The Chin Family Foundation

The Chin Family Foundation is a small, Delaware-registered private family foundation ($7.22 million in assets, FY2024) administered through Foundation Source, the outsourced back-office used by thousands of family foundations that operate without professional grants staff. Every independent database that tracks this funder — Grantable, Hinchilla, Grantmakers.io — states the same thing: it does not accept unsolicited applications and gives only to organizations the four Chin family trustees (Patricia A. Chin, William Chin, William Edward Chin, and Pamela Elizabeth Chin, all uncompensated) select directly. The foundation's own filing lists no application form, no deadline, and no published funding guidelines (application_instructions field is explicitly blank). Grant seekers should treat this as a closed, relationship-driven funder rather than a competitive grants program.

The grantee list bears this out. Of $941,150 in tracked giving across 47 grants, 81% ($761,000) went to just three organizations: Denison University ($401,000 over 3 grants, labeled 'Institutional Advancement Fund' — almost certainly tied to a family alma mater or trustee affiliation), the U.S. Fund for UNICEF ($200,000 for Afghan refugee emergency relief), and Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy ($160,000 for a Zambian school lunch program). The remaining ~40 grants are small, recurring, general-operating gifts ($500-$24,000) to nonprofits clustered around two personal geographies: the Vermont Upper Valley (Upper Valley Haven, Listen Community Services, Good Neighbor Health Clinic) and greater Los Angeles (LA Zoo Association, Center Theatre Group, Catholic Charities of LA, Planned Parenthood Pasadena).

For a first-time applicant with no existing tie to the family, direct cold outreach is very unlikely to succeed — there is no evidence in eight years of filings (2014-2024) of a new, unsolicited relationship being added. The realistic path in is a warm introduction through a shared institution (Denison University alumni/development office), a Vermont Upper Valley or LA-area nonprofit network the family already funds, or a personal connection to a trustee. Organizations without such a tie are better served directing effort toward open, competitive funders rather than this one.

Giving has been highly volatile and tightly coupled to the family's own contributions into the foundation, not a fixed payout policy. Total giving by year: $0 (2014), $50,049 (2015), $266,530 (2019), $131,326 (2020), $157,317 (2021), $496,916 (2022), $3,197,243 (2023), and an estimated $2.24-2.26 million in disbursements for 2024 per third-party filings (the DB's 2024 total_giving field is not yet populated). Net assets have grown steadily from $1.99 million (2014) to $7.22 million (2024), meaning the foundation retains far more than it distributes in most years — 2023-2024 represent a marked step-up in payout, likely driven by a $2.4 million contribution inflow in 2023.

Across the 47 tracked grants totaling $941,150, the average grant is $20,024 but the median is far smaller — the DB's typical_grant_size field puts the median at just $3,000 (range $500-$50,000, average $6,679) once the three mega-gifts (Denison University, UNICEF, Abercrombie & Kent) are excluded. In other words, this funder runs two distinct tracks: a handful of five-and-six-figure institutional/international grants decided at the trustee level, and a much larger set of modest, repeat, general-operating gifts (often $1,000-$3,000, some recurring annually for 3+ years) to local nonprofits.

By purpose, the overwhelming majority of grants (roughly 35 of 47) are tagged simply 'General & Unrestricted' — this funder strongly favors flexible operating support over restricted program grants. A few carry specific designations: 'Institutional Advancement Fund' (Denison University), 'Garden fund' (Convalescent Aid Society), 'Scholarship Fund' (Acacia Fraternity Foundation), and named program funds for the two large 2023 gifts. Geographically, grant count by state skews to California (13 grants) and Vermont (10 grants), followed by New York (5), Rhode Island (4), Maryland and Ohio (3 each), New Hampshire (3), and Illinois/Indiana (2 each) — a broader footprint than the foundation's own stated geographic_focus tags of VT/CA/MA suggest, since Massachusetts accounts for only 1 tracked grant.

This peer set is a near-perfect asset match (all five sit within $2,500 of Chin's $7.22 million), which is how Granted's peer-matching surfaced them — they are the closest comparable foundations by size and NTEE category, not necessarily by giving behavior. None of the five peers publish public grant guidelines or application portals, and only Hammoud Foundation maintains a public website, reinforcing that foundations at this asset tier ($7M) are almost uniformly family-directed and closed to unsolicited applications rather than professionally staffed grants programs. Chin stands out within this peer group for its unusually large 2023 giving spike (44% of assets distributed in a single year), well above what a typical ~5% payout-minimum foundation at this size would distribute (roughly $360,000/year).

The foundation's most recent Form 990-PF (filed November 14, 2025, covering fiscal year 2024) shows continued elevated giving: approximately $2.24-2.26 million disbursed across 14 grants against $7.22 million in year-end net assets and $3.15 million in total revenue. This follows a 2023 filing (filed September 26, 2024) that recorded the foundation's largest giving year on record — $3,197,243 in total giving, driven by a $2.4 million jump in contributions received that year. Two grants stand out from that cycle: $200,000 to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF specifically earmarked for 'emergency assistance to Afghan families,' and $160,000 to Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy for the 'Nakatindi Lunch Program' (a school feeding program in Zambia) — both a departure from the foundation's historically domestic, hyper-local giving pattern in Vermont and Los Angeles.

Leadership has been stable throughout the foundation's history: the same four Chin family members (Patricia A. Chin as President/Secretary/Treasurer, William Chin as VP/Director, William Edward Chin as Director/Treasurer, and Pamela Elizabeth Chin as Director/Secretary) have held officer roles across every filing year reviewed, with zero reported officer compensation in any year. No leadership transitions, new program announcements, or press releases were identified in web search — this remains a low-public-profile, board-run family foundation with no dedicated communications or PR presence. The foundation's own website (thechin.org) returned an access-restricted response during this research and could not be directly reviewed for updated content.

Be realistic about access: every third-party source that tracks this funder (Grantable, Hinchilla, Grantmakers.io) independently confirms The Chin Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals and gives only to organizations its four trustees select directly. There is no published application form, no LOI process, no deadline, and no grants portal (application_form_url and opportunities_url are both empty in the foundation's own record). Submitting an unsolicited proposal to the Foundation Source contact line (800-839-1754) is very unlikely to be read by a decision-maker — Foundation Source is a back-office administrator for thousands of family foundations, not a program office for this one.

The highest-value strategy is identifying a genuine point of connection. The single largest relationship in the record — Denison University at $401,000 across three grants tagged 'Institutional Advancement Fund' — points strongly to a family alumni, trustee, or board tie; organizations with a Denison connection (or similar alma mater ties to the Chin family) should route outreach through that institution's own development office rather than approaching the foundation cold. Similarly, the recurring small grants to Upper Valley Vermont nonprofits (Upper Valley Haven, Listen Community Services, Good Neighbor Health Clinic, Upper Valley Waldorf School) and greater-Los-Angeles organizations (LA Zoo Association, Center Theatre Group, Catholic Charities of LA) suggest the family has a personal residence or long-standing ties in both regions — a warm introduction from an existing grantee in either community is far more likely to succeed than a written proposal.

If a genuine connection exists, keep any outreach short and unrestricted in ask — roughly 35 of the foundation's 47 tracked grants are tagged 'General & Unrestricted,' indicating a strong preference for flexible operating support over program-specific asks. The two known exceptions to the small-grant pattern (the 2023 UNICEF and Abercrombie & Kent gifts) were both tied to acute, well-known humanitarian emergencies — suggesting the trustees are also responsive to timely, high-profile crisis appeals through organizations with strong existing brand recognition, even without a prior giving history. Organizations without any of these connections should prioritize other funders; there is no evidence in ten years of filings of a new relationship starting from a cold, unsolicited application.