Taft Foundation

The Taft Foundation is a mission-specific private foundation that funds exclusively by invitation — your entry point is never a submitted proposal but a cultivated relationship. Founded in 2004 in memory of Don Taft, the foundation has distributed more than $127 million to 240+ organizations over two decades, building a tightly curated portfolio of long-term grantee partners. Its philosophy centers on direct service providers who work with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) or who deliver therapeutic enrichment to seriously ill children — capital campaigns, endowments, and academic research are explicitly outside scope.

The foundation strongly favors established nonprofits with multi-year track records in its two target geographies: New York City Metro and Southeast Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties). The top-50 grantee list reads as a roster of sector leaders — Children's Aid has received 13 grants totaling $4.2 million, The Center for Discovery 8 grants totaling $4 million, and The Arc Westchester 7 grants worth $3.2 million. These relationships span five-plus years, and many grants explicitly build on prior-cycle work. First-time grantees should understand Taft's model as sustained partnership, not single-cycle transactions.

Relationship progression typically moves from informal introduction through a trusted mutual connection or existing grantee, to exploratory conversations with Executive Director Nina Bershadker or program staff, to a formal invitation to submit a proposal through the grantee portal. There is no public LOI cycle or rolling open application. The foundation is explicit that unsolicited requests are not reviewed.

The foundation targets organizations that are 'mission-aligned and demonstrate positive impact on the community, with a focus on reaching disadvantaged and under-resourced communities.' Practically, this means direct service providers serving individuals with significant support needs — not advocacy organizations working primarily at the policy level, and not organizations whose I/DD programming is a small fraction of a broader mission. The clearest path to an invitation is exceptional program quality, sector visibility, and word-of-mouth from organizations already in the portfolio.

Across 590 documented grants totaling $66.9 million in the public record, The Taft Foundation's median grant is $75,000 with an average of $113,463. The range extends from small emergency or capacity-building grants to multi-year awards reaching $542,863 for major institutional partners. In practice, most first grants to new partners land in the $75,000-$150,000 range, with amounts scaling as the relationship matures.

Annual giving has been consistent and substantial: grants paid were $9.95 million in FY2019, $10.8 million in FY2020, $10.6 million in FY2021, $11.7 million in FY2022, and $11.4 million in FY2023, with total giving (including program-related expenses) reaching $12.3-13.7 million in peak years. FY2024 data on grants paid is not yet filed, but total revenue of $15.3 million suggests continued grantmaking activity. Foundation assets have grown from $167 million in FY2019 to $240 million in FY2024 — a 44% increase driven by net investment income of $9.1-19.5 million annually. Despite this asset growth, the grants-paid figure has not scaled proportionally, implying a payout rate declining from approximately 6% to 4.7% of assets.

Geographically, New York-based organizations receive approximately 63% of grants by count (371 of 590 documented), with Florida organizations accounting for 26% (155 grants). The remaining 11% includes organizations in Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington DC, Oregon, Maryland, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — most of which serve the NYC or Florida target populations through affiliated branches.

By program type, employment and transition services for I/DD individuals dominate: Job Path Inc., The Arc Westchester, Arc Broward, Bridges from School to Work, Best Buddies (NY and FL), FAU's Academy for Community Inclusion, and the Nicholas Center all appear among top recipients. Medical enrichment grants — anchored by Healthy Humor's Red Nose Docs hospital program ($1.9 million over 7 grants) and St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children — represent a meaningful but smaller share. Arts accessibility for I/DD audiences (Lincoln Center, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Theatre Development Fund) represents a distinctive third strand, each receiving approximately $600,000 over multiple grants.

The table below compares The Taft Foundation to asset-equivalent peers identified in the foundation database, all with total assets in the $239-241 million range as of the most recent available filings.

Note: Annual giving for peers is estimated at a typical 5% private foundation payout rate; actual figures may differ. Taft's actual giving is drawn from confirmed 990 filings.

The Taft Foundation stands out from asset-equivalent peers for its degree of geographic specificity and thematic concentration. While peer foundations with similar asset bases may distribute broadly across cause areas or geographies, Taft channels 89% of its grants to just two metro regions and two tightly defined program areas. This specialization means organizations outside NYC Metro or Southeast Florida — or outside I/DD and medical enrichment for children — have essentially no prospect of funding regardless of program quality. Within its chosen focus, however, Taft is among the most significant dedicated I/DD funders in the eastern United States.

No public announcements, leadership changes, or new program launches for The Taft Foundation were identified in searches through early 2026. The foundation maintains an extremely low public profile consistent with its invitation-only model — it does not publish press releases, issue annual reports publicly, or announce grant awards on its website.

The most significant recent development visible in public filings is sustained asset growth: from $170.6 million at the close of FY2020 to $220.9 million by FY2023 and an estimated $239.9 million by FY2024. This 41% four-year expansion reflects strong net investment returns ($15.4 million in FY2022, $9.1 million in FY2023) and positions the foundation for potential grantmaking increases, though giving levels have not yet scaled proportionally.

Leadership has been stable across the full filing record. Executive Director Nina Bershadker has served for at least five consecutive documented years, with compensation rising from $226,800 to $255,299 — reflecting consistent institutional direction. President and Board Chair Howard Rothman ($90,000 annual compensation), Director Joan Rothman, Vice President William Rupp, and Vice President Phoebe Boyer constitute a stable governance team. The Rothman family involvement suggests this is a family-guided foundation with personal philanthropic commitments driving strategy.

The foundation's COVID-19 emergency grants in 2020 temporarily expanded the grantee base — SCO Family of Services received $500,000 in emergency support, and many existing partners received supplemental emergency grants on top of regular operating support. The post-pandemic grantee list appears to have contracted back to core multi-year partners, with no evidence of continued emergency grant rounds in subsequent years.

The single most important tip for any organization seeking Taft Foundation funding: you cannot apply. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Every dollar flows through invitation, and invitations come from relationships — not from grant databases or prospect research alone. This makes strategic positioning, not proposal writing, the primary task.

Build relationships inside the portfolio first. The foundation identifies candidates through its existing network. Organizations already receiving Taft grants — Children's Aid, The Arc Westchester, Job Path Inc., Healthy Humor, Lincoln Center — are credible referral sources. If a program director or executive from one of these organizations knows your work and thinks highly of it, that is the most direct path to a Taft introduction.

Demonstrate sector leadership in NYC or Southeast Florida. Taft is drawn to organizations that other experts in the I/DD or pediatric health field point to as exemplary. Peer recognition, awards, invitations to present at disability services convenings, and citations in field-wide reports all build the kind of visibility that prompts stakeholder referrals.

Frame your work in Taft's language. The foundation's three I/DD priorities — Access (navigating service systems), Thrive (building provider capacity), and Include (adult employment and fulfillment) — should shape how you describe your programs in any conversation or document the foundation might encounter. Employment pathways and transition-to-adulthood outcomes are particularly compelling given the weight of those grants in the portfolio.

Lead with outcomes data, not program descriptions. Generic narratives about serving people with disabilities will not differentiate your organization. Number of individuals placed in competitive integrated employment, reduction in crisis interventions, years of sustained community inclusion — these are the metrics that signal alignment with Taft's data-driven culture.

Do not conflate the two program areas. I/DD services and Medical Enrichment for seriously ill children are separate lanes with distinct teams and criteria. A pediatric art therapy program should not be positioned as an I/DD initiative, and vice versa. Proposals that blur these boundaries signal a lack of familiarity with how the foundation actually works.

Timing: There is no published grant cycle. Relationship conversations can begin at any point in the year, but given that most grants appear as multi-year or annually renewed awards, budget conversations likely follow a calendar-year cycle aligned with the foundation's fiscal year.