Volo Foundation

VoLo Foundation is a private, founder-led family philanthropy established in 2014 by David S. Vogel and Thais Lopez Vogel, a Palm Beach Gardens, Florida couple driven by personal concern over climate change and a commitment to evidence-based impact. With total assets of approximately $125.9 million as of fiscal year 2024 and more than $83 million distributed since inception — including approximately $27 million in 2025 alone across 113 projects — the foundation has scaled its grantmaking dramatically over its first decade.

The most critical first step for prospective grantees: VoLo is designated preselected only and does not maintain a public application portal or issue open RFPs. However, its tax filings confirm it accepts letters and calls from grantseekers working in its areas of interest. The path in requires proactive, personalized outreach rather than a formal portal submission.

The foundation's grantmaking philosophy centers on three pillars — climate solutions, education, and health — with a strong emphasis on science-based approaches, robust metrics, and demonstrable systemic impact. Proposals must present a results-oriented framework identifying inputs, outputs, outcomes, and expected impact. Data and analytical rigor are non-negotiable; VoLo explicitly states it requires 'robust metrics' and 'analytical rigor' in all funded projects.

Program Director Wendy J. Oliver ($110,102 annual compensation) serves as the primary program officer and likely the key internal champion for new relationships. Founders David and Thais Vogel serve as uncompensated trustees and maintain active, visible involvement through the foundation's signature convenings — the annual Climate Correction conference (Orlando, each March) and Florida Climate Week (annual, statewide Florida). Direct engagement at these events is among the most effective relationship-building channels available to prospective grantees.

Grantee diversity spans organizational scale: top recipients include national institutions (Environmental Defense Fund at $3.79M total; MIT at $189,941; Harvard at $300K) alongside Florida-focused nonprofits (Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida at $120K; Make-A-Wish Central Florida at $120K). Organizations of all sizes qualify when strategic fit is strong. Multi-year grants are common — most top grantees show 2 funding cycles — indicating VoLo strongly favors sustained partnerships over one-time contributions. A first grant should be framed as the beginning of a longer relationship, not a standalone ask.

VoLo Foundation's grant distribution exhibits a pronounced right-skewed pattern: a small number of large anchor grants alongside a longer tail of smaller programmatic gifts. Across 110 documented grants in the grantee database, total giving reached $12,656,838, yielding an average of $115,062 per grant. The median grant size is $25,000, reflecting heavy skew from a handful of transformational awards. The foundation's own profile data confirms a maximum single grant of $1,659,000, a minimum of $150, and an average of $102,595 across 79 reported grants. The 2025 web-reported figure of $27 million across 113 projects implies an average of approximately $239,000 per project — a step-change from prior years suggesting both larger individual grants and more total projects funded.

The top 10 grantees by cumulative amount account for approximately $8.3 million of the $12.7 million documented — roughly 66% of all giving concentrated among a small tier of strategic partners. This indicates VoLo operates simultaneously as a major transformational investor (anchor multi-year grants) and a community grantmaker (smaller Florida nonprofits).

By program area (2025 data): 37% of distributions supported environmental awareness, research, adaptation, and mitigation; 63% supported health, humanitarian efforts, and community building. Major environmental grantees include Environmental Defense Fund ($3.79M), CLEO Institute ($1.33M), Everglades Foundation ($225K), Natural Resources Defense Council ($170K), and Rocky Mountain Institute ($140K). Major health and research grantees include Nicklaus Children's Hospital Foundation ($1.025M), UCF Foundation ($415K), Scripps Research Institute ($225K), Moffitt Cancer Center ($189K), and MIT ($189K). Humanitarian recipients include Amplio Network ($800K), Save the Children ($185K), and American Red Cross South Florida ($125K).

Geographically: 57% of 2025 grants targeted Florida, with 64 of the top 110 documented grants going to FL-based recipients. New York received 11 grants (second-largest geography), followed by California (6), DC (4), Hawaii (5), and Massachusetts (4). Hawaii and Illinois grants appear linked to specific institutional relationships rather than strategic geographic priorities.

Annual giving trajectory: $250K (2015), $3.9M (2019), $8.0M (2020), $11.0M (2021), $12.2M (2022), approximately $27M (2025). The 2025 figure represents more than double the 2022 level. Fiscal year 2024 revenue of $29.2M confirms sustained founder contributions driving this expansion.

The database identifies five asset-comparable peer foundations, all in the $125–126M range and classified under NTEE T22 (Private Independent Foundations). Detailed annual giving data and public program information for these peers are not available in the database.

VoLo stands apart from its asset-size peers in three meaningful ways. First, its 2025 giving rate of approximately $27 million represents roughly 21% of total assets — well above the 5% private foundation minimum and indicative of an exceptionally active grantmaking posture for a foundation of this size. Second, VoLo's signature public convenings (Climate Correction, Florida Climate Week) create unusual visibility and relationship-building pathways for prospective grantees that none of the identified peers replicate in any publicly visible way. Third, as a Florida-based foundation with 57% geographic concentration in the state and a clear climate-and-health mission, VoLo occupies a distinctive niche: a major regional philanthropy with national ambition and a growing media and entertainment strategy. The Micron Technology Foundation is a corporate foundation likely prioritizing STEM workforce development in Idaho; the California and Texas peers have no disclosed public programs. None of the comparable peers appear to operate high-profile annual convenings or student award programs.

VoLo Foundation's most active 18 months on record reflects both its largest-ever grant commitment and a sharpened 2026 strategic posture.

In March 2025, VoLo awarded a $6 million, three-year grant to The CLEO Institute — the single largest known multi-year commitment in the foundation's disclosed history — supporting the women-led Florida nonprofit's climate education, advocacy, policy, and resilience-building work. That same month, the 7th annual Climate Correction conference drew film industry collaborators and celebrity panels to Orlando, signaling the foundation's growing investment in media and entertainment as climate communication channels.

In May 2025, VoLo funded Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Ingram Cancer Center for the Southern Environmental Health Study, enabling biological aging assays and expanded participant recruitment to investigate environmental cancer risk — a notable extension of VoLo's health portfolio into environmental health research.

Florida Climate Week 2025 (5th annual edition) reached over 1,800 participants across 80+ free events statewide, with 18 local government proclamations recognizing the initiative.

In January 2026, The Invading Sea published VoLo's 2026 strategic framing: 'action, not abstractions,' centered on measurable real-world outcomes. In March 2026, the 8th annual Climate Correction conference debuted the theme 'Nature Powered Solutions,' growing to 250 attendees. A University of Miami graduate team won the VISTA Award ($25,000) on March 10 for algae-powered carbon-negative concrete. On March 11, VoLo-supported partners completed a 67-tree fruit-planting initiative in an Orlando food desert. Founders David and Thais Vogel reflected on the foundation's trajectory in a WGCU interview on March 13, 2026, emphasizing collaboration and the role of science paired with storytelling. No leadership changes were identified in any recent coverage.

Given VoLo's preselected-only designation, the following tips are specific to this funder — not generic grant-writing advice.

Lead with science, not story. VoLo's core identity is evidence-based grantmaking. Every introductory letter and full proposal must foreground peer-reviewed research, quantitative outcomes data, or rigorous evaluation methodologies. Emotional narratives without data will not advance. Data and analytical rigor are the filter — lead with metrics.

Align explicitly with the three pillars. Climate solutions, education, or health/humanitarian — your pitch must clearly name which pillar it serves. The 2025 split (63% health/humanitarian, 37% environmental) shows both tracks are fully viable. Health, humanitarian, and community-building applicants should not assume VoLo is exclusively a climate funder.

Florida-first framing accelerates consideration. With 57% of 2025 giving concentrated in Florida, organizations operating in or addressing Florida-specific challenges — Everglades restoration, sea level rise, hurricane resilience, urban heat, Florida community health — have a distinct positioning advantage. Make Florida relevance explicit, even for organizations with national scope.

Attend Climate Correction or Florida Climate Week in person. These annual Florida events offer direct access to Program Director Wendy Oliver and founders David and Thais Vogel. A face-to-face introduction at a VoLo convening is far more effective than cold email. Climate Correction takes place each March in Orlando; registration is the first action step.

Initiate with a brief LOI or phone call. Call (561) 832-9292 or reach out via volofoundation.org. A 1–2 page letter of inquiry is the appropriate first contact — cover: organization overview, specific program, evidence base with quantitative metrics, pillar alignment, Florida relevance, grant amount requested, and multi-year vision. There is no public portal.

Frame the ask as a long-term partnership. Most top grantees received 2+ funding cycles. A first grant is an audition for a sustained relationship. Use language around strategic alignment, shared theory of change, and multi-year programmatic ambition.

Specify metrics precisely. Include named KPIs, evaluation plans, and prior-cycle impact data in all materials. VoLo's language explicitly requires proposals to 'identify inputs, outputs and outcomes' and 'succinctly discuss expected impact.' Generic outcome language will not satisfy this standard.

Avoid organizational sustainability framing. VoLo is funded entirely by its founders and has no fundraising pressures of its own. Lead with programmatic outcomes and systemic impact — not organizational budget gaps, capacity needs, or operational deficits.