Stanford Taylor Foundation

The Stanford Taylor Foundation (EIN 87-2269834, Essex Junction, VT) is not a conventional pass-through grantmaker, and grant seekers need to recalibrate expectations accordingly. IRS filings and the Foundation's own website show it operates as a private *operating* foundation: it runs its own reading-and-vision-science research program (Nimble Reading) rather than primarily funding outside nonprofits. Across FY2021-2023 filings, only one external cash grant appears in its recipient data — $3,500 to Learning Insights Inc (Missouri) for general support — while total program spending in the same years ($7,644 in 2021, $322,019 in 2022, $485,307 in 2023) went almost entirely to the Foundation's own screener development, the AI/ML visual-skills research database, and its public-facing website and pilot program. `preselected_only` is flagged true in Foundation data, and its own application_instructions field is explicitly blank — consistent with an invitation-only, relationship-driven model rather than an open RFP. First-time applicants should not submit a cold LOI seeking general operating funds; it will very likely go unanswered. The realistic entry points are: (1) K-12 schools and districts (grades 2-12) enrolling in the free Nimble Reading Pilot Program, which provides no-cost vision/reading-efficiency screening and instructional reports; and (2) university researchers, reading scientists, or vision specialists proposing a genuine research collaboration, since the Foundation explicitly says it partners with academic researchers and school districts on field studies and is active on the academic-conference circuit (Orlando, July 2026; Ulm University, Germany, Aug-Sept 2026). Leadership is thin and closely held — President Alexandra Spichtig ($125,000 compensation) leads the research and program work alongside Vice President/General Counsel Nancy Brower ($51,376), while Secretary/Treasurer Marisha K. Taylor draws no compensation, suggesting a family-anchored governance structure typical of a young, founder-funded foundation (contributions received swung from $10,000 in 2021 to $3.1M in 2022 to $600,000 in 2023). Organizations whose mission touches literacy, vision science, or classroom screening technology are the best strategic fit; general human-services or unrelated-cause nonprofits should not prioritize this funder.

Because the Foundation pays almost nothing out to external grantees, dollar-pattern analysis has to separate "total giving" (which IRS Form 990-PF counts as including the Foundation's own program-service spending) from actual cash grants to outside organizations. Total giving reported was $7,644 (FY2021), $322,019 (FY2022), and $485,307 (FY2023); FY2024 total_giving is not yet disclosed in filings, though total assets grew to $3,339,576 on $914,550 in revenue. Against that, grants_paid to external recipients was $0 in FY2021, $0 in FY2022, and just $3,500 in FY2023 — meaning more than 99% of reported "giving" in the available years was the Foundation building its own research and product capacity (the $253,570 program-expense line tied to its 2022 accomplishments — school vision-screening research, an AI/ML visual-skills database, screener creation, and its awareness website), not checks to nonprofits. The only tracked grantee is Learning Insights Inc (Columbia, MO), which received $3,500 for general support in FY2023 — an average and median grant size of $3,500 on a sample of one, with 100% of tracked dollars going to Missouri. There is no program-area or multi-year giving trend to break down because the sample is a single grant; any grant-size expectation should be treated as illustrative, not a reliable benchmark. Revenue and asset growth, however, show real momentum: total assets nearly doubled from $2,359 at the close of FY2021 (the Foundation's near-inception year) to $3,339,576 by FY2024, driven by contributions ($10,000 → $3,133,762 → $600,000 across FY2021-2023) and net investment income ($3 → $21,324 → $151,523). That growth has funded staffing rather than grantmaking — officer compensation rose from $0 to $176,376 to $214,300 over the same three years — reinforcing that this Foundation is scaling as an operating research organization, not as a grants distributor.

All five listed peers sit within roughly $700 of Stanford Taylor's $3,339,576 in assets — a coincidence of the NTEE "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" classification bucket rather than evidence of similar giving behavior, and none has a public website on file, which is itself typical of small, closed family foundations that do not solicit or expect applications. Stanford Taylor stands apart from this peer set in a substantive way: it is a functioning operating foundation with its own research staff, published academic output, and a branded public program (Nimble Reading), while its peers show no public program footprint at all. Grant seekers should treat the asset-size similarity as noise — Stanford Taylor's actual behavior (self-directed research spending, $3,500 in lifetime tracked external grants) is closer to a program-operating nonprofit than to a conventional small family grantmaker.

The Foundation's most visible recent activity is academic, not philanthropic: on July 14, 2026 it presented "Interactions Between Cognitive Load and Visual Skills in 4th- and 5th-Grade Readers" at a conference held at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, FL, and from August 30 to September 3, 2026 it presented "Visual Skills as Predictors of Reading Efficiency: Implications for Reading Instruction" at Ulm University in Ulm, Germany. Both indicate the Foundation continues to invest in peer-reviewed research dissemination rather than press-release-style grant announcements — consistent with no news coverage found of new cash grants, board changes, or leadership transitions in 2025-2026. On the product side, the Foundation has rolled out expanded online screeners covering grades 2-8 that flag underdeveloped visual skills and inefficient reading patterns, generating individual- and class-level instructional reports, building on the original Nimble Reading Pilot Program for grades 2-12. Financially, FY2024 shows continued growth: total assets reached $3,339,576 on $914,550 in revenue, up from $692,961 in revenue the prior year, though the Foundation's FY2024 Form 990-PF does not yet break out grants_paid or total_giving figures. No new large grantees, no changes to the leadership team (Alexandra Spichtig remains President; Nancy Brower remains Vice President/General Counsel; Marisha K. Taylor remains Secretary/Treasurer), and no announced shift toward opening a public grant application process were found. In short, the trajectory is steady and internally focused: more research, wider screener deployment, and continued conference presence, with no signal of the Foundation opening up to unsolicited nonprofit funding requests.

Treat this as a partnership target, not a grants prospect, and route your energy accordingly. There is no published grant application, LOI template, deadline, or online portal — the Foundation's own data lists application_instructions as none and flags itself as preselected/invitation-only, and the only outside organization it has funded in four years of filings ($3,500 to Learning Insights Inc) came through a relationship, not a cold submission. If you are a K-12 school or district, the highest-probability move is enrolling directly in the free Nimble Reading Pilot Program (grades 2-12) via stfvision.org/programs-and-resources/pilot-signup — this costs the school nothing, takes roughly 20 minutes to screen a classroom, and is the Foundation's actual stated mechanism for engaging with schools, not a grant. If you are a university researcher, reading scientist, or vision specialist, lead with your published research and propose a joint field study; the Foundation explicitly says it partners with "university researchers, vision specialists, and school districts" and is presenting at academic venues in 2026 (Orlando in July, Ulm University in August-September), so citing that conference activity in outreach signals you've done your homework. Use the Foundation's own language when you write to them — "vision-related learning problems," "silent reading efficiency," "visual skills development," and "inefficient reading patterns" all appear directly in their materials and mission language, and mirroring it demonstrates alignment. Contact info@stfvision.org or call (772) 874-3306 directly rather than searching for a portal that doesn't exist. The most common mistake grant seekers will make is submitting a generic general-operating-support LOI as if this were a standard $3,500-$5,000 family foundation grant cycle — the data shows that channel essentially does not exist here; 99%+ of the Foundation's spending stays inside its own research and product operations. If your organization's work has no direct tie to reading efficiency, visual skills, or K-12 literacy screening, this is not a productive target regardless of asset size or geographic fit.