Pleiad Foundation

The Pleiad Foundation is a Birmingham, Alabama-based private family charitable foundation (EIN 63-1159236, NTEE T22Z, ruling 1996) focused on revitalizing Greater Birmingham and Central Alabama. The Foundation's stated priorities are higher education, medical research, and arts and cultural organizations in its home region, with additional flexibility for "smaller local projects and organizations in various fields." The strategy is explicitly place-based and relationship-driven: the website states that "organizations outside of the Birmingham/Central Alabama area or organizations without some connection to a Foundation member will not be considered." The board meets only once a year, in January (the site also references December in a separate passage — applicants should assume year-end decisions), and funds roughly 20-30 nonprofits annually. Since founding in 1996, cumulative distributions have exceeded $20 million, signaling a patient, long-horizon approach rather than trend-driven or RFP-heavy grantmaking. Applicants should frame their ask around sustainable Birmingham-area impact rather than national scale.

Pleiad Foundation holds approximately $9.2M in assets (2024 filing) against $3.4M in recent annual income, giving the Foundation meaningful firepower for a single-region family funder. Asset trajectory has been healthy: $8.2M (2019) → $8.3M (2022) → $9.5M (2023) → $9.2M (2024), suggesting deliberate capital management rather than spend-down. Revenue has varied widely year to year ($807K in 2022 up to $4.06M in 2021), which is consistent with a family foundation that receives periodic large gifts from living donors. If the Foundation funds 20-30 organizations per year from roughly $450K-$500K of required annual distributions (5% of assets), typical grant size is likely $10K-$25K, with occasional larger gifts to anchor institutional partners like UAB, Samford, Birmingham Museum of Art, or major medical research centers. Applicants should not expect multi-year commitments as a default — annual renewal through the January/December cycle is the norm.

Pleiad fits a well-defined niche of mid-size Birmingham-area family foundations. Comparison against peers by scale and accessibility:

Pleiad is smaller and more geographically tight than Daniel or the Community Foundation, but more accessible than pure invitation-only funders because it explicitly publishes an online application form. Its single-meeting-per-year rhythm is typical of small family foundations but slower than the rolling cycles at larger Birmingham institutions.

As of April 23, 2026, The Pleiad Foundation's website remains active and its application intake form is live. Recent public 990-PF data shows the Foundation filed for tax period ending December 2024 with $9.19M in assets and $3.37M of income. No press releases or news coverage of specific 2025-2026 grant awards were surfaced during this research window (search engines were rate-limiting queries). The website language is unchanged from prior snapshots, emphasizing Birmingham/Central Alabama, annual family meeting, and the $20M cumulative donation milestone. Organizations awaiting a 2026 decision should expect board action at the late-December 2025 or January 2026 family meeting; organizations applying for 2026 consideration should submit well before late November 2025 to be included in the annual review.

Pleiad Foundation's application process is unusually simple for a mid-size funder — a single online form — but the screening criteria are strict on geography and relationship. Specific tips:

1. Verify your Birmingham / Central Alabama footprint is explicit and prominent in the application. Organizations outside this geography without a foundation-member connection are filtered out by stated policy. 2. If you lack a direct Pleiad family connection, try to surface an indirect one — a board member, volunteer, or major donor who has ties to a Pleiad Foundation member or a prior Pleiad grantee. 3. Keep the ask aligned with the stated priorities: higher education, medical research, arts and cultural organizations, or clearly-defined small local projects. Social services and direct relief are less obvious fits. 4. Submit well in advance of the December annual meeting. The foundation reviews once per year — a late submission means waiting 12+ months for a decision. 5. Keep the narrative concise. The web form is short and does not request long proposals; match that format — a tight 1-2 page PDF attachment with budget and outcomes beats a 15-page grant proposal. 6. If funded, maintain a light-touch annual update. Family foundations value low-burden relationships; an annual one-page impact note plus a January thank-you keeps you on the short list for renewal.