The Rice Family Foundation

The Rice Family Foundation is a closely held, family-directed private foundation (NTEE T20, Philanthropy & Grantmaking) built from the legacy of Morgan Rice, a San Diego real estate investor for whom the 'M. Rice Intern Program' at Cuyamaca Community College is named. With $9.07M-$9.13M in assets and no dedicated program staff, all four listed people — Lisa Wilson (Director/Treasurer/CFO), Shar Salter (Director/President), Michelle Brookman (Director/Secretary), and Jessica Wilson (Director) — draw modest compensation ($64,500 combined officer compensation in FY2023), pointing to a lean, board-run operation rather than an institution with formal grantmaking staff or committees.

Grantee data across 212 tracked grants shows an overwhelming preference for organizations the board already knows well: of the roughly 40 top recipients, most received 4-10 separate grants over time (Cuyamaca Community College: 10 grants/$265,000; San Diego Zoo/Zoological Society: 10 grants/$150,400; Monarch School: 10 grants/$84,650) rather than one-off awards. This is a foundation that builds long relationships with a tight roster of San Diego County nonprofits and renews them on what looks like a roughly annual cadence, rather than one running open competitive cycles for new applicants.

New organizations should expect the greatest odds of entry through indirect channels: introductions from existing partners (the Foundation for Grossmont & Cuyamaca Colleges received the foundation's 2018 Bill and Judy Garrett Civic Leadership Award and a fresh $100,000 Promise Plus gift in December 2025), shared board connections, or a direct mailed inquiry to the foundation's San Diego office (3154 Old Heather Rd, San Diego, CA 92111; 858-256-0551). No dedicated website, open RFP, or online portal could be located for this specific foundation — the URL sometimes associated with its name in public databases (therice.org) actually belongs to an unrelated refugee-services nonprofit — a strong signal this is not a foundation soliciting cold applications.

First-time applicants should target STEM/nature education, arts education, and direct human-services programs serving San Diego (especially the East County/Cuyamaca-Grossmont corridor), since 188 of 212 tracked grants (89%) went to California organizations. Frame proposals around measurable youth-education outcomes rather than general operating asks, and expect a brief written inquiry or phone call — not a lengthy formal proposal — to be the realistic entry point given the foundation's size and informal structure.

The foundation's most recent tracked cohort shows a median grant of $6,027 (average $9,221-$9,308), ranging from $350 to $50,500 across 43 awards — figures corroborated independently by Instrumentl's 990 data showing 39 grants totaling $446,987 in the most recent filed year, ranging $145 to $50,850. The average masks a skewed distribution: most awards cluster in the $2,000-$50,000+ band, anchored by a handful of large institutional relationships.

Total giving has risen steadily: $434,957 (2019) to $527,663 (2021) to $548,354 (2022) to $588,137 (2023) — roughly a 35% increase over five years. This growth is funded entirely by net investment income ($483,687 in 2023 alone) on a ~$9.1M asset base, not new outside contributions — contributions received were $0 in every filed year on record, confirming this is a closed, endowed family fund rather than one that actively fundraises.

By program area, using the $1.97M in cumulative tracked grants across 212 awards: education/scholarships is the largest category. Cuyamaca Community College ($265,000/10 grants for the M. Rice Intern Program and student scholarships), Foundation for Grossmont & Cuyamaca Colleges ($100,000, Promise Plus), University of San Diego ($50,000, School of Leadership scholarships), and Barrio Logan College Institute ($50,000) alone total over $465,000 (about 24% of tracked giving). STEM/nature education runs a close second: San Diego Zoo/Zoological Society ($150,400), San Diego Natural History Museum ($150,000), Reuben H. Fleet Science Center ($150,000), Water Conservation Garden ($125,000), Ocean Discovery Institute ($75,000), and Elementary Institute of Science ($50,000) total roughly $700,000 (about 36%). Arts education (Classics 4 Kids, ArtsBusXpress, East County Youth Symphony, Grossmont College Theatre Arts, Francis Parker School Drama) adds about $190,000 (10%), and human services (Monarch School, George G. Glenner Alzheimer Center, Autism Tree Project Foundation, Feeding San Diego) contributes roughly $160,000 (8%).

Geographically, 188 of 212 grants (89%) stayed in California, concentrated in San Diego's East County; small out-of-state gifts — a Colorado wildlife fund ($2,000), Hawaii Community Foundation Maui-fire relief ($500), and isolated D.C./Maryland recipients — read as occasional, relationship-driven exceptions rather than an active national program.

All five peer foundations sit within $9.06M-$9.07M in assets — essentially identical in size to Rice — and share the same IRS 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' classification, meaning each is a small, family-run private foundation with no listed website in this dataset. This is a structural pattern rather than something unique to Rice: foundations at this ~$9M asset tier typically direct their required annual distribution (roughly 5% of assets, or $400K-$600K here) entirely to organizations the founding family already knows, since that scale doesn't support a program office or open-call infrastructure. For grant seekers, the practical implication holds across this entire peer set — cold online applications are unlikely to work anywhere on this list; warm introductions through board members' existing civic and philanthropic networks (schools, colleges, museums, service organizations) are the realistic path in.

In its most recently filed year, the foundation made 39 grants totaling $446,987, ranging $145 to $50,850 — consistent with prior years' modest, education-weighted giving (independently sourced via Instrumentl's 990 data, separate from this dataset's own financial history). The most significant confirmed recent gift was $100,000 to the Foundation for Grossmont & Cuyamaca Colleges' Promise Plus scholarship endowment campaign, announced at the district's December 16, 2025 Governing Board meeting alongside major donors Dr. Samuel M. Ciccati and Roger Frey; that campaign reached its $4 million goal, which will now fund $200,000 per year in scholarships to roughly 400 East County students in perpetuity.

Leadership has been stable across the last several filed Form 990s: Shar Salter (President), Lisa Wilson (Treasurer/CFO), Michelle Brookman (Secretary), and Jessica Wilson (Director) all appear unchanged in role across at least three consecutive filing years, with modest compensation increases (Salter $3,000 to $4,500; Wilson-CFO $45,500 to $49,500).

A data-quality note worth flagging: no dedicated public website, RFP page, or foundation-specific news source could be located for this San Diego entity. The URL sometimes associated with 'The Rice Family Foundation' in aggregator databases (therice.org) actually belongs to an unrelated refugee-services nonprofit, and a separate, larger 'Rice Family Foundation' in Hanover, PA (tied to the Utz Snacks family) generates most 2025-2026 press coverage under a similar name — the two should not be confused. Beyond the December 2025 Cuyamaca/Grossmont gift, no other foundation-specific 2025-2026 announcements surfaced in web search.

No public application portal, LOI form, or RFP exists for this foundation — extensive searching found no dedicated website tied to this EIN (33-0592384), and the site sometimes listed for a similarly named foundation is unrelated. Treat this as a closed, relationship-based funder rather than an open-call one, and calibrate expectations and effort accordingly.

The single highest-value move is securing an introduction through an existing grantee. The Foundation for Grossmont & Cuyamaca Colleges, San Diego Zoo/Zoological Society, San Diego Natural History Museum, and Reuben H. Fleet Science Center have each received five to ten grants over multiple years — ask program or development staff at any of these East County/Mission Valley San Diego institutions whether they can facilitate an introduction or point to a co-branded collaboration opportunity.

For direct outreach, mail a brief one-to-two-page letter of inquiry to 3154 Old Heather Rd, San Diego, CA 92111, or call 858-256-0551 — there is no email address or online form on record. Given the tiny officer-compensation footprint ($64,500 combined across four people in FY2023), expect the board itself to personally review anything received, so keep any written inquiry concise.

Match language to what has actually been funded: 'student scholarships,' 'educational program support,' and hands-on, named science and nature program titles ('Girls in Science Program,' 'Ocean Science Explorers Program,' 'Ms. Smarty Plants') recur repeatedly in grant purposes on file — mirror this practical, program-named framing rather than abstract mission language.

Timing: grants cluster as repeat annual gifts to the same roughly 40-50 organizations, with many recipients showing exactly four or five grants across the tracked history, suggesting a roughly annual renewal cadence. A first ask is more likely to land as a modest pilot gift (in the $350-$9,300 median range) with the expectation of proving results before the relationship grows, as it did for Cuyamaca Community College (now $265,000 cumulative).

Avoid sending a large capital-campaign or general-operating ask cold — the one capital-campaign-labeled grant in the data (SD River Park Foundation's Discovery Center, $45,350 across 9 grants) was itself built from a long prior relationship. And keep geography in mind: 89% of tracked grants stayed in California, mostly San Diego County — an out-of-state organization without a direct board connection is a poor fit.