Vandermark Foundation Inc.

Vandermark Foundation Inc. is a small, family-run private foundation — its only two officers, Peter J. Scanlon PhD (President, Chairperson, Treasurer) and Lois A. Scanlon (Secretary, VP, Clerk), take no compensation, and the foundation is administered through Foundation Source (address: 501 Silverside Rd, Wilmington, DE), a turnkey back-office platform many small family foundations use in place of in-house program staff. That structure, combined with a 'preselected_only' designation in tax data and explicit statements on third-party profiles that the foundation 'does not accept unsolicited proposals,' means there is effectively no cold-inbound application channel for most applicants.

The grantee history shows a strong preference for long-term, deepening relationships over one-off gifts. Blue Dragon Children's Foundation USA alone received 9 separate grants totaling $742,000 — roughly 28% of the $2,668,000 in tracked historical giving — starting from general support and escalating to capital asks (retreat-center purchase, land purchase, technology equipment, Ho Chi Minh City expansion). The same pattern repeats at smaller scale with Grub Street (5 grants), Quinnipiac University and Women's Education Project (4 grants each), and Ames Free Library (2 grants culminating in a named $200,000 pavilion fund). First gifts tend to be general & unrestricted; later gifts fund named capital or project needs once trust is established.

For organizations without an existing relationship, the realistic path in is a warm introduction — through a current grantee partner (Blue Dragon, Women's Education Project, At Home and Afar, Quinnipiac, Florida State University, Grub Street, Stone Family Adoption Assistance Fund), through the Scanlon family's personal or regional network, or through Foundation Source's broader philanthropic community. The foundation favors direct-service nonprofits working with disadvantaged or underserved populations — not policy or advocacy organizations — and its own news coverage shows board members personally traveling to grantee sites in Hanoi and Barahona, suggesting they value organizations that can host an in-person or virtual site visit to demonstrate impact.

Total giving has ranged from $651,601 (FY2020) to a peak of $867,519 (FY2022), settling at $821,811 in total giving ($726,000 in grants paid) for FY2023, the most recent year with full detail. The foundation's asset base rose from $9.39M (2020) to a high of $12.91M (2022) — driven by a $3.77M net investment gain that year — before easing to $11.68M by 2024 as markets cooled and revenue for FY2024 fell to just $165,890. Foundation Source records show the entity was seeded with a $9.6M contribution in 2012 (its founding year, with $0 grants paid) and giving has grown steadily since, from $181,000 (2013) and $430,000 (2014) up to the ~$650K-$870K range sustained from 2019 onward.

Across 56 tracked historical grants worth $2,668,000, the average grant is $47,643; the foundation's own profile lists a tighter recent-window range of $5,000 to $112,000 with a median of $40,000 and an average of $42,462 (n=13). By state, Massachusetts dominates grant count (24 of 56, 43%), driven by New England community and faith institutions — Ames Free Library ($200,000), Grub Street ($165,000), Glastonbury Abbey ($111,000), Father Bill's & Mainspring ($30,000), Hingham's North St. Community Chapel ($30,000), and School on Wheels of Massachusetts ($20,000). Colorado accounts for 12 grants, concentrated almost entirely in one partner, Accompaniment and Sanctuary Coalition of Colorado Springs ($150,000 across 3 grants, serving undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers). Pennsylvania (8 grants) centers on Help Hope Live ($100,000). By program theme, international development/direct services abroad (Blue Dragon $742,000, At Home and Afar $80,000, Onesky $20,000) totals $842,000, roughly 32% of tracked giving; education-linked giving (Quinnipiac $170,000, Florida State University $285,000, Women's Education Project $255,000, School on Wheels $20,000) totals about $730,000, or 27%. No multi-year pledges or endowment gifts are publicly disclosed — grants appear to renew annually based on demonstrated results.

These five peers were matched purely on asset size (all cluster within $30,000 of Vandermark's $11,402,348 in reported assets) and share its broad IRS classification of 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking'; none publish detailed giving data, application processes, or program priorities, which is itself typical of small, closely-held family foundations at this asset tier — most, like Vandermark, likely operate as relationship-based, low-visibility funders rather than publicly competitive grant programs. Vandermark stands out among this peer set for maintaining an active public website with a defined mission and named strategic pillars, giving applicants more to work with than most similarly-sized foundations even though its process remains invitation-only.

No dated news, leadership changes, or new program announcements were found for 2025 or 2026. The foundation's own 'Foundation News' page carries undated narrative posts and a 2017 copyright notice, describing board members' site visits rather than formal press releases — consistent with a foundation that has no communications staff and does not seek media coverage. The most recent verifiable activity is financial: FY2023 filings (the latest full-detail year in this profile) show $821,811 in total giving and $726,000 in grants paid, down from the FY2022 peak of $867,519, while FY2024 shows total assets of $11,679,918 on much lower investment revenue of $165,890, suggesting a quieter year for both markets and likely near-term grant volume. Leadership has been stable throughout: Peter J. Scanlon PhD and Lois A. Scanlon remain the foundation's only two officers and directors, both uncompensated, with no indication of a succession event or new board appointment in any source reviewed. The most substantive recent programmatic signal is continuity rather than change — the same core partners (Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, Women's Education Project, At Home and Afar) that anchor the historical grant record are the same partners referenced in current website content, indicating the foundation's giving priorities have held steady rather than shifted.

This is not a funder that responds to a standard LOI-and-portal process — there is no posted application form, deadline, or opportunities URL in the foundation's own tax filings, and the foundation is explicitly recorded as 'preselected only.' Third-party philanthropy databases independently corroborate that it does not accept unsolicited proposals, so the highest-value first step is finding a warm introduction rather than drafting a cold pitch. Look for board, donor, or program overlap with current partners — Blue Dragon Children's Foundation USA, Women's Education Project, Florida State University, Quinnipiac University, Grub Street, At Home and Afar, or Stone Family Adoption Assistance Fund — since a referral from an existing grantee is the most plausible path to the Scanlon family's attention.

Geographic and thematic fit matters: 43% of tracked grants by count went to Massachusetts organizations and a further 21% to Colorado, so applicants based in MA, CO, PA, or CT — or running programs in Vietnam, India, or the Dominican Republic — fit the historical pattern best. Frame proposals around the foundation's own three pillars (Resources for Learning, Empower Families, Strengthen Communities) using that exact language, and emphasize direct services to disadvantaged or underserved populations rather than advocacy, research, or systemic-change framing, which does not appear anywhere in the grantee list.

Size the ask realistically: the foundation's typical grant runs $5,000 to $112,000 with a median around $40,000, and outside community sources put first-year grants closer to $25,000 — so a modest, clearly-scoped first ask (general support) is more consistent with their pattern than a large capital request, which tends to come only after a multi-year relationship (e.g., Blue Dragon's $742,000 built up over 9 grants, Ames Free Library's $200,000 pavilion fund after an initial smaller gift). A common mistake would be submitting a generic, unsolicited proposal through a public contact form — the foundation's structure (uncompensated family officers, third-party administrator, no program staff) suggests it simply isn't built to process a high volume of cold inquiries. Board members have personally traveled to grantee sites in Hanoi and Barahona, so being able to host a site visit or offer direct, verifiable access to your program is a meaningful differentiator once a connection is made.