Rist Family Foundation

The Rist Family Foundation is a closely held, family-directed vehicle for Brian Rist (founder of Storm Smart, a Fort Myers hurricane-shutter manufacturer) and his wife Kim Marie Rist, who together hold every officer role — President/Director and Vice President/Secretary/Treasurer, per its own IRS filings. There is no program staff, no public RFP, and the foundation's own website lists application instructions as 'none.' Its grantmaking pattern shows a foundation that funds people and institutions the Rists already know: 46 of its 55 recorded grants went to Florida organizations, concentrated in the Fort Myers/Southwest Florida metro where Storm Smart is headquartered, with a notable five-grant, roughly $2.99 million relationship with the UMass Lowell Foundation (funding the Rist Institute for Sustainability & Energy) reflecting a personal or alumni connection outside Florida. First-time, unconnected applicants should not expect a cold LOI to succeed. The realistic path in is a warm introduction — through a current grantee (Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida SouthWestern State College, Harry Chapin Food Bank, Collier Lee Honor Flight, Hope Healthcare, or SWFL Children's Charities), a Fort Myers/Cape Coral business or Chamber of Commerce connection, or a shared board member — followed by a request for an appointment, since the foundation's contact page states it is reachable 'by appointment only' via Brian@ristfamilyfoundation.org or Jaime@ristfamilyfoundation.org. The relationship progression appears to run from personal introduction to direct conversation with Brian or Kim Rist rather than a staged LOI-to-full-proposal review common at larger foundations. Grant sizes bifurcate sharply: a handful of seven-figure, multi-year capital commitments to flagship institutional partners (UMass Lowell, Florida Southwestern State College, Florida Gulf Coast University) alongside a long tail of modest four- and five-figure gifts ($250 to $30,000) to smaller Southwest Florida nonprofits serving education, veterans, and social-service needs. Organizations seeking a first grant should target this second tier — a specific, modestly scoped request ($5,000-$30,000) tied to a concrete local program is far more realistic than pursuing a capital-campaign-scale ask, which historically has gone only to institutions with an established, multi-year relationship with the Rists.

Grantee-level data captures 55 grants totaling $5,234,708 at an average of $95,177 — but that average is skewed heavily by two outsized institutional commitments: $1,990,000 across two grants to the U-Mass Lowell Foundation and $1,000,000 to '2021 U-Mass Lowell Foundation' (funding the Rist Institute for Sustainability & Energy, combined ~$2.99M), plus $1,000,000 across two grants to Florida Southwestern State College (funding the Rist Cyber Institute). Strip out those three line items and the remaining 52 grants total roughly $1.24 million, averaging closer to $24,000 — far more representative of what a typical applicant can expect. The database's own 'typical grant size' field, drawn from three recent smaller grants, puts the median at $25,000 with a $10,000-$30,000 range and a $21,667 average, consistent with that long tail. Actual grant sizes below the mega-gifts run from $250 (Steven Hill) and $2,500 (Captains for Clean Water) up to $200,000 (Hope Healthcare) and $178,468 across three grants to Harry Chapin Food Bank. Geographically, 46 of 55 grants (84%) stayed in Florida — the foundation's IRS-listed geographic focus — with 5 grants to Massachusetts (the UMass Lowell relationship) and 4 to Colorado. By sector, education-linked giving dominates dollar volume: the UMass Lowell and FSW commitments alone account for roughly 76% of total recorded giving, with additional education dollars going to Oasis Charter/Middle School STEM programs ($90,000 combined) and IMAG History & Science Center ($55,000-$100,000). The remaining volume splits across social-impact/human-services nonprofits (Harry Chapin Food Bank, Valerie's House at $120,000, Community Cooperative, Pace Center for Girls) and veterans support (Collier Lee Honor Flight, $160,000). IRS Form 990-PF filings show total giving swinging from $121,461 (FY2019) and $78,752 (FY2020) up to $1,375,514 (FY2021) and $2,246,355/$1,977,104 grants paid (FY2022) — a step-change that followed a $10,000,000 contribution received in FY2021, likely funding the capital pledges to UMass Lowell and FSW. Total assets have since declined from $12.76M (FY2021) to $10.84M (FY2022) to $7.67M (FY2024), indicating the foundation is now paying down those multi-year commitments rather than building net assets.

All five peers fall within roughly $2,000 of Rist's $7,665,183 in total assets, forming a tight comparison band typical of small, single-family-directed private foundations under the same Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE classification. None of the peer foundations maintain a public website with disclosed grant guidelines (only Rochford and Hsieh have any listed website at all), reinforcing that Rist — despite also lacking a formal application process — is comparatively more transparent than this peer set by virtue of publishing a mission page and news updates. Applicants should treat all six as effectively closed-door, relationship-driven funders rather than open-competition grantmakers.

The most recent verifiable public activity from the Rist Family Foundation dates to 2022: in June 2022, Brian and Kim Rist committed more than $2.5 million to Florida SouthWestern State College's School of Business and Technology to establish the Rist Cyber Institute, and in August 2022, UMass Lowell launched the Rist Institute for Sustainability & Energy with foundation backing, focused on climate change and sustainability research. Brian Rist was subsequently named a Gulfshore Life Magazine 2022 Man of the Year (published November 7, 2022), with coverage citing his belief that community giving reflects personal success. Web searches for 2025-2026 activity turned up no confirmed new grants, leadership changes, or program announcements specific to this foundation — the foundation's own news page has not been updated with items newer than 2022. Note that a similarly named 'RIST' (Rural India Supporting Trust) made large 2025 grants to India-focused health and education nonprofits (Project Prakash Foundation, $2.8M; WHEELS Global Foundation, $400,000); this is a distinct organization unconnected to Brian and Kim Rist's Fort Myers foundation and should not be read as recent Rist Family Foundation activity. IRS Form 990-PF data shows FY2024 total revenue of $556,867 against total assets of $7,665,183, with grants-paid and total-giving figures for that year not yet available in the filing data reviewed — consistent with a foundation in a quieter, post-capital-commitment phase following its large FY2021-2022 institutional pledges.

Because the foundation publishes no LOI form, portal, or deadlines (its application_instructions field is explicitly blank), the single most important step is securing a warm introduction rather than submitting a cold proposal — the visible grant history shows essentially no unsolicited, unconnected first-time grantees. Build a connection through an existing grantee: Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida SouthWestern State College, Harry Chapin Food Bank, Hope Healthcare, Collier Lee Honor Flight, or SWFL Children's Charities, all of which have received multiple grants and likely have staff who can speak to how the relationship began. Given Brian Rist's business background (Storm Smart, a Fort Myers/Cape Coral hurricane-protection company) and civic visibility (Gulfshore Life Man of the Year, 2022), Chamber of Commerce events, FGCU/FSW donor functions, and Lee County business or veterans' community circles are realistic venues for a first, informal contact. When reaching out, use the listed emails (Brian@ristfamilyfoundation.org or Jaime@ristfamilyfoundation.org) and explicitly request an appointment — the site states the office operates 'by appointment only,' so a scheduling request, not a full proposal, should be the first ask. Frame any pitch around the foundation's four self-described pillars — Education, American Heroes (veterans), Economic Impact, and Social Impact — using that exact language where it genuinely fits, since the mission page repeatedly emphasizes these categories. Keep dollar asks realistic and tiered to the two visible giving bands: most first-relationship gifts and ongoing smaller grants fall in the $5,000-$30,000 range (median $25,000 per the foundation's own typical-grant-size data), while six- and seven-figure capital commitments have gone only to long-standing institutional partners (UMass Lowell, FSW, FGCU) after years of relationship-building. A common mistake would be submitting a generic national or out-of-state proposal — 84% of known grants stayed within Florida, so applicants outside Southwest Florida (absent a specific personal tie, as with the Massachusetts UMass Lowell relationship) face a steep uphill climb. Because there is no formal review calendar, timing outreach around the foundation's own community visibility (e.g., following news of a Rist gift or event) rather than a fiscal-year deadline is the more effective approach.