Richard Siegel Foundation

The Richard Siegel Foundation is a small, hyper-local, single-county funder — not a national grantmaker despite the similarly-named Richard B. Siegel Foundation (Porter Ranch, CA, EIN 954306196) and Siegel Family Endowment (tech-focused, national) that dominate search results. This is EIN 31-1646336, based in Franklin/Murfreesboro, TN, administered by the trustees committee of First United Methodist Church of Murfreesboro on behalf of the estate of the late farmer and philanthropist Richard Siegel (d. 1998). Everything about its structure signals a legacy-endowment model, not a competitive open RFP shop: no professional program staff, no online portal, a single named administrator (Gina King), and IRS filings that list the application process simply as "CONTACT GINA KING." Applicants should think of this less like applying to a foundation and more like petitioning a school-district-adjacent community trust with deep, personal roots in Rutherford County. The foundation funds two clearly separate tracks: (1) direct grants to Rutherford County / Murfreesboro City public schools and the youth-serving nonprofits that work with them (271 grants totaling just over $1.0M across the dataset, averaging $3,701 each), and (2) renewable four-year college scholarships to graduating seniors from the county's public high schools (dozens of $2,500/year awards visible in the grantee list, disbursed to schools such as MTSU, University of Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Freed-Hardeman, and Howard University on the student's behalf). First-time applicants — almost always a school, a PTO, a school-linked nonprofit, or an individual student — should not expect a large single award; the modal grant is a few thousand dollars for a specific, named purpose (the recurring purpose field literally reads "RICHARD SIEGEL FOUNDATION GRANT"). Geographic eligibility is absolute: 248 of 271 tracked grants (91%) went to Tennessee recipients, effectively all within Rutherford County/Murfreesboro city limits; the handful of out-of-state lines are scholarship disbursements to the colleges students chose to attend, not open-eligibility grants. Relationship-building matters more than proposal polish here — repeat funding to the same schools year after year (Blackman Middle, Riverdale High, Siegel High, Rock Springs Elementary all recur across the grantee list) suggests continuity and word-of-mouth trust with school administrators carry real weight alongside the written application.

IRS-reported typical grant size for this foundation is tight and small: minimum $2,500, median $2,500, average $3,898, maximum $10,000, across 48 tracked award instances. The broader 271-grant dataset (all years combined) shows a slightly higher average of $3,701 per grant and $1,003,008 in total tracked giving. Annual total giving has been remarkably stable: $177,843 (2011) → $185,759 (2012) → $191,735 (2013) → $218,457 (2014) → $236,394 (2015), then $237,126-$271,138 across 2019-2023, with 2023 (the latest year in the data) at $237,173 in total giving against $193,381 in grants paid. Total assets have hovered in a narrow $3.02M-$3.63M band for over a decade (2023: $3,270,623), meaning the foundation's payout capacity is structurally capped — it is not accumulating wealth or scaling its giving. Officer/agent compensation is minimal (a corporate trustee/bank agent fee of $4,500-$19,038/year; no paid program staff). By recipient type, the top-50 grantee list splits roughly 60/40 between (a) direct grants to public schools and school-linked nonprofits under the generic purpose "RICHARD SIEGEL FOUNDATION GRANT" — e.g., Rutherford County Board of Education ($57,255 across 4 grants), Special Kids ($50,000/5 grants), Project Transformation Tennessee ($42,500/5 grants), Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra ($35,000/5 grants), and roughly a dozen individual Rutherford County schools (Blackman Middle, LaVergne High, Siegel High, Rock Springs Elementary, Smyrna High, Riverdale High) each receiving $8,000-$22,000 cumulatively — and (b) individually named "SCHOLARSHIP" line items disbursed directly to the student's university (Middle Tennessee State University is by far the most common destination, followed by University of Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, University of Kentucky, Freed-Hardeman, Milligan College, and one-off placements at Howard University and Lee University), each running $2,500/year and renewable up to four years. Geographically, 91.5% of grants (248 of 271) stay in Tennessee; the remaining out-of-state lines (KY 8, TX 4, DC 4, AL 3, FL 3, GA 1) are almost entirely scholarship payments following students to out-of-state colleges, not open competitive grants to outside organizations.

All five peers are asset-matched almost exactly to Richard Siegel Foundation ($3.6M-$3.63M vs. Siegel's $3.27M-$3.62M range) and share the same broad NTEE "Education" classification, but public data on their giving levels and application processes is not available in this dataset — a strong signal that, like Siegel, they are small family/estate foundations with no marketing presence, no staff, and no open online application. That similarity is itself the actionable insight: Richard Siegel Foundation is not competing in a national or even regional applicant pool. It sits in a peer tier of single-purpose, geographically anchored micro-foundations (assets in the $3-4M band) where the entire discoverable "strategy" is direct outreach to the named contact rather than portal-based competition, and where payout is mechanically tied to a small endowment's investment income rather than active fundraising or campaign giving.

The most concrete recent activity documented is a grant cycle reported by WGNS Radio and Rutherford Source in which the foundation approved $110,602.50 for Rutherford County Schools — $67,852.50 distributed directly across 16 schools (including Blackman High and Middle, LaVergne High, Oakland High, Riverdale High, Rockvale Middle, Siegel High, and Smyrna High and Middle) plus $42,750 to organizations supporting students — alongside $75,000 in scholarships for county graduates. Josh Markham, staff facilitator for the foundation's trustees committee (and a named trustee in IRS filings), was quoted describing founder Richard Siegel's belief that "education and recreation were vital for kids to succeed," and cited the founding charter's instruction that trustees use investment earnings "as they deem best for the long-term goals and purposes." The foundation's own site confirms the current scholarship cycle deadline of June 1, 2026, administered through First United Methodist Church of Murfreesboro at 265 W. Thompson Ln. No leadership turnover, new program area, or capital-campaign announcement was found — the IRS filings list a stable, unpaid volunteer trustee board (Fletcher Holland as Chair, Bj Kerstiens and Dwayne Alexander as past/current Vice Chairs, Brock East and Sally Millsap as Secretary at different points) alongside a small paid agent-bank relationship (Franklin Synergy Bank, $19,038; FirstBank, $4,500) for investment administration. Beyond the annual school-grant and scholarship cycles, there is no evidence of expanded scope, new geographic reach, or a shift away from its founding education mandate — this is a quietly consistent, low-visibility community funder rather than one generating regular press activity.

There is no online portal or competitive RFP process — the foundation's own IRS filing states the application process, deadline, and restrictions are all simply "CONTACT GINA KING, SEE LINE 2A ABOVE," and the working administrative channel is First United Methodist Church of Murfreesboro (615-893-1322; richard.siegel.foundation@gmail.com). For school and nonprofit grant requests, the strongest approach is a short, specific ask tied to an identifiable school-based need — the funded purpose field is uniformly generic ("RICHARD SIEGEL FOUNDATION GRANT"), but every dollar amount in local reporting traces back to a named school or a discrete program (Special Kids, Project Transformation Tennessee, Discovery Center, Boys & Girls Club of Rutherford County), not general operating requests. Because median awards are just $2,500 and the maximum observed is $10,000, right-size the ask: a request for $50,000+ is out of scale for this funder and likely to be declined outright given total annual giving of roughly $237K-$271K spread across dozens of recipients. For the scholarship track, the eligibility bar is explicit and non-negotiable: a minimum 2.8 GPA (4.0 scale) or a 20 composite ACT, demonstrated financial need, graduation from a Rutherford County or Murfreesboro City public high school, and a fully executed Uniform FERPA Release Form signed by both the student and a parent/legal guardian if the student is a minor — incomplete FERPA paperwork is the most commonly cited reason applications stall. Applicants should apply well before the June 1 deadline given the small volunteer administrative team (no dedicated program staff, just a church trustees committee and one named coordinator), and should note scholarships are renewable for up to four years, so demonstrating an intent to stay enrolled and maintain standards strengthens a first-year application. Because the foundation only funds within Rutherford County/Murfreesboro (248 of 271 tracked grants, 91%), organizations or students outside that footprint should not apply — there is no evidence of any exception. Given the informal, relationship-driven administration, a brief introductory phone call or email to Gina King before submitting materials — explaining who you are, what you need, and how it serves Rutherford County students — is likely to be better received than a cold-mailed form, and mirrors how repeat grantees (the same handful of schools recur across multiple years) appear to operate.