Windy Pines Foundation

Windy Pines Foundation is a young, founder-family-led private foundation (established 2021 from the sale of Lindsay Precast) explicitly built around a "reparative racial equity lens." All six board members — President Melanie Lindsay-Brisbin, VP Randall Lindsay-Brisbin, Director Jenna Mathews, Secretary Jacob Mathews, and Directors Luke Brisbin and Taylor Brisbin — serve without compensation, reflecting hands-on family philanthropy rather than a large professionally-staffed institution. Applicants should understand there are two distinct funding tracks. The first is WPF's own rolling-application "WPF Grant Program," which uses a Google Document form with no published deadline — apply directly. The second is the "Community-Awarded Grant Program," where WPF cedes decision-making entirely to a rotating committee of BIPOC community leaders who select grantees themselves; there is no public application for this track, so relationship visibility within the region's BIPOC nonprofit and civic networks matters more than a polished proposal. Of the 35 grants totaling $873,250 in the most recent year captured in our data, every single one was coded "GENERAL FUND SUPPORT" — Windy Pines does not fund discrete programs or projects; it backs organizations with flexible, unrestricted dollars, consistent with its stated "Accessible, Transparent, Accountable, Flexible, Trustworthy" tenets. First-time applicants should lead with organizational mission and BIPOC leadership/service credentials rather than a specific project budget. Geographic concentration is severe: 29 of 35 grants (83%) went to Colorado-based organizations, and web sources put in-state dollars at roughly 96% of total giving, weighted heavily toward Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region. Out-of-state grants (Boston Impact Initiative and Community Works Inc. in Massachusetts, Recidiviz Inc. in New York, plus single grants in Alabama, Delaware, and Michigan) appear to reflect founder relationships or systems-change intermediaries rather than an open national program — non-Colorado applicants face materially longer odds unless their work maps directly to WPF's racial-equity/systems-change thesis. There is no evidence of a bureaucratic, site-visit-heavy, multi-stage review process; the rolling application and direct contact-form outreach are the primary entry points, and the foundation explicitly invites questions before applying.

Windy Pines Foundation held $12.25M in total assets at FY2024 close, down from $13.99M in 2021 when it received its founding $14M contribution — a gradual spend-down pattern typical of a mission-driven family foundation prioritizing payout over asset growth. Total giving climbed from $0 in 2021 (the funding year) to $458,300 in FY2022 to $722,518 in FY2023, with the most recent grants data on file showing 35 grants worth $873,250 — a fourth consecutive year of rising payout. Net investment income has been modest relative to assets ($140,424 in FY2022, $287,291 in FY2023), meaning grant payout is increasingly funded by a mix of investment returns and principal drawdown rather than new contributions (contributions_received were $0 in both FY2022 and FY2023). Grant size in the most recent tranche: average $24,950, but the distribution is skewed by a handful of large awards — median grant is approximately $10,000, and 12 of 35 grants (34%) were exactly $5,000, forming a floor for newer or smaller relationships. At the top of the range: Unity Project Inc. received $126,000 across two grants (the largest cumulative relationship), Recidiviz Inc. and Boston Impact Initiative each received $100,000, and Community Works Inc. received $86,500. Notably, every recorded grant purpose is "GENERAL FUND SUPPORT" or "GENERAL SUPPORT FUND" — 100% of dollars are unrestricted operating support, with zero project-specific or capital grants in the sample. Geographically, Colorado captured 29 of 35 grants; the six out-of-state grants (Alabama, Delaware, Massachusetts x2, Michigan, New York) represent a small minority of total dollars. There is no program-area breakdown by traditional cause categories (education, health, arts) because WPF's own framing is systems-change and racial-equity rather than sector-based — grantees span direct service (Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Rocky Mountain PBS), advocacy (Equal Justice Initiative, Voces Unidas), and community/economic development (Go Farm, The Grow Haus, Denver Works Inc).

Peers matched here share Windy Pines' approximate asset size (~$12.25M) and NTEE "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" classification, but that classification describes legal form as a private foundation, not a shared cause focus — treat this as a size-based comparison, not a mission-based one.

Windy Pines stands out among this asset-matched peer set as the only foundation with a publicly documented, values-explicit mission and a functioning public grants program; four of five peers have no listed website in our data, suggesting closely-held family funds with minimal public grant-seeking infrastructure. That makes Windy Pines meaningfully more accessible than its size-peers — one of the few $12-13M family foundations in this bracket actively publishing an application process and giving statistics. Its roughly 6-7% annual payout rate (giving against assets) also runs above the 5% federal minimum distribution requirement, signaling genuine spend-down intent rather than an asset-preservation-first posture common among smaller family foundations.

Independent press coverage of Windy Pines Foundation is essentially nonexistent — no journalist profiles or news articles surfaced in search; nearly all current information originates from the foundation's own website and third-party 990-data aggregators (Instrumentl, Grantmakers.io, Cause IQ). The clearest signal of recent trajectory is the Community-Awarded Grant Program's steady expansion: in 2023 six committee members each distributed $20,000 ($120,000 total); by 2024 the committee grew to nine members at $20,000 each ($180,000 total); and in 2025 it expanded again to nine members now distributing $25,000 each ($225,000 total) — a near-doubling of this program's payout in three years, indicating WPF is actively scaling its most distinctive initiative (ceding grantmaking authority to community leaders) rather than treating it as a pilot. On the balance-sheet side, FY2024 total revenue rose to $666,879 (up from $412,966 in FY2023), while assets continued a gradual decline from $13.29M (FY2023) to $12.25M (FY2024), consistent with the foundation prioritizing payout over asset accumulation. Leadership has remained stable and unpaid across all available years — Melanie and Randall Lindsay-Brisbin (President/VP) alongside Jenna and Jacob Mathews and Luke and Taylor Brisbin continue to govern as an all-family, all-volunteer board with no reported staff additions or compensation changes. Applicants should not expect a press-driven announcement cycle from this funder; monitoring the foundation's own website and its newsletter signup is the most reliable way to track new funding rounds or committee expansions.

Windy Pines runs two separate doors and applicants should pick the right one. Door one is the WPF Grant Program: a rolling application delivered as a Google Document (no PDF portal, no fixed deadline) linked from windypinesfd.org/wpfgrantapplication — apply directly and use the site's contact form for pre-application questions, which the foundation explicitly invites. Door two is the Community-Awarded Grant Program: nine BIPOC community committee members each control a discretionary pool ($25,000 each in 2025) and select grantees themselves; there is no application to submit for this track, so the only real lever is visibility within Colorado Springs/Pikes Peak BIPOC nonprofit and civic networks that committee members are drawn from. Given that every sampled grant was coded "general fund support" with zero restricted or project grants, do not submit a project-scoped budget — frame the ask as unrestricted operating support and lead with organizational capacity, leadership demographics, and community trust rather than a discrete program design. Because the median award is roughly $10,000 (with 34% of grants at exactly $5,000), first-time applicants should calibrate expectations to a modest initial gift rather than assuming the $86,500-$126,000 relationships visible in the data — those appear reserved for multi-year, proven partners like Unity Project Inc. and Community Works Inc. The strongest alignment signal is explicit BIPOC leadership or BIPOC-community service, paired with work that changes or repairs inequitable systems (economic, gender, ability, racial) rather than direct charity/relief framing alone — use the foundation's own language ("reparative racial equity," "systems change," "community-led") where genuinely true of your program. A common mistake for outside-Colorado applicants: WPF sent roughly 83% of grants and about 96% of dollars in-state in the most recent cycle, so an out-of-state application needs an unusually strong systems-change or BIPOC-leadership thesis to break through — citing an existing WPF grantee as a partner or reference helps, since several out-of-state grants (Boston Impact Initiative, Recidiviz, Community Works) suggest relationship-driven expansion rather than an open national call.