The Charter Foundation Inc.

The Charter Foundation Inc. (EIN 58-2144961) is a small, all-volunteer private foundation administered with Truist Bank N.A. as corporate trustee ($79,832 in trustee fees in FY2025). It is not a national or even statewide funder — it is a hyperlocal community foundation whose 990 explicitly restricts giving to "specific geographical areas in Alabama & Georgia," concretely Chambers County, AL (Valley, Lanett) and Troup County, GA (LaGrange, West Point). First-time applicants outside that footprint should not apply; the data shows only isolated exceptions (a handful of Idaho-linked gifts noted by aggregators, likely tied to a founder or director connection rather than a repeatable pathway).

Within its territory, the foundation favors a broad, diversified portfolio over concentrated big bets: 80 grants across the two most recent filing years totaled $912,896 (average $11,411), split 44 grants to Georgia recipients and 36 to Alabama recipients. The relationship progression is simple and low-friction by philanthropy standards — a concise letter describing the project and dollar amount requested, evaluated by an informal screening committee that will ask for additional documentation (budgets, 501(c)(3) letters) only if needed. There is no evidence of site visits, multi-stage LOI-to-proposal funnels, or program officers; this is closer to a family/community trust structure than an institutional grantmaker.

Grantee data shows two tiers of relationship: (1) a small set of anchor institutional partners receiving repeat, larger awards — Point University ($50,000-$135,000 per cycle, always framed as "operating grant"), Chattahoochee River Keeper ($150,000 over two grants), and Hillside Montessori of LaGrange ($110,000 over two grants) — and (2) dozens of smaller $2,000-$17,000 awards to local human-services, youth, arts, and faith-affiliated organizations (Twin Cedars Youth Services, Interfaith Food Closet, Harmony House Domestic Violence Shelter, Junior Service League of LaGrange). First-time applicants should expect to enter at the second tier and build a multi-year track record before requesting operating-scale support. College scholarships are handled separately and are not a direct-application channel (see application_tips).

Median grant size is $5,000 with a typical range of $1,000 to $75,000 (count 40, average $11,411 per the foundation's own reported typical-grant-size data). Grantable's aggregation of the most recent full cycle (2024) shows 28 grants averaging $16,000 and ranging from $1,000 to $135,000 — the top end driven almost entirely by the Point University relationship. Across the two-year window captured in this platform's grantee data, total disbursed was $912,896 across 80 grants, split 44 to Georgia recipients and 36 to Alabama recipients — a near-even geographic split that slightly favors Georgia by count.

Program-level 990 detail (matching the $456,448 grants-paid figure for FY2022) breaks down as: $294,446 (64.5%) to general "grants to charitable organizations," $100,002 (21.9%) to "educational grants," $50,000 (11.0%) as a dedicated grant to Point University, and $12,000 (2.6%) to college scholarships. That means roughly one-third of annual giving flows through named institutional/education channels while two-thirds goes to the broader community-grant pool that funds the human-services, arts, and youth organizations dominating the grantee list.

Financially, the foundation has grown steadily but modestly: total assets rose from $6,580,316 (2011) to $8,264,672 (2023) — a 25.6% increase over 12 years — while total giving rose from $374,966 to $496,223 over the same span (+32.3%), implying the payout ratio has held in the 5.7%-6.0% range, consistent with the private-foundation minimum-distribution requirement rather than an aggressively spend-down posture. The most recent public filing (FY2025, per ProPublica) shows revenue of $654,263 against $531,314 in expenses, with charitable disbursements of $456,026 (85.8% of expenses) and net assets of $8,140,910 — essentially flat year-over-year, indicating no near-term capacity expansion or contraction. Investment income has been a meaningful and volatile secondary driver of capacity: net investment income ranged from $164,545 (2015) to $688,954 (2012), while direct contributions received have been negligible in most years (often $0, peaking at $38,000 in 2015) — this foundation is funded almost entirely by its existing endowment rather than ongoing donor inflows, so its giving capacity tracks market performance more than fundraising activity. Grants paid in a single year have ranged from a low of $305,760 (2012) to a high of $456,448 (2022), a roughly 49% swing that applicants should read as normal year-to-year variance rather than a signal of expansion or contraction.

This platform's peer set groups foundations by similar total assets (all in the $8.14M-$8.15M range) within the "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE category rather than by shared mission or geography, so the comparison below is an asset-tier benchmark, not a true field comparison.

The Charter Foundation stands out among this asset-matched cohort as the only one with a publicly documented, geographically restricted, open-application process — the peer foundations are all single-state family funds whose grantmaking data (giving levels, focus, and whether they accept unsolicited applications) was not available in the dataset or through public search, which itself is a signal that they likely operate as closed, relationship-driven family foundations. Applicants should treat The Charter Foundation's relative transparency and stated openness to applications as a genuine advantage versus this peer group, not assume peers offer a comparable path in.

No dedicated press coverage, executive announcements, or program launches surfaced in web search for 2025-2026 — consistent with an all-volunteer, unstaffed foundation with no communications function. The most current substantive information is the FY2025 Form 990 (filed and indexed by ProPublica as of 2026-07-29): revenue of $654,263, expenses of $531,314, charitable disbursements of $456,026 (85.8% of expenses), and net assets of $8,140,910, with Truist Bank N.A. continuing as paid corporate trustee ($79,832 in fees). Leadership has been stable across the two most recent filing cycles captured in this platform's data: Robert L. Johnson (President), William C. Gladden (Vice President), Bonnie F. Bonner (Secretary and primary contact), Tommy Whitworth (Treasurer), and directors Leslie Smith, Laura Smith, Charles Story, and Nancy Durand — all serving without compensation, with no turnover evident between cycles.

The most recent full grant cycle with itemized detail (2024, per Grantable.co) shows 28 grants totaling roughly $446,000, topped by Point University ($135,000) and Hillside Montessori of LaGrange ($50,000), broadly consistent with the platform's own two-year grantee dataset showing Point University and Hillside Montessori as top cumulative recipients. There is no indication of a new funding initiative, a change in the Aug 1 deadline, or a shift away from the Chambers County/Troup County footprint. The only notable finding from this research cycle is a website-identity issue: the domain associated with this EIN in most directories (thecharterfoundation.org) actually belongs to an unrelated California nonprofit.

Confirm geographic eligibility first — the foundation's own 990 restricts funding to "specific geographical areas in Alabama & Georgia," concretely the Chambers County, AL (Valley, Lanett) and Troup County, GA (LaGrange, West Point) area. Organizations outside this footprint are very unlikely to be funded regardless of proposal quality.

The application channel is a straightforward online form (per charterfoundation.net/partners), reportedly opening roughly two months ahead of the single annual Aug 1 deadline — meaning applicants should be watching for the portal to open around June. There is only one cycle per year, so a missed deadline means a 12-month wait.

Keep the submission concise: a letter that clearly states the purpose of the proposed project and the specific dollar amount requested, plus your 501(c)(3) determination letter. The foundation's own guidance is to avoid over-documenting — the volunteer screening committee will request additional materials (budgets, financials) only if they need them, so front-loading a large packet is more likely to slow review than help it.

Size the ask to the relationship stage. The reported median award is $5,000, with typical grants running $1,000-$75,000; the largest awards ($50,000-$135,000) go to long-tenured institutional partners like Point University. First-time applicants should anchor initial requests in the $1,000-$15,000 range and treat a first grant as the start of a multi-year relationship rather than a one-time ask.

For scholarship funding specifically, this is not a direct-application channel for students or families: recipients are selected by school counselors based on moral character, grades, and potential for future success, and funds are paid directly to the college or university, never to the individual. Nonprofits and schools seeking scholarship support should build a relationship with counselors at partner high schools in the Valley/LaGrange area rather than submitting a scholarship application to the foundation itself.

Common mistake to avoid: relying on thecharterfoundation.org, which is not this foundation's site. Verify the correct domain and current application status by phone at (706) 518-9440 before investing time in a proposal, since the charterfoundation.net site had an SSL delivery issue at the time of this research.