Penske Foundation Inc.

Penske Foundation Inc. is the private charitable vehicle of one of America's most celebrated business dynasties — the family of Roger S. Penske, founder of Penske Corporation, whose empire spans automotive retail (Penske Automotive Group), truck leasing, transportation logistics, and motorsports (Team Penske). The foundation is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and presided over by Kathryn H. Penske as President. All six board directors are drawn from the Penske family — Roger S. Jr., Gregory, Mark, Jay, and Blair Penske Hall — with zero staff compensation paid, confirming this is a purely discretionary family foundation.

The single most important fact for any grant seeker: Penske Foundation Inc. exclusively makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds. This is stated explicitly in IRS filings and confirmed across multiple grant databases. There is no grants portal, no application form, no published deadline cycle, and no RFP process. Cold outreach to the foundation address will not yield funding.

The path to support runs entirely through relationships. The Penske family's philanthropic geography is legible from their grantee history: Roger Penske built his empire from Detroit outward, so Michigan civic infrastructure — particularly Detroit's healthcare and cultural institutions — sits at the center. Nantucket, Massachusetts (a longtime Penske family retreat) constitutes a secondary geography, with consistent multi-year grants to the Nantucket Dreamland Foundation ($55,000 cumulative), Nantucket Conservation Foundation ($40,000 cumulative), and Nantucket Cottage Hospital ($100,000). Motorsports opens a third door: Team Penske partners, NASCAR and IndyCar driver foundations, and automotive workforce development organizations all appear in the grantee record.

First-time applicants should understand that entry to the grantee list is not the result of a single outreach. The top three recipients — Paralyzed Veterans of America, Mayo Clinic, and Detroit Institute of Arts — have received multiple grants each, totaling $2 million apiece. Mid-tier grantees like Horatio Alger Association ($500,000 total, 4 grants), United Way of Southern Michigan ($500,000 total, 4 grants), and Navy SEAL Foundation ($200,000 total, 2 grants) show the same repeat-giving pattern. The realistic entry pathway is through board introductions, a corporate partnership with a Penske business unit, or deep standing in Detroit's or Nantucket's civic community.

Penske Foundation grants span a wide range: from $5,000 (Checkered Flag Foundation, Alzheimer's Association) to $1,000,000 per grant. The median tracked grant is $17,500, but the average sits at $166,875 — a stark divergence that reflects a bimodal distribution: many small relationship-maintenance gifts alongside a handful of transformative major commitments. Across 59 tracked grants totaling $8.41 million, the average annual disbursement was approximately $142,500 per grant.

Three organizations dominate total dollar giving, each receiving $2 million in cumulative grants: Paralyzed Veterans of America (2 grants), Mayo Clinic (4 grants), and Detroit Institute of Arts (4 grants). These three institutions alone account for approximately 71% of all recorded grant dollars. The next tier — Birthstone Corporation ($500,000), Horatio Alger Association ($500,000), and United Way of Southern Michigan ($500,000) — represents the secondary giving level.

By program category, healthcare leads in dollar terms: Mayo Clinic ($2,000,000), Riley's Children's Foundation ($200,000), Nantucket Cottage Hospital ($100,000), National Philanthropic Trust/Race Against Dementia ($50,000), and Alzheimer's Association ($5,000) total approximately $2.36 million, or 28% of recorded giving. Arts and culture — Detroit Institute of Arts ($2,000,000), Detroit Symphony Orchestra ($30,000), Nantucket Dreamland Foundation ($55,000) — represents about 25%. Veterans and military services — Paralyzed Veterans of America ($2,000,000) and Navy SEAL Foundation ($200,000) — totals $2.2 million (26%). Human services (United Way, Birthstone Corporation) accounts for roughly 12%, education and workforce development (Horatio Alger, Tech Force, University of Michigan, EL Education) accounts for about 8%, and motorsports-specific giving (Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Mark Donahue, Checkered Flag foundations) accounts for under 1% by dollar amount.

Geographically, Michigan organizations received 19 of 59 tracked grants (32%), Massachusetts 9 (15%), North Carolina 7 (12%), and Virginia 6 (10%). Annual giving has grown from $1.4 million (2019) to $1.7 million (2021), $2.7 million (2022), $2.4 million (2023), and an estimated $9.5 million (2024) — a trajectory set to accelerate as the foundation deploys its $215 million asset base.

The five peer foundations identified by asset size represent a narrow tier of the private foundation universe, all clustered near $215 million in assets and all classified under NTEE code T (Philanthropy & Grantmaking). Available data on peer giving is limited given these foundations' private, non-disclosing nature.

Penske Foundation stands out within this peer cohort for one striking reason: the velocity of its asset growth. While most foundations at the $215 million level built their endowments over decades, Penske reached this scale from under $3 million in assets (2019) in just five years, funded by direct annual contributions from the Penske family. This makes it a fundamentally different type of funder — not an endowment-driven institution with a stable payout ratio, but an actively capitalized family vehicle whose giving level is a discretionary decision made each year. Organizations targeting this cohort should note that Penske's 2024 grantmaking increase to ~$9.5 million (vs. $2.4 million in 2023) suggests that its giving may continue to scale rapidly even as peer foundations remain static.

No press releases, grant announcements, or public communications specific to Penske Foundation Inc. grantmaking were found for 2025 or 2026. The foundation maintains no public-facing communications presence — no social media, no annual report, no press releases — consistent with its entirely private, family-operated character.

The most significant recent development is financial. ProPublica data shows total assets reaching $215.2 million and total expenses of approximately $9.5 million in fiscal year 2024, up sharply from $116 million in assets and $2.4 million in grants paid for fiscal year 2023. Annual family contributions of over $100 million in both fiscal years 2023 and 2024 represent a deliberate and accelerating capitalization of the foundation by Roger Penske personally.

On the corporate side, Penske Automotive Group reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on February 11, 2026, citing continued growth and major dealership acquisitions in Florida. The company approved its 21st consecutive quarterly dividend increase, raising the per-share dividend to $1.40 — underscoring the financial health of the broader Penske enterprise that funds the foundation. In the motorsports arena, Team Penske continued active community engagement in 2025, with driver foundations for Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney (both repeat Penske Foundation grantees) remaining active. No leadership changes within Penske Foundation have been publicly reported; Kathryn H. Penske has remained President since the foundation's founding in 2012, and the board composition of Penske family members and corporate officers (Lawrence N. Bluth as Secretary, Mary Lou Pernicano as Treasurer in recent filings) has been stable.

The most important advice for any organization seeking Penske Foundation support is also the most counterintuitive: do not submit an application. There is no application process. IRS filings explicitly state the foundation "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds." Materials submitted through conventional grant-seeking channels will not be reviewed.

Corporate partnership as the entry point. The viable path is institutional relationship-building within the Penske ecosystem. Organizations that partner with Penske Automotive Group, Penske Truck Leasing, or Team Penske through sponsorships, employee volunteer programs, or cause-marketing initiatives enter the relationship network organically. The foundation's grantmaking closely mirrors the family's corporate community-engagement priorities.

Detroit civic embeddedness. The grantee list confirms that the foundation consistently supports organizations where Penske family members serve on boards or engage philanthropically: Detroit Institute of Arts ($2,000,000 cumulative), Detroit Symphony Orchestra ($30,000), United Way of Southern Michigan ($500,000), ChildSafe Michigan ($40,000), and Detroit Historical Society ($10,000). Michigan-based organizations should prioritize visibility in these networks — galas, capital campaigns, board service — rather than direct foundation outreach.

Map your niche to their five giving lanes. The grantee record reveals five distinct priority tracks: (1) major healthcare institutions with national reputations, (2) Detroit arts and cultural infrastructure, (3) veterans and military services organizations, (4) Nantucket-area conservation and community groups, and (5) motorsports and automotive workforce development. Organizations that don't map clearly to one of these categories should not invest resources in pursuing this funder.

Expect a 3-to-5-year horizon. The top 10 grantees have each received 2-4 grants, indicating that relationships are institutionalized before significant funding flows. Budget realistically for a multi-year cultivation timeline.

Alignment language that resonates. When communications do occur, frame your work in terms Roger Penske would recognize: operational excellence, measurable community return on investment, Detroit civic revitalization, national institutional standing, and workforce pipeline development. Avoid grant-world jargon; write in the register of a business partnership proposal.

Formal business correspondence only. Address any inquiry to: % Mary Lou Pernicano, Penske Foundation Inc., 2555 S. Telegraph Rd., Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302-0912. Phone: (248) 648-2400.