed and now redirects to a GoDaddy "domain for sale" parked page as of August 2026, meaning the foundation currently has no functioning public web presence — a meaningful data point for any grant seeker trying to verify current priorities or contact information.

Do not submit an unsolicited proposal expecting a response — the foundation's own Form 990-PF filings state plainly that it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and doesn't accept unsolicited applications for funds," and this is corroborated independently by Grantmakers.io, Cause IQ, and Instrumentl. There is no LOI form, no grant portal, and (as of August 2026) no working foundation website — nordlys.org now redirects to a GoDaddy domain-sale page, so do not rely on it for current guidance. The realistic path in is relationship-driven: study the grantee list for organizations similar to yours (Saratoga Springs/Adirondack land trusts and cultural institutions such as Saratoga Plan, Adirondack Council, Caffe Lena, Spring Street Gallery; or Minnesota Swedish-American heritage groups such as American Swedish Institute and Gammelgarden Museum) and pursue a warm introduction through board members, shared funders, or community networks rather than a cold pitch. Given the foundation's tiny volunteer board (four directors, no program staff, President at only ~5 hours/week), any outreach should be brief, personal, and low-friction — a multi-page proposal packet is far less likely to land than a short, specific note from a known contact. If a relationship is established, position requests as general operating/program support (the dominant grant type in 88 of 88 tracked purposes) rather than capital or project-restricted asks, and expect check sizes in the $5,000-$40,000 range for a first award (DB typical_grant_size: median $10,000, average $12,800, max $40,000) with the possibility of growing to $50,000-$150,000 over a multi-year relationship (as seen with Pitney Meadows Community and American Swedish Institute, both funded across 5 consecutive grants). Because FY2024's $2.04M total appears to be a one-time outlier against a $228K-$303K historical baseline, do not anchor expectations to that year — budget for the foundation's typical ~$250K-$740K annual payout spread across roughly 20-25 grants. Given the geographic concentration (74 of 88 tracked grants in NY, 14 in MN), organizations outside Saratoga Springs/the Adirondacks or the Twin Cities Swedish-American community face a materially higher bar.