Purpose Built Communities Foundation Inc.

Purpose Built Communities Foundation Inc. operates as a relationship-driven, invitation-based funder — not a traditional open-applications grantmaker. The foundation's database profile explicitly flags it as "preselected only," and its IRS filings confirm it contributes solely to preselected organizations. No public RFP, no application portal, and no unsolicited proposal pathway has ever been published in the organization's documented history.

The giving philosophy centers on the Purpose Built Model: a holistic, place-based framework requiring that funded organizations simultaneously pursue affordable mixed-income housing development, cradle-to-college education improvement, community health and wellness programming, and neighborhood-level economic vitality initiatives. Single-sector organizations — even strong ones — are unlikely to receive direct grants unless they operate as national policy or technical intermediaries; organizations like StriveTogether, PolicyLink, Enterprise Community Partners, and Tides Center each received one-time grants of $37,500–$87,000 in this supporting role.

The typical grantee progression follows a clear pattern derived from the top grantees. Organizations first affiliate with PBC's Community Quarterback Network as Prospective Members, receive free consulting and technical assistance, and then — after demonstrating model fidelity and resident-leadership governance — graduate to Network Member status. Grant funding follows network affiliation depth: East Lake Foundation, Grove Park Foundation, and Woodlawn United have each received 3–5 grants over multiple years totaling $135,000–$1.5 million, all categorized as "operations" support.

For first-time applicants, relationship capital must precede grant capital. PBC staff must identify your organization as a credible Community Quarterback Organization before any funding conversation becomes possible. The annual Prosperity Starts with Place National Conference — 700+ attendees in Jacksonville in May 2026 — is the primary venue where practitioners, policymakers, and funders interact. Attendance and participation in PBC working groups or site visits accelerates visibility significantly.

New board chair David Daniels, appointed January 2026, serves simultaneously as CEO of the Bainum Family Foundation — one of PBC's primary national funders. Organizations already in the Bainum portfolio may find a warm indirect pathway. The late founder Tom Cousins' vision of transforming distressed neighborhoods through coordinated multi-sector investment remains the organization's north star and must anchor all framing in any approach to PBC staff or network members.

Purpose Built Communities Foundation's 79 recorded grants total $10,464,612, with an average of $132,463. However, the distribution is heavily right-skewed by a handful of anchor investments, and the median recent grant is just $1,000 — reflecting a large number of employee-matching and micro-disbursements at the tail end.

The portfolio breaks into three clear tiers. Anchor grants ($500,000–$2.1M): The Low Income Investment Fund received a single $2.1M Accelerator Initiative grant — the largest in the portfolio by a wide margin. Grove Park Foundation and East Lake Foundation each received 5 multi-year grants totaling $1.53M and $1.49M respectively, including both COVID relief (2020–2021) and sustained operations support. These three relationships alone represent approximately 48% of total grant dollars.

Mid-tier operational grants ($75,000–$1.1M): Woodlawn United ($1.1M, 3 grants), Connect Community Inc ($946K, 3 grants), FCS Ministries/Focused Community Strategies ($1.07M combined across multiple grants), Lift Orlando ($312K, 3 grants), and Northside Development Corp ($205K, 3 grants) form the stable backbone. These are all established Network Members receiving sustained, multi-year general operating support.

Entry-level and exploratory grants ($20,000–$123,000): StriveTogether, Partners for Rural Impact, Results for America, Enterprise Community Partners, and Tides Center each received single grants of $87,000–$123,000. Southeast Raleigh Promise received $80,000 across 2 grants. Boston-Thurmond Community Network received $84,000 in a single grant. These represent either early-relationship network investments or one-time support for national policy partners.

Annual cash grants paid to external organizations (IRS 990 grants_paid line): - FY2023: $2,752,312 (total assets: $16.3M) - FY2022: $1,520,402 (total assets: $22.2M) - FY2021: $804,491 - FY2020: $3,867,005 (COVID relief spike) - FY2019: $4,500 (near-zero grantmaking year)

Geographic concentration mirrors network membership: Georgia receives 28% of all grants (22 of 79), Florida 16% (13), Texas 14% (11), North Carolina 6% (5), Alabama 5% (4). The foundation operates across 10 states, all in the South and Southeast except for scattered national intermediary grants. Total giving figures in IRS filings ($5.8M–$10.7M) substantially exceed grants_paid because they include direct program services — the free technical assistance PBC delivers to Network Members.

The five asset-size peers in the foundation database are all classified under NTEE code T31 (Philanthropy & Grantmaking) with assets near $31.9M, but none share Purpose Built Communities' distinctive operating model. The comparison highlights PBC's unique structure: it is primarily a service organization that delivers free technical assistance to 60+ Community Quarterback Organizations, with grantmaking as a secondary activity.

Purpose Built Communities stands apart from its asset-size peers in three critical ways. First, it is an operating foundation: CEO Carol R. Naughton's compensation was $325,707 in FY2023, and total officer compensation across the executive team was $635,812, reflecting a substantial programmatic staff. Second, its grantmaking is explicitly network-restricted — only organizations implementing or aspiring to implement the Purpose Built Model are eligible, making it far more selective than the typical foundation of this asset size. Third, PBC's institutional profile is unusually public and nationally prominent: a Forbes 50 Over 50 CEO, a board chaired by a major foundation CEO, and a sold-out annual national conference with 700+ attendees. The Bainum Family Foundation — whose CEO David Daniels now chairs PBC's board — is a closer programmatic peer and primary funder, signaling the philanthropic ecosystem surrounding PBC is tightly interconnected.

The 2025–2026 period has been the most active in Purpose Built Communities' recent history. In May 2026, the 13th annual Prosperity Starts with Place National Conference in Jacksonville, FL drew over 700 registered attendees — the highest in the conference's history and a meaningful increase from prior years. The "Lift Every Voice" theme explicitly acknowledged difficult political conditions while reaffirming the organization's commitment to resident-driven neighborhood transformation.

At the conference, three organizations achieved Network Member status: East Savannah United (GA), Northside Neighbors (location not specified), and RISE Northwest — notably the first Pacific Northwest member in PBC's history, signaling a deliberate push beyond the organization's traditional Southeast footprint.

In January 2026, David Daniels was named Board Chair, replacing Tom G. Charlesworth. Daniels is CEO and President of the Bainum Family Foundation, a primary PBC funder, and has served on PBC's board since 2021. His appointment deepens institutional alignment between PBC and Bainum and signals stable philanthropic support through the medium term.

In 2025, CEO Carol Naughton was named to the Forbes 50 Over 50 Impact list. The passing of founder Tom Cousins was announced in November 2025, prompting published commitments to carry forward his vision. PBC also played a direct role in Maryland's ENOUGH Act under Governor Wes Moore, supporting three network members including grantee Cherry Hill Strong in receiving state anti-poverty grants. The organization's first comprehensive 15-year Impact Report was announced as forthcoming in early 2025, with organizational blog activity through June 2026 showing consistent cadence across climate resilience, housing stability, and economic mobility themes.

The single most important insight about pursuing Purpose Built Communities Foundation: there is no application form. The foundation operates as preselected-only, and in over a decade of documented grantmaking across 79 grants, no public RFP has ever appeared. Funding decisions are embedded in network membership and relationship depth, not competitive proposal review.

Build network affiliation before pursuing grants. Organizations implementing or planning to implement the Purpose Built Model should first pursue Prospective Member status via purposebuiltcommunities.org or by calling (404) 591-1400. PBC provides free consulting and technical assistance even to non-members — accepting this support is a low-stakes, high-signal first step that demonstrates model commitment.

Attend the annual conference. The Prosperity Starts with Place conference (May 2026: Jacksonville, FL; May 2025: Houston, TX) is the primary venue where prospective members interact with PBC national staff, peer organizations, and co-funders. With 700+ attendees in 2026, the event is large enough to be substantive but relationship-focused enough to generate real connections. Prioritize attending PBC working sessions, not just main-stage content.

Frame everything around all four pillars. Housing development (mixed-income), cradle-to-college education, community health/wellness, and economic vitality must all be present in your theory of change. Single-sector proposals are disqualifying. Use PBC's precise language: "Community Quarterback Organization," "holistic neighborhood transformation," "resident voice," "pathways to prosperity."

Leverage adjacent funders. Primary PBC funders — Bainum Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ballmer Group, Blue Meridian, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Target, Cousins Foundation — are documented on purposebuiltcommunities.org. New Board Chair David Daniels' dual role as Bainum CEO makes the Bainum pathway especially direct for organizations in that portfolio.

For national policy and intermediary organizations: single grants at $37,500–$123,000 are well-precedented (StriveTogether, PolicyLink, Tides Center, Enterprise Community Partners all received them), but proposals must explicitly frame the work as enabling local CQO capacity-building, not replacing place-based organizations.

Timeline: Plan for a minimum 12–18 month relationship-building runway before any grant conversation is appropriate. Multi-year, multi-grant relationships (3–5 grants over 3–4 years) are the clear norm for PBC's funded partners.