Wwld Foundation

WWLD Foundation is a small, family-run private foundation headquartered at PO Box 4950, Aspen, CO, and controlled entirely by the Goodman family -- Dale Goodman (President), Samantha August Goodman (Vice President), Zachary William Goodman (Treasurer), and Alexandria Rose Genet (Secretary), all uncompensated. There is no program staff, no published RFP, and no online application form; the IRS filing lists application_instructions as none, and independent trackers (Instrumentl, Cause IQ, Impala) confirm the foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals and funds strictly by invitation. This is a relationship-driven funder, not an application-driven one. Every tracked grant in the public 990 data is coded "GENERAL SUPPORT" -- the foundation writes flexible operating checks rather than restricted program grants, and it has never required a site visit or multi-stage proposal process on record. The clearest signal in the grantee list is Aspen Community Foundation, which alone accounts for $80,000 of the $210,000 given in the most recent detailed fiscal year (38% of that year's total) -- strongly suggesting the family channels a meaningful share of its giving through, or alongside, the local Aspen community-foundation network rather than sourcing causes independently. The remaining grantees ($10,000-$50,000 range) span unrelated causes -- legal aid (Mississippi Center for Justice), international development (International Community Foundation), music education (Frost School of Music), mental health (NAMI), and conservation/outdoor advocacy (Protect Our Winters, Colorado Native Outreach Project) -- indicating personal board interests drive selection more than a defined issue-area thesis. First-time organizations should not expect to reach this funder cold: prioritize finding a genuine connection through the Aspen philanthropic community, the Goodman family's existing grantee network, or (given the wwld.org site's focus) the youth mental-health/breathwork space, which appears to reflect the family's personal mission. Absent a warm introduction, formal outreach is unlikely to be read or answered.

Total giving has been volatile: $2,828 in 2021 (effectively a pass-through year with zero grants paid), $226,413 in 2022 (8 grants, avg. $26,250), $161,896 in 2023 (grants paid $132,768), $82,505 in 2024 (7 grants), and $113,500 in 2025 (12 grants) per the most current 990 data available via Instrumentl. Grant sizes have ranged from roughly $2,500 at the low end up to $80,000 (Aspen Community Foundation, the largest single grant on record); the median first-year grant to a new organization is reported at around $10,000, with only established relationships (Aspen Community Foundation, Phase One Foundation at $50,000) reaching the $50,000-$80,000 tier. In the most detailed cross-section available (8 grants, $210,000 total), grantees clustered by state as CO (3), CA (2), FL (1), MS (1), and VA (1), while Instrumentl's broader multi-year view names Colorado, California, and New York as the primary geographies. Asset growth has sharply outpaced giving growth: total assets rose from $1.94 million (2022) to $3.72 million (2023) to an estimated $6.24 million by 2025, almost entirely from net investment income ($1.11 million in 2023 alone versus just $4,613 in new contributions that year, and $0 in contributions in 2022). That means the corpus is compounding faster than the payout -- the effective distribution rate fell from roughly 11% of assets in 2022 to an estimated 2% by 2025, well above the 5% IRS minimum in 2022 but now likely closer to it. Every grant purpose recorded is "GENERAL SUPPORT" (one entry mistyped as "GENEREAL SUPPORT"), confirming this funder does not run restricted program-area competitions; funding follows organizations, not proposals.

WWLD Foundation sits within a cluster of similarly sized, obscure family foundations nationwide, all filed under the "Philanthropy & Grantmaking" NTEE category with almost identical asset bases near $6.24 million -- likely a coincidence of filing-year timing rather than a meaningful peer cohort, since none publish websites or public grant guidelines.

None of the five listed peers maintain a public website or disclosed application process in this dataset, which is itself the pattern worth noting: foundations at this asset tier ($5-7M) are almost always closely held family vehicles that give to a small, known circle of causes rather than run open grant programs. WWLD stands out only in that it maintains a public-facing website (wwld.org), though that site promotes the family's own youth-breathwork program rather than a grants portal -- grant seekers should not expect more transparency from WWLD than from its peers.

The most recent filing data (via Instrumentl's 990 report) shows 2025 giving of $113,500 across 12 grants -- the highest grant count on record for the foundation, though individual awards trended smaller than the $10,000-$80,000 range seen in 2022. This follows a dip to just 7 grants ($82,505) in 2024. No named leadership changes were found; the same four Goodman-family officers (Dale, Samantha August, Zachary William Goodman, and Alexandria/Alexandra Rose Genet) appear across every filing reviewed, all uncompensated. No dated press coverage, award announcements, or media mentions of WWLD Foundation specifically were found in web search -- results for "Wwld Foundation news" surfaced only unrelated organizations (Walder Foundation, William G. Pomeroy Foundation, the World Foundation crypto project, Weld Community Foundation). The one substantive recent-activity signal comes from the foundation's own website, wwld.org, which currently promotes an active consumer-facing initiative: a "WWLD Bracelet" described as "awareness as a technology," a children's breathing-technique app, and a "Self-Love Tour" community engagement effort, alongside a donation appeal. This suggests the family's philanthropic energy in 2025-2026 may be increasingly directed toward building out this in-house program rather than solely expanding third-party grantmaking -- a dynamic worth flagging to prospective grantees, since it could mean a shrinking share of future dollars goes to outside organizations.

There is no formal application to submit: application_instructions on file is "none," and every independent tracker (Instrumentl, Cause IQ, Impala) confirms WWLD Foundation does not accept or review unsolicited proposals -- funding is by invitation only, sourced through the Goodman family's personal and professional network. Do not send a cold LOI or proposal through wwld.org; that site is built around the family's own breathwork program for children, not a grantee portal, and has no "How to Apply" page. The single most productive move for a prospective grantee is identifying a genuine warm-introduction path: Aspen Community Foundation is the foundation's largest and most consistent grantee ($80,000 in the latest detailed year, roughly 38% of total giving that cycle), so organizations with ties to the Aspen, Colorado philanthropic and community-foundation network have the clearest documented on-ramp. A second, more speculative angle: given the family's public emphasis on youth emotional literacy and breathing/mindfulness education (via wwld.org), organizations working in youth mental health, breathwork, or social-emotional learning may align closely with the founders' personal mission even though no such grants appear yet in the public 990 data. When and if a connection is made, come prepared to make a general-operating-support case -- every tracked grant purpose is "GENERAL SUPPORT," not a restricted project budget, so a specific program ask is less relevant than demonstrating organizational health and mission fit. Calibrate expectations on size: a first relationship is more likely to land in the $10,000-$25,000 range based on the median first-year grant, with the $50,000+ tier reserved for established, multi-year relationships. Because there is no public deadline, RFP cycle, or board meeting schedule disclosed, timing outreach around a specific date is not possible -- the best approach is to build the relationship first and let a formal ask follow, rather than working backward from a deadline that doesn't exist. Avoid sending unsolicited grant applications by mail or email, as none of the four officers' contact channels are set up to process them.