The Edouard Foundation Inc.

The Edouard Foundation Inc. is a classic single-family "checkbook" foundation: no paid staff, zero officer compensation across every recorded filing, and governance rotated entirely among members of the Finch family. The FY2025 Form 990-PF lists Sandra Finch as President alongside Christopher Finch (First Vice-President), Rhys Finch (Secretary), and Ronald Finch (Treasurer/Second Vice-President); earlier filings cycled the same roles among Alec, Nicholas, Aaron, and Andrea Finch. Critically, the foundation is explicitly "preselected only" — its own IRS filing lists no application process, and independent aggregators (Grantable, Impala, Candid-sourced directories) confirm it does not accept unsolicited proposals and operates strictly by invitation.

That structure dictates the entire strategy for a grant seeker: this is not a funder to apply to cold. Of the 276 grants captured in GrantedAI's top-50 grantee sample, the majority of organizations received funding across five consecutive tracked years — the foundation's default mode is repeat, multi-year general-operating support to a stable roster of favored nonprofits, not one-off project grants to new applicants. Newcomers get in almost exclusively through a personal introduction to a director or an existing grantee; there is no LOI portal or RFP to submit against.

Two geographies dominate despite the database's narrower "TX/NY" focus-area tag: Texas (81 of 276 tracked grants, roughly 30% of dollars) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (27 grants, ~16%) — St. Croix specifically, where Lutheran Social Services of the VI, the Children's Museum of St. Croix, the Women's Coalition of St. Croix, St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, and My Brother's Workshop all rank among top grantees, hinting at a director's personal tie to the island. New York (31 grants, ~16%) rounds out the core three; Georgia (31 grants) and Connecticut (15) are active secondary clusters.

Grant sizes cluster tightly: GrantedAI's typical-grant data for the most recent cohort shows a median of $10,000 (average $11,589, range $1,000-$35,500), while 2024 aggregate filings show 54 grants averaging roughly $13,000 (range $2,000-$52,000). A first invited ask should target $5,000-$15,000 in unrestricted operating support rather than a large named program or capital request.

Financial trajectory (FY2011-FY2025, per Form 990-PF data): total assets declined steadily from a peak of $10.53M (FY2019) to $9.16M (FY2023), then stabilized at $9,172,717 in the FY2025 filing (filed May 31, 2026). Annual grants paid held in a narrow band for over a decade — $493,500 (FY2013) to $662,000 (FY2021) — before stepping up to $680K in 2024 and $734,420 in the FY2025 filing, the highest disbursement level in the available record, exceeding even the FY2014 peak of $754,500. FY2025 total revenue was $1.51M against $890,662 in total expenses; in leaner years such as FY2023, net investment income ($130,201) fell well short of grants paid ($600,000), meaning the foundation has been drawing down principal in several recent years — consistent with the 2019-2023 asset decline.

Grant size: median $10,000, average $11,589, range $1,000-$35,500 for the most recent typical-grant cohort tracked by GrantedAI; broader 2024 filing data (via Grantable/Candid) shows 54 total grants averaging roughly $13,000, range $2,000-$52,000. Multi-year cumulative totals to a single grantee run much higher — the top grantee, Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands, received $147,500 across 5 grants (general support blended with targeted line items such as a "Shoes for the Homeless" program and a Medicaid presumptive-eligibility incentive program).

Program mix: the foundation's own database tag is narrowly "Community Development," but the grantee roster is far broader. Human-services/safety-net organizations (Kids in Crisis, Open Arms for Children, the Women's Coalition of St. Croix) sit alongside health and medical causes (Doctors Without Borders, My Face, South Texas Blood and Tissue Center), animal welfare (St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, Animal Defense League of Texas, the ASPCA), youth and education (Zumix, Camp Summit, several university foundations), and civic/preservation causes (Hemisfair Conservancy, San Antonio Conservation Society). Third-party trackers categorize the foundation under Education, Philanthropy/Voluntarism/Grantmaking, and Human Services; general-purpose, unrestricted funding is the constant across nearly every category. Grant-count by state: TX 81, NY 31, GA 31, DC 19, VI 27, CT 15, PA 12, MA 11, AL 8, OR 8.

Edouard sits at the smaller end of this peer set by both assets and annual giving, roughly 40% the size of HB Family Foundation and 60% the size of Webber by asset base. Unlike Webber's open, rolling Capacity Building track or Byrne's no-invitation-required Fast Track program, Edouard offers no unsolicited entry point at all — of the four, it is the most closed, closer in posture to HB Family Foundation's login-gated invitation model than to the two funders with any open application channel. Grant seekers unable to secure a warm introduction will have a structurally easier path with Webber or Byrne.

No independent news coverage or press releases were identified for The Edouard Foundation Inc. in 2025-2026 — expected for a no-staff family foundation that does not solicit public attention. One important data-quality note: the website on file in GrantedAI's records, theedouardfoundation.org, resolves to an unrelated club-soccer scholarship nonprofit founded in 2024 by Patrick Edouard; its mission (Haiti-linked youth soccer access) and founding date do not match this foundation's 1988 IRS ruling date, Finch family governance, or New York/Fourpoints Asset Management registered address. Grant seekers should disregard that site — it is not this funder, and no verified website exists for the EIN 13-3446831 entity in this research.

The most concrete recent activity is financial: the FY2025 Form 990-PF (filed May 31, 2026) reports grants paid of $734,420, up from $680K in 2024 and the highest disbursement level since at least FY2014 ($754,500). Total assets held essentially flat at $9,172,717, a break from the steady decline seen between FY2019 ($10.53M) and FY2023 ($9.16M).

Leadership has also shifted: the FY2025 filing lists Sandra Finch as President, with Christopher Finch, Rhys Finch, and Ronald Finch rounding out the officer slate — a different combination than the roster recorded in earlier filings, where Alec Finch, Nicholas Finch, and Andrea Finch each held the presidency in different years and Aaron Finch cycled through secretary roles. Across all filings, at least eight distinct Finch family members have held an officer title, none compensated, indicating an actively managed multi-generational family structure.

Because the foundation is preselected/invitation-only with no formal application process (application_instructions on file: none; no application form URL or opportunities page), the standard grant-writing playbook does not apply here. Sending a polished cold LOI or proposal packet is very unlikely to be read — there is no channel built to receive it.

The realistic path in is relationship-based: identify a board or personal connection to Sandra, Christopher, Rhys, or Ronald Finch, or to an organization the foundation already funds. Because roughly two-thirds of grant dollars concentrate in Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands (especially St. Croix), and New York, organizations based in — or with credible program activity in — those three areas have the clearest fit. A directory listing surfaced a possible contact address, edouardfoundation@pimf.com, but this is unverified and should be treated as a long-shot introduction channel, not a reliable application route.

If a relationship does open a door, match the foundation's historical funding behavior rather than pitching a new named program: the overwhelming majority of top-50 grantees received "general support," "general operating budget," or "general purposes" funding, not restricted program or capital grants. A simple, mission-sustainability narrative tied to overall organizational health will read as more familiar to this funder than a metrics-heavy program proposal. Typical first-ask sizing should land in the $5,000-$15,000 range based on the current median grant of $10,000; requests above $35,500 (the ceiling of the most recent typical-grant cohort) are outside the foundation's normal pattern, though a handful of cumulative multi-year relationships (e.g., Lutheran Social Services of the VI at $147,500 across five grants) show that sustained annual funding to the same organization can compound well beyond any single grant size.

Once funded, expect — and plan for — renewal: most top-50 grantees appear in the data across five consecutive tracked years, so light annual stewardship (a brief impact update, not a full re-application) is likely what sustains the relationship rather than repeat formal asks.