Wingate Foundation

Wingate Foundation is a small, closely-held family private foundation based in Riverside, California, administered by a three-person, entirely unpaid leadership team: CEO Michael K Beam, CFO Jimmy C Manning, and Secretary Todd B Wingate (all listed at $0 compensation across every filing year in the bundle). There is no program staff, no published guidelines, and — as of this research — no functioning website (wingatefoundation.com serves a generic WordPress 'Coming Soon' placeholder). Third-party trackers (Instrumentl) confirm the foundation does not accept unsolicited applications, and Granted's own database records the application process as unspecified with the foundation flagged 'preselected only.' This is a trustee-relationship funder, not an open-call grantmaker.

The grantee pattern reinforces that read: of the 35 tracked grants totaling $965,033, one relationship — Riverside Art Museum, at $515,000 across two grants — accounts for 53% of all tracked dollars. A second anchor relationship, Big Brothers Big Sisters, accounts for $155,000 across four grants. Together, two grantees represent 69% of tracked giving; the remaining 33 grantees split the rest in amounts from $1,000 to $50,000. This is the signature of a foundation built around a small number of deep, sustained institutional partnerships (likely tied personally to the Wingate/Beam/Manning family's civic involvement in Riverside) layered with a wider base of modest, local, one-off community gifts.

First-time applicants should not expect a portal, LOI form, or deadline. The realistic path in is a warm introduction — through Riverside Art Museum's board or donor network, Inland Empire civic/arts circles, or another current grantee — rather than a cold proposal. The foundation's registered agent, Silk Adler & Colvin (a San Francisco law firm specializing in nonprofit and foundation tax compliance), handles filings, not grant review, and should not be treated as a program contact. Given the near-total absence of a public footprint, organizations should calibrate expectations: this is a low-volume, relationship-first funder where a modest four- or five-figure local grant is the realistic ask, and the $515K-scale anchor gift is reserved for an exceptional, multi-year institutional partner.

Wingate Foundation held approximately $8.2-8.4 million in total assets as of its most recent filings (DB bundle: $8,246,621; Instrumentl FY2024: $8,378,106), generating roughly $772,958 in reported income, almost entirely from net investment income rather than new contributions — the foundation received $0 in new contributions in four of the last five reported fiscal years, indicating it is not running an active fundraising or donor-development program and is instead distributing from an established, largely static endowment.

Annual grant payout has been sharply volatile rather than steady: $37,492 (2011) building slowly to $136,093 (2019), then a spike to $578,695 (2021) — the ten-year high — followed by a collapse to just $102,000 (2022), a rebound to $355,015 (2023), and $204,215 across 13 awards in FY2024 (per Instrumentl, the most recent available figure). This swing pattern (5.7x between the 2021 peak and 2022 trough) is consistent with discretionary, relationship-driven giving rather than a formal annual grant cycle with a fixed payout ratio.

Across the 35 tracked grants ($965,033 total, $27,572 average), the distribution is bimodal. A typical/median grant — using the DB's dedicated typical_grant_size stat, which excludes the outlier anchor gifts — sits at $10,000 (average $12,156, range $1,000-$50,000, n=15). Layered on top are a small number of much larger relationship gifts: $515,000 cumulative to Riverside Art Museum and $155,000 cumulative to Big Brothers Big Sisters. Sector-wise, arts and culture is the dominant theme (Riverside Art Museum, San Francisco Ballet $30,033, Maloof Foundation for Arts & Crafts, Koplin Del Rio gallery, Smithsonian Renwick $20,000), alongside youth/human services (Big Brothers Big Sisters, Plan-It Life Inc $50,000), food security (Feeding America Riverside & San Bernardino $50,000, All Saints Episcopal Church food bank), and one education/scholarship gift (Cal Poly Foundation, $25,000). Geographically, 32 of 35 grantees (91%) are California-based and concentrated in the Riverside/Inland Empire area, with 2 in DC and 1 in WA tied to national arts institutions (Smithsonian).

Wingate Foundation sits in a cluster of similarly-sized education-category private foundations, all holding roughly $8.2-8.3 million in assets. None of the peer foundations in this bundle have disclosed annual-giving figures available in the data pulled, and none show evidence of an open application process — consistent with Wingate's own invitation-only posture.

What differentiates Wingate within this peer set is its documented behavior rather than its stated mission: despite carrying an NTEE Education classification like its peers, its actual giving history skews heavily toward arts/culture and local human-services organizations in Riverside, not scholarships or academic support (only one of 35 tracked grants, $25,000 to Cal Poly Foundation, is a traditional scholarship gift). Three of the five peers (Bedrock, West Davis & Bergard) maintain functioning websites, which Wingate currently does not — an outreach disadvantage but also a signal that this class of foundation generally does not compete for visibility or unsolicited applicants.

No 2025-2026 news coverage specific to Wingate Foundation (EIN 94-3301040, Riverside, CA) was located in this research. Search results surfaced only unrelated organizations sharing the 'Wingate' name — the UK-based Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation (which updated its funding criteria and added a Personal Awards category in July 2025), the Arkansas-based Windgate Foundation (which awarded $120,000 in Accelerator Grants to University of Arkansas art students in January 2026, part of a $423,000 three-year commitment), Wingate Living senior communities (celebrating a 40th anniversary and a February 2026 Cape Cod expansion), and a newly launched, unrelated nonprofit called Garron's Grace Wins (August 2025). None of these are connected to the Riverside foundation covered in this report.

The most recent verifiable activity for this specific foundation is financial: FY2023 grants paid of $355,015 (10-13 awards depending on source), and a third-party aggregator (Instrumentl) reporting FY2024 figures of $204,215 across 13 awards with total assets of $8,378,106 — the most current data point available, suggesting continued but somewhat reduced payout relative to 2023. The foundation's website remains an undeveloped placeholder page as of this research, and no leadership changes, new program announcements, or notable large single grants were identified beyond the historical Riverside Art Museum relationship already reflected in the grantee data. Given the total absence of a public communications channel, grant seekers should treat this foundation as functionally dormant from an outreach-visibility standpoint, even though its 990 filings show it remains an active grantmaker.

There is no open application process to optimize for — Instrumentl explicitly notes Wingate Foundation does not accept unsolicited applications, Granted's own DB records no application form, no portal, no deadline, and the foundation is flagged 'preselected only.' The single highest-leverage move for a prospective grantee is securing a warm introduction, ideally through Riverside Art Museum's board or donor circle (the foundation's largest documented relationship at $515,000 across two grants) or through another current grantee such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Empire, Plan-It Life Inc, or Feeding America Riverside & San Bernardino.

Because the foundation's registered contact is '% Silk Adler & Colvin' — a San Francisco nonprofit/foundation law firm — do not send program proposals there; that address exists for tax and compliance correspondence, not grant review, and the firm is not a program officer. Instead, if a direct approach is attempted, use the foundation's listed phone number, (951) 827-7936, to confirm whether the trustees are currently entertaining any outside inquiries before investing time in a written proposal — a five-minute call will save weeks of effort against a foundation this closed.

Calibrate the ask to the foundation's actual behavior, not its stated NTEE 'Education' classification: the real giving pattern is dominated by arts/culture and local human-services causes, with only one scholarship-type gift ($25,000 to Cal Poly Foundation) found in 35 tracked grants. A realistic first ask, absent an existing anchor relationship, sits in the $1,000-$50,000 band (the DB's own typical_grant_size stat: median $10,000, average $12,156). Do not anchor expectations on the $515,000 Riverside Art Museum figure — that reflects a multi-year, deeply established institutional partnership, not a starting point.

Given the payout volatility (from $102,000 in 2022 to $578,695 in 2021), there is no evidence of a fixed annual cycle to time around; outreach can be made at any point in the year, but should be followed by patience — a 60-90 day window before any follow-up is reasonable given the all-volunteer, part-time nature of the foundation's leadership. Frame any proposal around local Riverside/Inland Empire impact, arts accessibility, youth mentorship, or food security — the themes that recur across the foundation's actual grant history — rather than generic education-sector language.