Subak Family Foundation

The Subak Family Foundation is not a staffed, mission-driven grantmaking program — it is a small, bank-administered private family trust, and grant seekers should approach it accordingly. Note first: this database's stored "mission" and program names (Changemaking Programme, Impact Lab, etc.) and website (subak.org) belong to an unrelated London-based operating nonprofit that happens to share the name "Subak"; direct review of that site confirms it has no connection to this Dallas, Texas trust. The real entity, EIN 25-6719661, was IRS-recognized in 2000, is administered through Bank of America / U.S. Trust as corporate fiduciary agent (paid roughly $33,000-$40,000/year for the service), files from a PO Box mail-forwarding address in Dallas, and is governed by co-trustees Michael Subak and Kate Elizabeth Subak — no program officers, no public guidelines, no online portal. Its own 990-PF states it funds only preselected organizations and that "an application form is not required."

Giving is overwhelmingly relationship-driven and unrestricted-general: nearly every one of the 83 tracked grants is coded "UNRESTRICTED GENERAL" rather than tied to a specific program. Three clusters dominate the recipient list: the trustees' alma maters (Guilford College is the single largest recipient at $322,000 across four gifts, followed by Colgate, Middlebury, Smith, MIT Sloan, and University of Maine Foundation); a Cape Cod, Massachusetts arts and conservation circle (Cape Playhouse, Cape Cod Center for the Arts, Dennis Conservation Trust — Massachusetts accounts for 15 of 83 tracked grants, the second-largest state); and a recurring Canada/Bermuda philanthropic circle routed through CAF America and "American Friends of" intermediaries (Art Gallery of Ontario, Hot Docs, Princess Margaret Hospital, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Friends of Bermuda Community Foundation).

For first-time applicants: there is no LOI-to-proposal-to-site-visit progression to plan for, because there is no open review process at all. Organizations without a pre-existing personal or institutional tie to the Subak family have essentially no realistic path to funding here. The productive move is to check whether your organization already sits in one of the three clusters above, or has an alumni/development relationship with one of the named colleges, and to cultivate that connection through normal donor-relations channels rather than submitting an unsolicited proposal to the foundation itself.

Based on the foundation's own 990-PF filings (through FY2023, the most recent year in this database) plus third-party 990 aggregator data for FY2024-FY2025: total assets have held steady in a narrow $4.2M-$4.6M band since 2011 (FY2023: $4,462,745), with annual giving driven largely by investment performance rather than a fixed payout formula. Grants paid have swung from a low of $105,500 (FY2013) to a high of $458,750 (FY2014), with FY2023 at $341,500 (total giving including excise tax and expenses: $378,803) on net investment income of $268,818. Third-party aggregators show continued activity since: roughly $236,000 across 48 grantees in FY2024 (Impala) and, for FY2025, either $411,750 across 24 awards (CauseIQ) or $471,370 across 15 grants (Instrumentl) — the sources disagree on exact grantee counts, which is common where 990 postings lag, but both confirm giving in the same $250K-$470K range as prior years.

Individual grant sizes documented in filings range from $1,000 (Art Gallery of Ontario, Prefix Council for Canadian American, Harbourfront Centre Foundation) up to $50,000 (Guilford College, Franklin Institute, University of Maine Foundation, Project Home, Habitat for Humanity International, American Friends of the Art Gallery of Ontario), with most individual checks clustering between $5,000 and $30,000. Cumulative multi-year totals to repeat recipients run higher — Guilford College at $322,000 across four gifts, Osborne Association at $250,000 across three. One filing line, "See Attached Statement" at $405,100 in FY2020, is a 990 reporting artifact (a rolled-up schedule of that year's grants) rather than a distinct grantee, and should not be read as a single gift.

Program mix is almost entirely unrestricted general support — 82 of 83 tracked grants carry the purpose code "UNRESTRICTED GENERAL," with one isolated SCHOLARSHIPS line item ($10,375 to Friends of Bermuda Community Fund). Geographically, of the 83 tracked grants: New York leads with 24, followed by Massachusetts (15), Virginia (11), Pennsylvania (8), North Carolina (4), Georgia and DC (3 each), California and Vermont (2 each), and Illinois (1), plus a recurring Canada/Bermuda cluster booked without a U.S. state code. The average grant across the full tracked set is $20,646, but that figure is skewed upward by the outsized outliers noted above — the typical single check is meaningfully smaller.

At roughly $4.5M in assets and $250,000-$470,000 in annual giving, the Subak Family Foundation sits at the small end of active family philanthropy — well below staffed, program-driven family foundations, and structurally closer to a bank-administered personal giving vehicle than to a mission-branded grantmaker (a distinction that matters here because this database's mismatched mission text made it look, incorrectly, like a large climate-focused capacity-building funder).

The foundation's profile — no staff, no website of its own, a bank trust department as the point of contact, and near-total concentration in "UNRESTRICTED GENERAL" purpose codes — is textbook for the smallest tier of family philanthropic vehicles, not for a mid-size or larger staffed program funder. Grant seekers who approached it expecting the climate-action, capacity-building program described in its (mismatched) database profile would be pursuing a funder that, in that form, does not exist.

This database's own financial history runs through FY2023 (grants paid $341,500, total assets $4,462,745). Third-party 990 aggregators extend the picture into FY2024 and FY2025: Impala reports FY2024 giving of roughly $236,000 across 48 grantees; CauseIQ and Instrumentl both report FY2025 activity, though their totals diverge ($411,750 across 24 awards vs. $471,370 across 15 grants) — a common discrepancy when aggregators capture 990 filings at different times, but both confirm the foundation remains actively distributing funds at a scale consistent with its history.

The most notable individual data point from FY2025 is a $30,000 grant to The Ocean Foundation, a Washington, DC-based ocean-conservation grantmaking intermediary — the first grantee visible outside the foundation's three established clusters (alma maters, Cape Cod MA arts/conservation, and the Canada/Bermuda circle). Whether this reflects a genuine new interest area or a one-off personal gift by a trustee cannot be determined from public filings alone. FY2025 filings also confirm continued gifts to established relationships, including Guilford College ($50,000) and University of Maine Foundation ($50,000).

No leadership changes were identified: Michael Subak and Kate Elizabeth Subak continue to appear as co-trustees, and Bank of America / U.S. Trust Company continues as the corporate fiduciary agent (compensation reported around $33,000-$40,000/year in recent filings). No press coverage, social media activity beyond a bare LinkedIn company listing, or dedicated foundation communications were found. The subak.org content referenced elsewhere in this profile describes a separate, unrelated UK nonprofit and has no bearing on this foundation's actual recent activity.

There is no formal application process to optimize for here, so "tips" for this funder are really tips for relationship-building. First, take the foundation's own filings at face value: they state it funds only preselected organizations and that "an application form is not required." Submitting a cold LOI or proposal directly to the foundation is very unlikely to be reviewed, since there is no program officer, no published RFP, and no listed grants portal — the only contact on file is "% US Trust Company," a bank trust department, and the listed phone number (888) 866-3275 reaches a fiduciary services line, not foundation staff.

The highest-leverage move is to determine whether your organization already sits inside one of the foundation's three recurring giving clusters: (1) the trustees' alma maters — Guilford College, Colgate University, Middlebury College, Smith College, MIT Sloan School, and University of Maine Foundation have all received repeat gifts; (2) a Cape Cod, Massachusetts arts and conservation circle (Cape Playhouse, Cape Cod Center for the Arts, Dennis Conservation Trust); or (3) a Canada/Bermuda philanthropic circle typically routed through CAF America or an "American Friends of" intermediary (Art Gallery of Ontario, Hot Docs, Princess Margaret Hospital, Friends of Bermuda Community Foundation). If your organization has genuine ties to any of these, the productive channel is your institution's own advancement or major-gifts office — flag the Subak family as legacy donor prospects and let a development officer make the ask, rather than routing through a foundation-relations process that doesn't functionally exist here.

Because virtually every historical grant is coded "UNRESTRICTED GENERAL," come prepared with general-purpose stewardship materials (a concise annual report, financial summary, and impact update) rather than a restricted-program budget — that is what this kind of relationship-based unrestricted funder actually responds to. A common mistake would be to pitch this funder using language about climate action or capacity-building systems change; that description belongs to an unrelated organization and does not reflect what this foundation has ever actually funded. Realistically, this prospect belongs in a long-term cultivation pipeline, not an active solicitation cycle — expect, at best, a $5,000-$50,000 unrestricted annual gift once a genuine relationship exists.