Sears Family Foundation Inc.

Sears Family Foundation Inc. is a four-person, all-volunteer family foundation based in Raleigh, NC, run entirely by members of the Sears family — Lynn H. Sears (President), James R. Sears (Vice President), J. Ryan Sears (Treasurer), and Casie S. Kerr (Secretary) — none of whom draw compensation. It has no website, no staff, no published funding guidelines, and application_instructions on file simply read "none." Treat it as a closed, relationship-driven funder rather than an open RFP process. Correspondence should go by mail to PO Box 33483, Raleigh, NC 27636; third-party trackers (Impala.digital) confirm "submission by mail" is the only documented channel, with no portal or online form.

The foundation's own grant history (23 grants, $475,000, since its 2009 founding) is overwhelmingly local: 22 of 23 grants went to North Carolina organizations, with Raleigh/Wake County human-services nonprofits dominating — StepUp Ministry, Boys & Girls Club of Wake County, Manna FoodBank, Food Bank of Eastern NC, Oak City Cares, and domestic-violence/family-support groups like The Women's Center and Women That Care Inc. Fourteen of its seventeen distinct grantees are labeled simply "GENERAL OPERATIONS" or "GENERAL PURPOSES" — a strong signal the board prefers flexible, unrestricted gifts over tightly scoped program asks.

First-time applicants should calibrate expectations to scale: the foundation's "typical_grant_size" data shows a median of just $2,000 (range $500-$8,000, average $2,938) for its routine giving. Separately, it has made one dramatic exception — a two-part, $317,000 commitment to Casa's "Kings Ridge" project, equal to two-thirds of its entire 15-year grant total — which reads as a personally-driven, capital-style commitment rather than a replicable application outcome. A newcomer's realistic entry point is a modest, flexible general-operating request in the $2,000-$10,000 band, ideally introduced through an existing grantee or a Wake County community-foundation contact, since there is no cold-inquiry mechanism to rely on otherwise.

Across the 23 grants recorded in the foundation's own grantee history (2009-2024, totaling $475,000), the average award is $20,652 — but that figure is heavily distorted by a single outlier: two grants totaling $317,000 (66.7% of all-time giving) to Casa for its "Kings Ridge" project. Strip that out and the remaining 21 grants total roughly $158,000, averaging about $7,500 each — much closer to the foundation's own stated "typical_grant_size" metric of a $2,000 median (range $500-$8,000, average $2,938, n=16).

Annual payout has been volatile and appears to track lump-sum family contributions rather than steady investment income: FY2012 $37,000; FY2013 $44,800; FY2014 $59,800; FY2015 $41,000; FY2019 $20,750; FY2020 $47,000 (a $0-contribution year); FY2021 $161,000 (fed by a $550,000 family contribution that year); FY2022 $181,000 (contributions fell to $0, so this drew down reserves); FY2023 $52,000 (despite a $500,000 contribution — suggesting a lag between funding-in and payout); FY2024 $113,000 (on a $250,000 contribution). Web research (Instrumentl, not yet reflected in primary filings data) reports FY2025 giving hit a record $201,000 across 9 grants, continuing an upward trend as total assets grew from $385,711 (2014) to $1,498,318 (2024) — nearly a 4x increase over a decade, driven primarily by episodic family contributions ($250K-$550K in four of the last five reported years) rather than organic investment returns.

Geographically, the foundation's own data shows 22 of 23 grants (96%) going to North Carolina, with 1 to New York; by program area, it is almost entirely human services (food security, housing/shelter, youth development, workforce readiness, domestic-violence support) rather than education, arts, or health, despite its formal IRS classification as a general-purpose T90 "Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking" entity.

The five foundations grantedai.com's peer-matching surfaced share Sears Family Foundation's IRS NTEE classification ("Philanthropy & Grantmaking") and an almost identical asset size (~$1.498 million each) — but they are scattered across PA, OH, TX, IL, and CT, with no public website or disclosed annual-giving figures for any of them. This strongly suggests the peer set was built on asset-tier matching rather than mission or geographic overlap, and none of the five appear to share Sears's de facto Wake County/human-services focus.

All six foundations, including Sears, sit within a $400 range of total assets ($1,498,069-$1,498,491) — an unusually tight cluster that points to an algorithmic asset-bracket grouping rather than a curated peer set. None of the other five have a public grant history, website, or application process on record, so grant seekers should not assume shared priorities; a true peer group for Sears would be drawn from other unstaffed, family-run NC foundations making sub-$10,000 general-operating gifts to Wake County human-services nonprofits.

No news articles, press releases, or media coverage were found for Sears Family Foundation Inc. in 2025 or 2026 — expected for a four-person, all-volunteer family foundation with no website or communications staff. The same four Sears/Kerr family members (Lynn H. Sears as President, James R. Sears as Vice President, J. Ryan Sears as Treasurer, Casie S. Kerr as Secretary) have held their roles across every filing year reviewed back through 2012, with no leadership turnover identified.

The most notable recent development is financial rather than programmatic: per Instrumentl's 990 tracking, FY2025 giving reportedly reached $201,000 across 9 grants — the foundation's highest annual payout on record, up roughly 78% from FY2024's $113,000 (11 grants) and far above the $20,750-$59,800 range typical of its first decade (2012-2020). This acceleration follows total assets climbing from $721,711 (2022) to $1,376,718 (2024) to a reported $1,498,318 most recently, fueled by family contributions of $500,000 (2023) and $550,000 (2021).

The single largest identifiable commitment in the foundation's history remains the two-part $317,000 grant to Casa for its "Kings Ridge" initiative — a program/capital-style commitment that stands apart from the foundation's otherwise consistent pattern of $2,000-$10,000 general-operating gifts to Raleigh-area human-services groups. No new program announcements, geographic expansions, or strategic-priority statements were found; the foundation continues to operate without a public mission statement, programs description, or grants page.

There is no formal application process, portal, or published deadline for Sears Family Foundation Inc. — application_instructions on file simply read "none," and no grants page or funding-guidelines document exists anywhere online. Treat every step below as inference from third-party 990 trackers (Impala.digital, Instrumentl) rather than foundation-stated policy.

1. Lead with a phone call, not a cold letter. Call (919) 532-7504 first to confirm whether the foundation is currently accepting inquiries and who should receive correspondence — Lynn H. Sears is the listed President and principal contact across every source reviewed. 2. Mail, don't email or submit online. Impala.digital's funder profile explicitly lists "submission by mail" as the method; there is no evidence of an email intake address or web form, so a physical letter to PO Box 33483, Raleigh, NC 27636 is the documented channel. 3. Match their language: ask for general operating support, not a restricted program. Fourteen of the foundation's seventeen distinct grantees are coded "GENERAL OPERATIONS" or "GENERAL PURPOSES" — proposals framed around flexible, unrestricted funding appear to fit the board's preference far better than tightly scoped project asks. 4. Anchor your ask at $2,000-$10,000. That is both the foundation's stated typical-grant range (median $2,000, max $8,000 per its own data) and the band occupied by nearly every grantee except the single $317,000 Casa/Kings Ridge outlier — don't anchor expectations on that exception unless you already have a direct relationship with a trustee. 5. Emphasize direct Wake County/Raleigh service delivery. Every identified grantee — StepUp Ministry (workforce readiness), Manna FoodBank and Food Bank of Eastern NC (food security), Boys & Girls Club of Wake County (youth), The Women's Center and Women That Care Inc. (domestic violence/family support), Oak City Cares (homelessness) — delivers hands-on human services in the Triangle area. A proposal outside that geography or service type is a weak fit based on the full grant history available. 6. Expect no staged review (LOI → site visit → full proposal). No source found evidence of a multi-step process typical of staffed foundations; decisions appear to rest directly with the four family trustees. 7. A warm introduction likely outperforms a polished cold proposal. Given the absence of any public intake process, a reference from an existing grantee or a Wake County community-foundation contact is the most credible lever available to a first-time applicant. 8. Time your ask to their funding cycle, not a fiscal-year deadline. Giving has swung from $20,750 to $201,000 year-over-year, tracking irregular lump-sum family contributions rather than a fixed calendar — a request that lands in a high-contribution year (like FY2021, FY2023, or reportedly FY2025) may find more capacity than one in a lean year.