Stitt Foundation Inc.

The Stitt Foundation Inc. is a Stitt-family-only operating vehicle — every officer and director (James E. Stitt, Carol A. Stitt, John F. Stitt, James M. Stitt) is uncompensated, there is no program staff, and its own website (stittfoundation.org) is a single landing page reading "Empowering Communities, Inspiring Change" with nothing beyond a name/email contact form — no grants page, guidelines, portal, or deadlines. IRS filings list an application restriction of "educational organizations, hospitals, social service organizations, and other charitable institutions," but no published LOI or proposal process exists. This is the profile of a quiet, personally-directed family foundation, not an institutional grantmaker: 52 of its 66 tracked grants (79%) went to organizations in Olean and Cattaraugus County, NY, where Cutco Corporation (James E. Stitt is executive chairman) is headquartered and where the family has served for decades on the boards of St. Bonaventure University, Jamestown Community College, the Olean Business Development Corp., and the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation (CRCF). Secondary grant clusters in coastal South Carolina (9 grants) and Bonita Springs, FL (2 grants) track the family's apparent seasonal residences, while a $15,000 gift to the University of Dayton — funding an "Acoustics Stitt Cohort Room" and the Phil Doepker Scholarship — traces directly to Jim Stitt Jr.'s undergraduate alma mater. First-time applicants should not expect a competitive RFP cycle; the realistic path in is a warm introduction through one of these institutions, or a short written letter that names a specific shared connection rather than a generic capabilities pitch. Because the family also funds a named fund through CRCF, Cattaraugus County nonprofits may get a faster, more structured response by applying through CRCF's own grant process than by writing the private foundation cold. Given zero program staff, expect any request to be read personally by James or Carol Stitt, and expect an informal, unhurried timeline rather than a published decision date.

Across the 66 grants captured in the data (spanning roughly FY2021-FY2023 filings), the Stitt Foundation gave $274,750 total at an average of $4,163 per grant — but the distribution is bimodal, not evenly spread. The bulk of grants cluster at $1,000-$2,000 (roughly 25 of the 66, mostly Olean-area human-service and civic groups: Salvation Army, Olean Food Pantry, Special Olympics WNY, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Directions Independent Living), while a small number of larger, relationship-driven gifts anchor the top of the range: two $50,000 grants (Ogh Foundation, for "vascular" purposes, and Walsh Southern Tier Catholic, general support), $19,000 across two years to SBU Club Hockey, $15,000 to the University of Dayton (named acoustics room plus a named scholarship), and $12,500 spread across three purpose-coded gifts to the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation (Pete Buchheit Memorial, a "RAM Project," and general support). Geographically, 52 of 66 grants (79%) went to New York organizations, almost entirely in the Olean/Cattaraugus County corridor; 9 went to South Carolina (Hilton Head-area groups including Boys & Girls Club Hilton Head and Carolina Coastal Arts Center); 2 to Florida (Bonita Springs Senior Center); 2 to Ohio (University of Dayton); and 1 to Georgia. On the financials, the foundation's payout has scaled sharply: grants_paid was $0 in FY2020, $36,000 in FY2021, $29,250 in FY2022, then jumped to $209,500 in FY2023 — roughly a 7x increase in one year. Total assets grew in step, from $853,352 (FY2020) to $4,554,772 (FY2023, and $4,880,762 as of the latest snapshot), fueled by large annual contributions ($783,997 to $2,885,521 per year) that consistently outpaced grants paid. FY2023's payout of $209,500 against $4,554,772 in assets is a roughly 4.6% payout ratio — near the IRS's 5% minimum distribution requirement for private foundations, suggesting the family may increase grantmaking further as the asset base matures.

All five peer foundations sit within roughly $1,000 of the Stitt Foundation's $4,880,762 in assets and share its IRS "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" classification, and none maintain a public website — a pattern consistent with small, single-family vehicles that give informally rather than through a competitive process. Where the Stitt Foundation differs is transparency of intent: its live website (however minimal) and traceable 990 grant schedule give applicants at least a geographic and dollar-range signal that the peer foundations' silence does not offer, making it comparatively easier to identify as a realistic target for Cattaraugus County, NY nonprofits specifically.

The most significant 2025-2026 developments involve the Stitt family's broader philanthropic footprint rather than the foundation's own grant list. On 2025-12-02, SUNY Jamestown Community College renamed its entrepreneurship hub "The Hatch" as the James E. and Carol Stitt Center for Entrepreneurship, crediting decades of combined Cutco Corporation and Stitt Foundation support for JCC scholarships, its Manufacturing Technology Institute, the Cutco Theater, and incubator programming for local youth. On 2026-05-17, St. Bonaventure University awarded Jim and Carol Stitt honorary degrees at commencement, citing their 2018 founding gift for SBU's Entrepreneurship Center and Jim's 2011-2020 SBU trusteeship. Separately, on 2026-04-30 the Olean Times Herald reported that James E. Stitt — executive chairman of Cutco Corporation — is stepping down as chairman of the Olean Business Development Corp., an organization he helped found, marking a leadership transition in one of the family's other civic vehicles. No 2025 or 2026 grant-cycle announcements, new funding priorities, or staffing changes specific to the Stitt Foundation itself were found; the foundation's own communications remain limited to its bare landing page. Third-party aggregator data (Instrumentl) cites a large jump to $1,738,438 across 29 grants in 2025 versus $291,000 in 2024, but this could not be corroborated against a primary IRS filing during this research and should be treated as unverified rather than confirmed.

There is no published RFP, LOI template, deadline, or online portal for the Stitt Foundation — applicants are working from IRS Form 990 grant schedules and a one-page website, so the standard "submit and wait" approach will likely go nowhere. First, target geography tightly: 79% of tracked grants (52 of 66) went to Olean/Cattaraugus County, NY organizations, so out-of-region requests without a personal tie (the exceptions are Hilton Head SC, Bonita Springs FL, and the University of Dayton — all traceable to specific family connections) are long shots. Second, lead with relationship, not need: the grant list is dominated by organizations where a Stitt family member sits or has sat on the board (SBU, JCC, CRCF, Olean Business Development Corp.) or that carry personal significance (Jim Stitt Jr.'s alma mater, University of Dayton; SBU Club Hockey). A cold proposal citing only community need, with no named connection, is unlikely to stand out against that pattern. Third, keep the ask proportionate: roughly 60% of grants are $1,000-$2,000, so a first request from an organization with no prior relationship should likely be modest (under $5,000) rather than assuming eligibility for the rare $50,000 gifts, which appear tied to deep, long-standing ties (Catholic diocesan institutions, medical/vascular causes). Fourth, consider the indirect route: because the family also runs a Stitt Family Fund through the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation, Cattaraugus County nonprofits may get more traction — and a real process with real deadlines — by applying through CRCF rather than the private foundation directly. Fifth, write, don't call first: send a concise one-to-two-page letter to 202 Woodview Ave, Olean, NY 14760 or via the stittfoundation.org contact form, addressed to James E. Stitt (President), stating the specific project, amount requested, and — critically — the shared connection or local relevance that makes the ask relevant to this family. Common mistake to avoid: treating this like a staffed foundation with a review committee; there is no program staff, so overly formal grant-application packaging (multi-page narratives, logic models, budget templates) is likely to be less effective than a direct, personal letter.