Whitt Family Foundation

The Whitt Family Foundation is a small, closely held family foundation run out of a Las Vegas mailing address by five directors — David K. Wallace (President), Diane Wallace (Secretary/CFO), Michael D. Wallace, Daniel Whitt, and Lori Marrs — with only David Wallace drawing compensation ($54,000 in FY2019-2022, reduced to $40,500 in FY2023). Multiple independent grant databases (Instrumentl, Grantable) confirm the foundation funds preselected charities and does not solicit or accept unsolicited applications, which is consistent with the absence of any public website, online portal, or published guidelines. This is a relationship-driven funder, not a competitive-RFP funder: its 67 recorded grants since inception show heavy repeat giving to a stable roster (Three Square Food Bank, Days for Girls, Partners In Health, Ronald McDonald House Las Vegas, Food Bank of Northern NV), indicating the board renews relationships with organizations it already trusts rather than reviewing new cold proposals each cycle. All 67 grants carry the identical purpose code 'UNRESTRICTED CHARITABLE,' meaning the foundation writes general-operating checks rather than restricted program grants — a donor-preference, not a program-officer-reviewed, model. First-time applicants should not expect a portal or LOI process to exist; the realistic path in is a warm introduction through the Las Vegas nonprofit community (where 21 of 67 grants, the largest single-state cluster, have landed), a Colorado or Pennsylvania connection (9 and 10 grants respectively), or alignment with the foundation's stated mission of relief for poor, distressed, and underprivileged children — including Christian organizations — and animal welfare. Grant sizes cluster small ($4,000-$55,000, median $10,000), so this is a foundation suited to modest, unrestricted asks rather than large capital or multi-year program requests. Given declining assets and giving, expect the board to be increasingly selective about which existing relationships it renews rather than expanding its roster.

Across its recorded grant history (67 grants totaling $1,372,700), the Whitt Family Foundation's average award is $20,488, but its most recent typical-grant profile (31 grants) is smaller: median $10,000, average $14,403, range $4,000-$55,000. The single largest gift on record is $185,000 to Three Square Food Bank across two grants, followed by a $145,000 gift to Impact Hub Yerevan and $80,000 across two grants to Outreach United Resource Center. Geographically, grants concentrate in the foundation's home state of Nevada (21 of 67 grants, 31%), followed by Pennsylvania (10, 15%) and Colorado (9, 13%) — likely tracking where directors live or have ties — with smaller clusters in California (8), and single-digit counts in DC, New Mexico, Utah, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Washington. Every grant in the dataset is coded 'UNRESTRICTED CHARITABLE,' so there is no formal program-area breakdown; qualitative review of recipient names shows the giving clusters around hunger relief (Three Square Food Bank, Food Bank of Northern NV, Central PA Food Bank, Downtown Daily Bread), health and pediatric care (Partners In Health, Community Outreach Patient Empowerment, St. Jude's Hospital, Children's Miracle Network, Ronald McDonald House Las Vegas), animal welfare (Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, The Gentle Barn, Larimer Humane Society, Helen Woodward Animal Center), and youth/girls' programs (Days for Girls, Girls on the Run, Girls Inc. of Orange County, Baby2Baby) — all consistent with the foundation's stated mission. Total giving has trended down sharply: from a FY2020 high of $1,072,012 (grants paid that year: $926,200) to FY2023's $482,075 (grants paid: $355,000), a decline that mirrors falling foundation assets ($10.4M in 2019 to $7.96M currently) and volatile net investment income (from $546,011 in FY2021 to $158,128 in FY2023). At current payout levels (~$350-450K/year in actual grants against ~$8M in assets), the foundation is distributing close to or above the 5% IRS minimum, leaving limited room for growth in either grant count or size absent a market recovery in its investment portfolio.

The foundation sits in a tight cluster of similarly asset-sized (~$8M) private philanthropy/grantmaking foundations nationally, none of which maintain a public grants website — a pattern typical of small, single-family vehicles rather than institutional funders.

All five peers share Whitt's exact NTEE classification (Philanthropy & Grantmaking, T20) and near-identical asset totals within a $10,000 band, but none have a discoverable website or published grantmaking process in this research pass — reinforcing that this size tier of family foundation typically operates entirely through personal networks rather than public application channels. Grant seekers without an existing relationship to any of these funders should expect to find an introduction through a shared board member, donor-advisor, or community foundation rather than a cold online application.

No news coverage, press releases, or social media activity was found for the Whitt Family Foundation in 2025 or 2026 — searches across general news, philanthropy trade press, and the foundation's own (nonexistent) web presence returned nothing beyond third-party 990-derived database listings (Instrumentl, Cause IQ, Grantmakers.io, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, GuideStar/Candid, Charity Navigator). The most recent verifiable activity is the foundation's FY2023 Form 990-PF, its latest filed year in this dataset, showing $355,000 in grants paid against $8.69M in total assets and $40,500 in officer compensation to President David K. Wallace — a reduction from the $54,000 he drew in FY2019-2022, which may signal board-level cost discipline as assets and giving have contracted. Leadership has been stable: the same five directors (David K. Wallace, Diane Wallace, Michael D. Wallace, Daniel Whitt, Lori Marrs) appear across all available filing years with no turnover recorded. The foundation was established relatively recently, with an IRS ruling date of May 2013, making it just over a decade old. Because it discloses no grants page, RFP calendar, or annual report, grant seekers should not expect forward-looking announcements of funding priorities; the only reliable forward signal is the pattern of repeat, multi-year gifts to the same roughly two-dozen recipient organizations visible in its historical 990 filings.

Because the Whitt Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited applications and has no public grants portal, guidelines, or LOI process, conventional cold-application tactics (submitting a proposal packet, following an online form) will not work here — third-party grant databases explicitly flag it as inviting preselected grantees only. The most effective approach is relationship-based: identify whether your organization already has a connection to Las Vegas civic or philanthropic circles (where the plurality of grants land), or to Colorado or Pennsylvania, the foundation's next-largest giving states, and pursue an introduction through a shared board member, donor, or community foundation rather than a direct written appeal. If a direct approach is attempted, address it to Diane Wallace (Secretary/CFO/Director) at the foundation's registered address — 840 S Rancho Dr Ste 4 PMB 408, Las Vegas, NV 89106 — or by phone at (702) 326-3088, since this is the only verified contact point; do not rely on whitt.com, which is an unrelated individual's personal website and not the foundation's. Frame any outreach around the foundation's stated mission language — relief for poor, distressed, and underprivileged children (including Christian organizations) and animal welfare — since virtually every recipient in its grant history maps cleanly onto hunger relief, pediatric health, animal welfare, or youth/girls' programming; proposals outside these themes are unlikely to gain traction regardless of merit. Keep any funding request modest and general-operating in framing: every historical grant is coded 'unrestricted charitable,' median award is $10,000, and the largest single-year gift on record is $185,000 (across two installments) — this is not a foundation positioned for large capital campaigns or highly restricted program budgets. Given a five-year decline in both assets (down from $10.4M to $7.96M) and total giving (down from a $1.07M FY2020 peak to $482K in FY2023), organizations already in the foundation's giving circle should not assume renewal is automatic, and new prospects should treat this as a long-shot, network-dependent target rather than a primary funding strategy.