St Augustine Foundation

St. Augustine Foundation is a hyper-local, single-subject research funder — its entire $6.7M-asset endowment exists to support "the study and promotion of the history and restoration of St. Augustine," not general charitable giving. It has no universal application, no online portal, and no stated deadline ("None." per its own filings), and it operates out of an appointment-only office at 97 St. George Street. That structure signals a relationship-driven, invitation-adjacent process rather than a competitive open RFP: applicants typically first make contact (904-501-3375 or staugfoundation@gmail.com) to request the Foundation's own detailed proposal-instructions document before drafting anything.

Two grantee tiers are visible in the record. The largest one-time awards go to established institutional partners — Flagler College received $95,000 for a single grant tied to St. Augustine history/restoration study, by far the largest sum in the current 8-grant, $199,466 snapshot. Below that sits a tier of $25,000 single-grant awards to well-known local institutions: the Saint Augustine Historical Society, the Lightner Museum, and Friends of Lincolnville. A third pattern, now closed, was recurring smaller support ($29,465 across three payments) to the Historic St. Augustine Research Institute (HSARI) for research initiatives and its annual public lecture series; HSARI dissolved in 2025, its functions absorbed directly into the Foundation via a new internal committee, SAFCHR.

For a first-time applicant, the practical path in is either (a) apply as, or through, an established St. Augustine cultural institution with a track record (museum, historical society, college), or (b) become an individual researcher sponsored by such a public charity, since the Foundation's eligibility rules require grants to flow to public charities "to support individuals selected by the public institution." The Foundation states a strong preference for terminal-degree (Ph.D.-level) researchers and, as a rule, does not fund those without at least a completed undergraduate degree. There is no evidence of a formal LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline; instead, the small board (roughly seven directors) and its newly formalized SAFCHR research committee suggest direct outreach and relationship-building with SAFCHR's chair — an ex-officio board member — is the most realistic on-ramp before a full proposal is invited.

Total assets stood at $6.71 million as of the FY2024 filing, up from $4.74 million in FY2019 — growth driven almost entirely by investment returns rather than new contributions (contributions_received has been $0 in every year on record back to 2012). Net investment income swung from $837,173 in FY2021 (a strong market year) down to $398,467 in FY2023, and total giving/program spending has tracked in a $337,250-$519,161 band across FY2019-FY2023.

Critically, "total giving" — which includes the Foundation's own direct programs (property maintenance on its historic holdings, the Speaker Series, the Proctor Award) — runs far larger than the cash "grants paid" line to outside organizations, which has been volatile and small: $54,465 (FY2019), $190,000 (FY2020), $0 (FY2021), $10,300 (FY2022), and $20,000 (FY2023). This gap, often $300,000+, indicates most of the Foundation's charitable spending funds activities it runs itself rather than a large pool of external cash grants.

The clearest picture of actual grantmaking comes from the grantee-level data: 8 grants totaling $199,466 (average $24,933), 100% to Florida-based organizations. The Foundation's own typical-grant-size figure narrows this to 4 core project grants: median $25,000, average $42,500, range $25,000-$95,000. The single largest award, $95,000 to Flagler College, is roughly 3.8x the median and dwarfs everything else in the snapshot — three other institutions (Saint Augustine Historical Society, Lightner Museum, Friends of Lincolnville) each received exactly $25,000 for one-time history/restoration study grants. The remaining allocation, $29,465 across three payments to the now-dissolved Historic St. Augustine Research Institute, funded recurring research and lecture-series support before that organization's 2025 wind-down. Officer compensation, $0 through FY2021, rose to $54,209 (FY2022) and $65,707 (FY2023), coinciding with professionalization of the Executive Director & Property Manager role — a signal the Foundation is investing more in staff capacity than in expanding its external grants pool.

These five peers were matched purely on near-identical asset size ($6.71M-$6.72M) and the same generic NTEE "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" classification — not on subject-matter overlap; per-foundation annual giving figures were not available in the dataset (N/D). None appears to share St. Augustine Foundation's defining trait: a hyper-local, single-city, single-topic research mandate written directly into its governing purpose. Tractor Supply Company Foundation is a corporate-giving vehicle, and Colin Family Foundation, Brennan Charitable, Perrin Family Park, and Indium/Macartney read as conventional family or corporate-affiliated foundations likely making discretionary gifts across broad categories rather than funding scholarly research. Because St. Augustine Foundation occupies such a narrow niche — Florida colonial and territorial history, archaeology, and historic-building restoration in one specific city — it faces essentially no direct grantmaking competitors of similar size; the closer comparisons are its own former partner HSARI (now absorbed via SAFCHR) and other St. Augustine cultural institutions, not these asset-matched peers. That gives well-aligned applicants a comparatively uncrowded field, but a very small total pool of external dollars (roughly $200K/year across the current grantee snapshot).

The most significant recent development is structural: in 2025, the Historic St. Augustine Research Institute (HSARI) — an independent 501(c)(3) that had operated since 2000 as a joint partnership between Flagler College and the University of Florida, and which received $29,465 across three grants from the Foundation for research initiatives and its annual public lecture series — was dissolved. Its functions were absorbed directly into St. Augustine Foundation through a newly created internal committee, the St. Augustine Foundation Center for Historic Research (SAFCHR), which now manages the Speaker Series, the William L. Proctor Award, Associate Members, and grant recommendations to the board, with its chair serving as an ex-officio Foundation director.

On the grantmaking side, the Foundation's 2026 grants page names four funded research projects: Dr. Denise Bossy's survey of French colonial archives documenting St. Augustine's founding; M.C. Mirow's study of land-claim records from 1822-1845; Dr. J. Michael Francis's digital exhibit on "St. Patrick's Day and the Irish Diaspora in Colonial St. Augustine, 1595-1821"; and Dr. Susan Parker's research on "Enslaved Black Labor to Support Religion in La Florida." Separately, the annual William L. Proctor Award ($1,000 book prize) named two 2026 finalists — "Fort Mose, Second Edition" (Deagan, MacMahon, Landers) and "Landscapes and Languages" (Johnson) — following 2025's winner, "Catholicism and Native Americans in Early North America" (ed. Deagan). Leadership has also shifted: the Foundation's current Board Chair is Dr. William T. Abare, Jr., with Sara Schulz serving as Executive Director & Property Manager, a paid role that emerged as officer compensation began appearing on filings starting FY2022. Note: the Foundation's website on file (staugustinefoundation.org) is a dead/placeholder domain; its live site is staugfoundation.org.

There is no downloadable or online application — the Foundation's own filings state plainly "the Foundation does not have a universal application for grant awards." The first concrete step for any applicant is direct contact: call 904-501-3375 or email staugfoundation@gmail.com to request the Foundation's detailed proposal-instructions document, since the office operates by appointment only at 97 St. George Street. Do not submit a generic letter of inquiry; request the actual instructions document and follow its structure exactly.

Credentials matter more here than at most funders: the Foundation states that, "as a rule," it does not fund research by individuals below the Ph.D. level, and gives preference to applicants who have at least completed an undergraduate degree. A master's-level or ABD researcher without strong institutional backing is a harder sell than a Ph.D. holder with an established St. Augustine research record. Because grants legally flow to public charities that "select" the individual researcher, applicants without an existing institutional home should secure fiscal sponsorship from a St. Augustine-connected public charity (a university, museum, or historical society) before applying, not after.

Every proposal element must trace back to St. Augustine specifically — the required narrative must show "a connection between the research and the Foundation," so proposals on general Florida, colonial-America, or Southeastern U.S. history without a direct St. Augustine hook are weak fits. Reviewers will want the full packet: applicant name and institutional affiliation, project description and methodology with expected research outcomes, a projected budget and the specific amount requested, a project timetable, CV/vita and references, any required research permits (relevant for archaeological digs), and documentation of the sponsoring institution's public charity status.

A common misstep implied by the funding record: treating this as a general local-history grant rather than a scholarly research grant. The largest recent awards ($95,000 to Flagler College; $25,000 each to the Historical Society, Lightner Museum, and Friends of Lincolnville) all went to established institutions with demonstrable research or preservation track records, not first-time community groups. Given the small board and appointment-only office, building a relationship with SAFCHR — the Foundation's new research committee, via Associate Membership or Speaker Series participation — before submitting a formal request is likely to matter more here than a polished cold proposal.