Sorenson Family Foundation Inc.

Sorenson Family Foundation Inc. (also filed as the Sorenson-Pearson Family Foundation) is about as informal as private foundations get: a two-person, unstaffed operation run by President Wendy S. Pearson and Secretary Richard W. Sorenson, both uncompensated, out of a residential address in Collinsville/Canton, Connecticut. There is no mission statement, no NTEE classification, no published program areas, and no online application — the IRS record itself lists the application process simply as "Request by letter" with restrictions that "vary." This structure signals a legacy family vehicle for personal and community giving rather than an institutional grantmaker seeking new applicants at scale.

With total assets around $4.28-4.44 million and annual charitable disbursements in the $200K-$360K range, this is a small foundation by any measure, and the available grantee data (a single IRS attachment listing four grants totaling $1,215,300, averaging $303,825, all directed within Connecticut) suggests giving is concentrated among a small number of recipients rather than spread across an open competitive pool. That concentration, combined with the complete absence of a grants portal, RFP, or public program description, strongly implies this foundation gives primarily to organizations the family already knows — likely Connecticut-based institutions with a personal or historical connection to the Sorenson/Pearson family.

First-time applicants should treat this as a relationship-first funder, not a competitive-application funder. There is no LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline, no site-visit process, and no indication of a formal review committee — decisions likely rest with the two officers directly. The realistic path in is a concise, personal letter (not a grant application packet) explaining who you are, why your organization is relevant to the family's interests, and ideally referencing any Connecticut or Collinsville-area connection. Cold, generic proposals mailed with no context are unlikely to get traction given the foundation's small, closed-circle giving pattern. Organizations without a plausible Connecticut tie or personal connection to the family should weigh the low probability of success against the effort of a mailed request, since there is no published feedback loop or acknowledgment process to learn from a decline.

Total annual giving has ranged from a low of $201,141 (2011) to a high of $419,447 (2022) over the last decade-plus of filings, with grants actually paid out (a slightly narrower measure than total giving, which includes some administrative/qualifying costs) ranging from $193,000 (2011) to $362,300 (2022). The most recent DB-recorded fiscal year (2023) shows grants paid of $230,900 against total giving of $284,203; the foundation's newest filing (FY2025, filed with the IRS May 14, 2026) reports charitable disbursements of roughly $300,400 — indicating giving recovered after the 2023 dip and now sits close to its 2021 level ($307,700 paid).

Assets have been essentially flat to slightly declining over the long run: $2.87M (2011) grew to $5.02M (2019) during a strong investment period, then drifted down to $4.28-4.44M in 2021-2025 as markets cooled and the foundation posted small net losses in FY2024 (-$140,702) and FY2025 (-$14,765). Revenue is 100% investment-driven — dividends, interest, and capital gains — with zero contributions received in any year on record; this is a closed-family endowment, not one that raises outside money.

The only recipient-level detail available is a single IRS schedule-of-contributions attachment covering four grants totaling $1,215,300 (average $303,825 per grant), with a 100% Connecticut geographic footprint. Because this figure exceeds any single year's total giving in the financial history, it most likely represents an aggregated or multi-year attachment rather than one fiscal year's complete recipient list — the underlying detail (organization names, individual amounts, purpose beyond "see attached list") was not digitized in public IRS data. Grant seekers should treat the $200K-$360K/year range and the 100%-Connecticut pattern as the most reliable planning numbers, and assume individual awards in this size band cluster in the low-to-mid six figures based on the average grant size observed ($303,825).

No pre-matched peer set was available in the data bundle for this foundation, so the comparison below uses similarly small, unstaffed private family foundations surfaced during research (via CauseIQ's "similar organizations" data) as the closest available benchmark class. Full asset and giving figures were not independently verified for the peer rows, so revenue is shown where that was the only disclosed figure.

All four are classified as small, private, non-communicating "T20" family foundations with no paid staff and no public grant program — a common structural type where family officers direct giving informally rather than through a stated mission. Sorenson sits at the smaller end of this peer set by disclosed revenue/giving, and unlike some peers it does at least confirm (via IRS record) that it is open to unsolicited letter requests, even without deadlines or a portal — a marginally more accessible posture than foundations that publish no application information at all.

There is no news coverage, press release, leadership change, or program announcement on record for this foundation — consistent with an unstaffed, two-officer family vehicle that does not communicate publicly. The only confirmed recent activity is administrative: the foundation's FY2025 Form 990-PF was filed with the IRS on May 14, 2026 (for the year ending December 2025), reporting total assets of $4,284,069, charitable disbursements of approximately $300,400, and a modest net investment loss of -$14,765, following a larger loss of -$140,702 in FY2024. Leadership remains unchanged: Wendy S. Pearson (President) and Richard W. Sorenson (Secretary), both uncompensated, are the only officers listed across every filing year in the record, with no evidence of a succession event or new trustee addition.

Giving activity, as best it can be reconstructed from filings, shows a recovery after a 2023 dip: total giving fell to $284,203 in FY2023 (grants paid $230,900) after peaking at $419,447 in FY2022, then rebounded toward the $300K range in the FY2025 filing. Grant seekers should not expect a public grant cycle, RFP, or announcement of a new funding round — any outreach should be based on the standing letter-request process rather than a specific timed opportunity, since this foundation shows no pattern of publicizing funding rounds.

There is no application form, no portal, and no published deadline — the IRS record and third-party grant directories agree the only accepted format is a letter mailed to 51 West Road, Collinsville/Canton, CT 06019 (phone (860) 693-6441 for inquiries). Because no online option exists, do not search for or submit through sorenson.org: that domain is an unrelated private family member portal (login/webmail page for a different family), not this foundation's application channel — a mismatch that appears in the foundation's own web-enrichment record and should be disregarded by applicants.

Given the two-person, uncompensated leadership structure (Wendy S. Pearson, Richard W. Sorenson) and the concentrated, 100%-Connecticut grantee footprint visible in IRS data, the strongest positioning is a genuine Connecticut connection — geographic proximity to Collinsville/Canton, a historical tie to the Sorenson or Pearson family, or a shared community/institutional link. Applicants with no Connecticut nexus and no personal connection face a materially harder path, since there is no open RFP process designed to surface unfamiliar organizations.

Keep the letter short and direct rather than submitting a full grant application packet: state who you are, your 501(c)(3) status, a specific funding need and amount (the historical average award size is roughly $300,000 per grant, though this reflects a very small sample and total annual giving of only $230K-$360K, so most individual requests are likely far smaller), and why the Sorenson/Pearson family specifically would care. Avoid generic form-letter asks — a foundation this small and this quiet is almost certainly making decisions on personal judgment, not a scored rubric. Because there is no published review timeline, follow up by phone after 60-90 days if you haven't heard back, but do not expect an acknowledgment process or formal decline letter; absence of a response likely signals a pass. Do not confuse this foundation with the unrelated, much larger Sorenson Legacy/Sorenson Impact Foundation network in Utah, which uses a formal SurveyMonkey Apply portal with quarterly deadlines (Mar 1/Jun 1/Sep 1/Dec 1) — applying there will not reach this foundation.