The Stallings Foundation

The Stallings Foundation operates as a tightly knit family philanthropy anchored by the Stallings family of Dallas. Chairman Robert W. Stallings and Vice-Chair/Treasurer Linda E. Stallings set strategic direction, while Executive Director Melissa Stallings ($125,000/year compensation) manages day-to-day operations and grantee relationships. This family-foundation structure means every funding decision is deeply personal and trust-based — the Foundation views its grantees as long-term partners, not one-time recipients.

The Foundation's mission is explicitly faith-informed: "Our dream is to make a difference in the lives of children and their families by sharing the abundant blessings God has given us." Organizations that can authentically connect their work to this calling — particularly around child welfare, family stabilization, and community transformation — will resonate more strongly with trustees.

The grant process is invitation-only. The Foundation does not review unsolicited letters of inquiry or proposals. Trustees identify potential grantees through community engagement, monitoring of the North Texas nonprofit landscape, and trustee-directed invitations. The pathway to funding runs entirely through relationships, not grant databases. The most effective strategy is to build genuine visibility within the Dallas-Frisco nonprofit ecosystem through community convenings, North Texas Giving Day participation, and connections with existing grantees.

One documented exception exists for smaller requests: organizations seeking under $10,000 may email grants@stallingsfoundation.org. This is the only reliable cold-contact entry point and should be treated as an opportunity to introduce your organization and initiate a relationship rather than secure a grant outright.

Once invited, organizations typically begin with modest grants ($5,000–$20,000) tied to a specific program. The Foundation's deepest partnerships — Frisco Family Services (12 grants totaling $159,000), Youth 180 (8 grants totaling $150,900), Nexus Recovery (4 recorded grants totaling $290,000, plus a $1M five-year pledge) — all began as smaller program grants before growing into multi-year, multi-type support. First-time applicants should calibrate expectations accordingly: an initial invitation signals the start of a relationship, not a large check. The relationship progression moves from program-specific annual grants to general operating support and eventually to multi-year pledges for organizations that demonstrate sustained impact and maintain strong communication with the Stallings family.

The Stallings Foundation underwent a financial transformation in 2020, when a $12.6 million contribution — almost certainly from Robert Stallings's personal wealth — capitalized the endowment from under $750,000 to over $13 million. This event recast the Foundation from a modest family giving vehicle into a mid-sized regional funder. Since then, grantmaking has scaled dramatically:

• 2019: $24,200 grants paid
• 2020: $72,200
• 2021: $292,500
• 2022: $366,205
• 2023: $564,000
• 2024: $775,971 (highest on record)

This 30x growth over five years reflects intentional portfolio expansion. Current assets stand at approximately $14.4 million (FY2024), with net investment income averaging $200,000–$330,000 annually. In FY2022, the Foundation also received a $500,000 external contribution, suggesting the Stallings family continues to recapitalize the endowment.

Across 106 recorded grants totaling $1.37 million, the average grant is $12,911. The Foundation's self-reported typical grant range is $4,750–$200,000. Most annual program grants fall between $5,000 and $30,000; general operating support grants typically run $10,000–$80,000; and major multi-year commitments are reserved for established trust relationships.

By program area, child crisis intervention and family services dominate. The top five recorded grantees — Nexus Recovery ($290K), Frisco Family Services ($159K), Youth 180 ($150.9K), Shatterproof ($100K), and Mentor Kids USA ($90K) — account for $789,900, or roughly 58% of all recorded grantmaking. Mental health and substance use recovery have grown as explicit priorities (Nexus, Youth 180's SUD Lead Clinician position, Shatterproof NYC Marathon campaign). Youth enrichment and summer camps constitute approximately 10–12% of the portfolio. Emergency food and shelter support accounts for roughly 15%.

Geographically, Texas receives 72 of 106 recorded grants (68%), concentrated in the Dallas-Frisco corridor. Arizona nonprofits account for 16 grants (15%), indicating targeted interest in child crisis and domestic violence programs outside Texas. National organizations (Samaritan's Purse, Shatterproof) receive episodic larger grants — typically for disaster relief or cause-marketing campaigns rather than core program support.

The Foundation's closest comparators by asset size and NTEE classification (T22 — Private Grantmaking Foundations) include four other family foundations in the $15 million asset range:

The Stallings Foundation stands out sharply among this asset-matched peer group. While all five hold comparable endowments near $15 million, The Stallings Foundation is the only one with an active public-facing website, maintained social media channels across three platforms, and a documented application pathway — making it significantly more accessible to the informed grant seeker than most family foundations of comparable size. Its FY2024 payout rate of approximately 5.4% ($776K on $14.4M assets) is consistent with the IRS private foundation minimum distribution requirement of 5%, suggesting disciplined but not aggressive drawdown. The Foundation's 30x grantmaking growth since 2019 is exceptional for a $15M endowment and reflects founder-driven intentionality rather than passive asset management.

The Stallings Foundation's most recent confirmed financial data (FY2024 IRS filings, indexed by ProPublica) shows charitable disbursements of $775,971 — a 37% increase over the prior year's $564,000 in grants paid and the highest annual giving in the Foundation's history. The growth trajectory has been uninterrupted since 2019.

The Foundation's largest known programmatic commitment is the Recovery Rising Campaign with Nexus Recovery, a $1,000,000 pledge over five years. Nexus also participates in the "Pathway to Possibilities" program ($150,000 over five years), making it the Foundation's single largest cumulative grantee at approximately $290,000 in recorded grants plus the ongoing multi-year pledge. The prominence of Nexus in the portfolio reflects a deliberate strategic shift toward addiction recovery and mental health services as primary program areas.

The Foundation has maintained recurring seasonal giving cycles, with annual grants to Frisco Family Services for Back to School campaigns, holiday programs, and food pantry support consistently appearing across multiple fiscal years. Mentor Kids USA has received six grants totaling $90,000 for summer enrichment camps, establishing summer programming as a predictable annual giving category.

In FY2022, the Foundation received a $500,000 external contribution — its only substantial inflow since the 2020 $12.6 million capitalization — signaling that the Stallings family continues to recapitalize the endowment to support growing grantmaking. No leadership changes were identified through mid-2026; Melissa Stallings has served as Executive Director at a stable $125,000 salary since the Foundation's post-2020 expansion. A 2024 Press Kit is available through stallingsfoundation.org/news. No specific 2025–2026 press releases or grant announcements were publicly indexed at the time of this report.

1. Build relationships before any application. The Foundation does not review unsolicited proposals. Before writing anything, identify a pathway into the Foundation's network — an existing grantee introduction, shared community events, or North Texas Giving Day participation. Time spent building relationships returns more value than time spent on proposal writing.

2. Use the sub-$10K email pathway strategically. The only documented cold-contact entry point is emailing grants@stallingsfoundation.org for requests under $10,000. Frame this as an introduction, not a full proposal: two to three sentences on your organization, the program, the amount, and the expected impact. Keep the email under 300 words and invite a follow-up conversation.

3. Emphasize Frisco geography for emergency assistance requests. The Foundation explicitly names Frisco, Texas residents as the target population for emergency financial assistance and food insecurity grants. Organizations serving Frisco should lead with that geography in any communication.

4. Use trauma-responsive and ACEs language. The Foundation's website explicitly references "trauma-responsive counseling," "adverse childhood experiences," and "prevention, intervention and treatment" as programmatic priorities. Align your program framing to this vocabulary — it signals philosophical alignment with what trustees fund.

5. Participate in North Texas Giving Day. The Foundation has made NTGD matching grants to at least four grantees: Frisco Family Services, Youth 180, Embrace Texas, and Exodus Ministries. Strong NTGD participation puts your organization on the Foundation's radar during an active grant-decision window.

6. Start small and build the relationship. Every major grantee relationship in the portfolio began with modest, specific grants. Requesting $5,000–$15,000 for a named program (Back to School campaign, summer enrichment camp, holiday program) mirrors the proven entry pattern. Demonstrate clear outcomes and maintain proactive communication to advance toward general operating support and eventually multi-year commitments.

7. Prepare for a multi-year conversation. The Foundation's top grantees are all on multi-year commitments. Once a relationship is established, be ready to present a 3–5 year organizational trajectory and articulate how a sustained partnership would amplify impact beyond a single grant cycle.

8. Time seasonal outreach correctly. Observed grant cycles align with Back to School (spring through summer), holiday programs (late summer through fall), and summer enrichment camps (winter through spring). Initiate contact one full season ahead of your program cycle to allow relationship development before any ask.