Winmar Foundation

Winmar Foundation (EIN 46-2220222, Toledo, OH; IRS ruling date April 2017) is a small, closely held private family foundation with no formal grants program, no public application portal, and no listed grants page — `application_instructions` in IRS/enrichment data is explicitly blank and no `application_form_url` or `opportunities_url` exists. This is a relationship-driven funder, not an open-competition one. Its historical grantee list (Dutton Farm, St. Paul Pontiac, The Luke Clinic, Care Net, Save Our Neighborhoods And Streets, Elli's House, Lutheran Church Charities) plus its 2024 disclosed grants (New Day Foundation for Families, Elevate Community Ministries, Oakland Hope) point to a consistent profile: small-to-midsize human-services and faith-affiliated nonprofits, disability services, crisis pregnancy/maternal care, at-risk youth, and food/basic-needs organizations, almost all rooted in Michigan (Oakland County, St. Clair County, Rochester, Pontiac, Midland, West Bloomfield, Whitmore Lake). Leadership is thin: President Annalisa Toth (paid, salary rising from $45,000 in 2022 to roughly $70,000 by 2025), with Timothy Semro (Secretary/Trustee) and Michael Henry (Trustee) serving unpaid. An earlier President, Alicia Winget, appears unpaid in prior filings, suggesting a founder-to-professional-staff transition as assets grew from near-zero in 2019 to $9.4 million by 2025. For applicants, the practical path is not a cold LOI into a portal — it's identifying a Michigan human-services or faith-based network connection to the board, since the foundation's giving pattern (repeat, two-grant relationships to organizations like Dutton Farm and Care Net) shows it prefers deepening ties with known grantees over broad first-time outreach. First-time applicants should expect to build awareness informally (board introductions, shared community connections in Oakland/St. Clair County) before a written ask, and should size requests modestly: the 2024 average grant was about $67,000, but grants as small as $2,000-$15,000 appear throughout the historical record, so proposals in the $10,000-$100,000 range are realistic depending on relationship depth.

Winmar's qualifying distributions have been volatile and rapidly scaling: $0 (2019), $258 (2020), $5,350 (2021), $201,763 (2022), $176,399 (2023), and roughly $200,000 (2024, per third-party 990 aggregation) against total assets that grew from $5,667,340 (FY2023) to an estimated $9,398,038 (FY2025). Cash grants paid (a narrower figure than total qualifying distributions) were $250 (2020), $0 (2021), $125,200 (2022), $60,000 (2023), and $200,000 across just three grants in 2024 — average $67,000, with New Day Foundation for Families receiving the largest single award ($100,000). This marks a clear shift from the earlier pattern: the platform's own aggregated grantee history shows 16 grants totaling $250,400 at an average of just $15,650, ranging from a $10,000 four-part commitment to Lutheran Church Charities up to $100,000 (two grants) to Dutton Farm, a disability-services nonprofit. By state, 10 of 16 historical grants (62.5%) went to Michigan organizations, 4 to Illinois (25%), and 2 to Virginia (12.5%) — reinforcing Michigan as the primary geography despite the Toledo, Ohio mailing address. Revenue is dominated by direct contributions from the founding family/donor rather than investment returns: $1,641,224 in contributions in FY2023 against $276,454 in net investment income, and a similar roughly $1.6 million contribution base carried into FY2025 ($2,168,369 total revenue against $182,385 in expenses, per ProPublica). With assets now near $9.4 million, the 5% minimum-distribution requirement implies roughly $470,000 in required annual qualifying distributions going forward — nearly 2.5x the $200,000 actually distributed in 2024 — suggesting Winmar has room, and likely pressure, to increase grant volume and/or grant size substantially in FY2025-2026 filings once they become public.

All five peers sit within roughly $4,000 of Winmar's $9.4 million asset base and share the identical NTEE classification (Philanthropy & Grantmaking), indicating this is a cohort of similarly sized, recently established or family-run pass-through foundations rather than large institutional funders. Only Otter Cove Foundation has a discoverable public website among the peer set, and none of the five publish an application process — this reinforces that Winmar's lack of a formal portal is the norm, not the exception, for foundations at this asset tier. Applicants should not expect competitive-grant infrastructure (RFPs, published cycles, online forms) from any funder in this peer group and should instead prioritize direct outreach and network introductions across the board.

No news outlets, trade press, or philanthropy publications carry coverage of Winmar Foundation activity in 2025-2026 — searches for grant announcements, leadership news, and program updates returned only unrelated organizations (a Canadian restoration company, a Virginia-based construction firm, and an Australian nonprofit, all sharing the 'Winmar' name). This absence is itself informative: it confirms Winmar operates without a communications function, consistent with its single paid officer and two unpaid trustees. The foundation's own website (winmar.org) could not be reached during this research (connection reset and TLS errors on repeated attempts), which may indicate the site is intermittently unavailable, minimally built, or not actively maintained — applicants should not assume a functioning grants page exists there. The most concrete recent activity comes from IRS filings aggregated by third parties: total assets crossed $7.4 million in FY2024 and an estimated $9.4 million in FY2025, contributions from the founding source held steady near $1.6 million per year, and the President's compensation rose to approximately $70,000 by 2025 — the clearest signal of an organization professionalizing as it scales past the $9 million mark. The last confirmed grant activity is the 2024 disbursement of $200,000 across three grants (New Day Foundation for Families, Elevate Community Ministries, Oakland Hope); no 2025 or 2026 grant-level data has yet been made public, as 990-PF filings typically lag 12-18 months.

Because Winmar has no published application process, no LOI portal, and no stated deadline (`funding_cycle`, `application_deadline`, and `application_form_url` are all blank in IRS/enrichment records), treat this as a relationship-first funder rather than a competitive-RFP funder. Start by mapping any connection to its Michigan grantee network — Dutton Farm (disability services), Care Net and The Luke Clinic (maternal/pregnancy care), Lutheran Church Charities, New Day Foundation for Families, Elevate Community Ministries, and Oakland Hope are its clearest current relationships, and a warm introduction through any of these organizations' boards or staff is likely more effective than a cold letter. Given the foundation's Toledo, Ohio registered address but overwhelmingly Michigan-focused giving (62.5% of historical grants, 100% of disclosed 2024 grants), lead with Michigan program impact, particularly Oakland County or St. Clair County service areas, rather than a national or multi-state pitch. Size the ask realistically: median historical grants cluster in the $10,000-$20,000 range, while the 2024 shift toward fewer, larger grants ($67,000 average, up to $100,000) suggests the foundation is now comfortable with bigger single commitments for the right fit — a first-time request in the $15,000-$50,000 range is a reasonable anchor, with room to grow into a second, larger grant once a relationship is established (as seen with Dutton Farm's two grants totaling $100,000). A common mistake would be treating this like a typical foundation with published guidelines — spending time searching for a nonexistent RFP or portal wastes the opportunity; instead, send a concise, specific 1-2 page letter directly to the Toledo address (c/o Timothy Bradley, 7255 Crossleigh Ct Ste 104, Toledo, OH 43617) or call (586) 803-6007, and use language that ties your mission to Winmar's demonstrated interests: human services, health care access, intellectual/developmental disability support, faith-based community care, at-risk youth, and basic-needs/food assistance. Given the thin staffing (one paid President, two unpaid trustees), expect a slow, informal response cycle rather than a scheduled review calendar, and plan to follow up by phone rather than relying solely on written correspondence.