Ralph Foundation Inc.

Ralph Foundation Inc. is a small, closely-held Naples, FL private family foundation (EIN 87-4064361) with no professional staff, no published program areas, and no online application system. It is governed by three individuals — Executive Director Scott E Woodard, and Directors Paul Woodard and Daniel (Dan) Brandt — nearly all serving without compensation (Daniel Brandt's is capped at $1,000/year). The foundation's own IRS filing instructs prospective applicants to simply "contact Scott E Woodard for further information," and its bare-bones website (ralphfoundation.com, a single-page GoDaddy site with the tagline "Empowering Communities Together") offers no grants portal, guidelines, or deadlines. This is a foundation still defining itself: it received a single $10,000,000 founding contribution in FY2021 and only began actual grantmaking in FY2022, meaning applicants are dealing with a two-to-three-year-old giving program, not an established institution with a fixed playbook.

First-time applicants should not expect a formal LOI-to-full-proposal ladder like larger foundations use. Instead, treat this as relationship-based, founder-directed philanthropy: a warm introduction to Scott E Woodard (listed contact, area code 312 — a Chicago number despite the Naples, FL address) is far more likely to succeed than a cold written proposal. The five known FY2022 grants — to Manoff Foundation ($116,000), Tulsa Community Foundation ($100,000), Ukraine Trustchain ($50,000), The Village Club & Preserve Inc ($10,000), and Highland Park Community Foundation ($3,000) — span Illinois, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Florida with no unifying program theme beyond "general charitable purpose." That geographic spread (Highland Park, IL is a notably wealthy Chicago suburb; Tulsa, OK and the 312 phone number suggest personal or family ties in multiple states) points to donor-directed giving rooted in the Woodard/Brandt family's personal networks rather than a themed RFP process.

Organizations most likely to succeed are those with an existing personal connection to a director, or community/regional foundations that can serve as pass-through vehicles (2 of 5 known grants went to other grantmaking foundations). Cold applicants with no connection to Naples, FL, Chicago-area IL, or the family's other regional ties should treat this as a long-shot, low-cost outreach rather than a primary funding strategy.

Ralph Foundation Inc. is a small non-operating private foundation with $9,294,288 in total assets (as of the most recent IRS filing) generated almost entirely from a single $10,000,000 contribution received in FY2021. It made no grants in its founding year (FY2021: $0 grants paid against $10,000,000 in contributions received), then began active grantmaking in FY2022 ($279,000 paid across 5 grants) and continued in FY2023 ($150,000 in grants paid; $269,176 in total qualifying distributions once administrative/other charitable costs are included).

Based on the 5 grants recorded to date: median grant size is $50,000 (range: $3,000 to $116,000; average $55,800). The distribution is top-heavy — the two largest grants (Manoff Foundation, $116,000; Tulsa Community Foundation, $100,000) account for 77% of total FY2022 giving ($216,000 of $279,000), while the three smaller grants (Ukraine Trustchain $50,000, The Village Club & Preserve $10,000, Highland Park Community Foundation $3,000) fill out the remainder.

Geographically, the 5 known grants split across Illinois (2 grants), and one each to Connecticut, Florida, and Oklahoma — with no state receiving more than 2 grants and no announced geographic restriction. All 5 grants are tagged only "general charitable purpose" in IRS filings — there is no program-area breakdown (no percentages for education, health, arts, etc.) because the foundation has not defined formal program categories.

On payout rate: FY2023 giving ($269,176) equaled roughly 2.7% of that year's total assets ($10,025,456), and FY2022 giving ($287,852) equaled about 2.9% of assets ($9,770,383) — both below the ~5% minimum distribution private foundations typically must meet based on net investment assets, which may mean qualifying distributions are calculated on a smaller base, or that payout could rise in future years to stay compliant. Net investment income swung widely — $58,295 in FY2022 versus $524,159 in FY2023 — reflecting a small endowment's exposure to market performance rather than a steady revenue base. There have been no further contributions received since the FY2021 founding gift.

Ralph Foundation Inc. sits inside a cluster of newly-formed, similarly-sized private foundations all classified under NTEE code Philanthropy & Grantmaking (T22) with total assets clustered tightly around $9.3 million — a pattern consistent with several family foundations having been funded from similar liquidity events around the same period.

All five peers, including Ralph Foundation, are classified as pass-through/private philanthropic vehicles rather than foundations with public-facing programs — only the Mcinerney Family Foundation maintains a working website with any content, which itself is a differentiator worth noting. For grant seekers, this peer set signals that foundations in this size and category tier are overwhelmingly closed, low-visibility, and relationship-driven; none appear to run a competitive open RFP process. Applicants should expect the same informal, personal-network approach across this entire peer cluster, not just at Ralph Foundation.

No news coverage, press releases, or media mentions of Ralph Foundation Inc. (EIN 87-4064361, Naples, FL) were found in web searches — searches for its name consistently surfaced unrelated organizations (the much larger Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation of Detroit/Buffalo, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation of Los Angeles, and the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation), confirming this foundation maintains an unusually low public profile for an organization with over $9 million in assets. Its own website (ralphfoundation.com) is a single-page GoDaddy Website Builder site last copyrighted 2025, containing only the tagline "Empowering Communities Together" and a contact form — no grants page, no news section, no staff bios beyond what appears in IRS filings.

What can be reconstructed from IRS Form 990-PF filings: the foundation was seeded with a $10,000,000 contribution in FY2021, made its first grants in FY2022 ($279,000 across 5 recipients), and continued giving in FY2023 ($150,000 in grants paid, $269,176 in total qualifying distributions). The most recent database update to this foundation's record was 2026-07-22, with the underlying IRS EO Business Master File data last verified the same date — no filings beyond FY2023 were available in the source data at the time of this report. Leadership has remained stable across the filings reviewed: Scott E Woodard as Executive Director, with Paul Woodard and Daniel (Dan) Brandt as Directors — no leadership transitions were identified.

Because Ralph Foundation Inc. has no published guidelines, portal, or deadline, standard grant-writing playbooks (formal LOI templates, RFP responses, board decks) will not apply here — treat every step as relationship-building rather than form-filling.

• Start with a direct, personal introduction to Scott E Woodard, the Executive Director and listed IRS contact, rather than a cold written proposal. The listed phone number, (312) 399-6820, carries a Chicago area code despite the foundation's Naples, FL mailing address (6235 Lightbourn Way, Naples, FL 34113) — a strong signal the family retains Chicago-area ties, which matches the fact that Highland Park, IL (a Chicago suburb) received one of the five known grants.
• Calibrate the ask to demonstrated giving levels. The five known grants ranged from $3,000 to $116,000 with a $50,000 median — a request in the $25,000–$75,000 range is realistic; asking for more than the observed $116,000 ceiling, especially from an organization with no prior connection, is unlikely to land.
• Lead with geography or personal affinity, not just mission fit. All five known grants went to organizations tied to Illinois, Oklahoma, Connecticut, or Florida, and two went to other community/grantmaking foundations (Manoff Foundation, Tulsa Community Foundation) rather than direct-service nonprofits. If your organization has no footprint in those states and no way to route through a community foundation the family already trusts, be transparent that this is a cold approach.
• Common mistake to avoid: submitting a generic, unsolicited grant application via mail or web form — there is no form to submit to. The foundation's IRS filing explicitly directs inquiries to a person, not a process; a proposal that ignores this and behaves like a mass-mailed LOI will likely go unanswered.
• Timing: with no fixed cycle, giving appears to happen on the family's own schedule (once yearly, based on filings). There is no evidence of quarterly board meetings or set review dates, so there is no known 'best time' to apply — plan for a multi-month, informal relationship-building timeline rather than a single submission deadline.
• Use plain, direct language, not foundation-speak. Given the tiny, family-run governance structure (only 3 individuals, 2 of whom are unpaid), a short, personal letter explaining who you are, the specific need, and why you're reaching out to this family specifically will read better than a polished institutional proposal.