Wyss Foundation

The Wyss Foundation is a small, all-volunteer family foundation based in Portland, Oregon (EIN 93-1010019), founded in 1989 and run by the Wyss family — Judith Wyss as President, with Edmund J. Wyss, Jennifer A. Wyss, Isabel Wyss, Emily A. Wyss, and James Damis as Directors, all serving without compensation across every filing reviewed. It describes itself as a "silent partner" to grantees and explicitly ties its giving to "areas where trustees are or have been active" — in practice, this means a heavy Portland-metro bias (314 of the 434 tracked grants, or 72%, went to Oregon organizations) layered with a short, fixed list of national causes the family has supported for years.

The grantee data reveals the foundation's real operating model: this is not a foundation that makes large, one-time gifts. Nearly every organization in the top-50 grantee list shows 2 to 6 separate grant transactions — Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (6 grants, $300,000 cumulative), Doctors Without Borders USA (6 grants, $170,000), Southern Poverty Law Center (6 grants, $125,000), Friends of Chamber Music and Hallie Ford Museum of Art ($140,000 each over 5 grants) — indicating annual or near-annual renewal once a relationship is established, rather than competitive one-off awards. First-time applicants should understand they are not competing for a single large check; they are trying to get onto a renewal list that, once joined, tends to persist for years.

The realistic relationship progression is: written inquiry (no forms, no portal) → trustee review at scheduled meetings → a modest initial grant in the $5,000-$15,000 range → repeat, gradually larger support if the relationship holds. Because the board is small and unstaffed, expect direct, personal engagement rather than a program-officer-mediated process — proposals should be concise and should speak to a trustee's likely personal familiarity with the cause, not a generalized case for support aimed at an anonymous review committee.

The foundation's payout has been remarkably stable in recent years: FY2023 grants paid were $983,500 against $9,437,852 in assets, FY2022 was $996,500 against $9,595,166, and FY2021 was $1,000,000 against $9,579,650 — a payout rate near 10-11% of assets, roughly double the 5% IRS minimum distribution requirement for private foundations of this size. This is a marked step up from FY2019 ($442,500 paid) and the FY2011-2015 range ($169,800-$510,750), suggesting the foundation roughly doubled its giving level sometime around 2020 and has held that level steady since, even as total assets have stayed essentially flat in the $9.4M-$10.7M band (assets were $4.3M-$4.5M as recently as 2011-2012, so long-run asset growth funded the higher payout).

Grant sizing splits into two clear tiers. Per the foundation's own typical_grant_size data (n=65 sampled grants), the median grant is $10,000, the average is $15,385, and the range runs $1,000-$50,000. But the broader 434-grant grantee history (cumulative $5,963,000, average $13,932 per grant instance) shows a distinct "core partner" tier: organizations like Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Doctors Without Borders USA, John's Closet ($150,000/5 grants), Multnomah Arts Center ($135,000/5 grants), and Oregon Humane Society ($140,000/5 grants) receive $25,000-$50,000 per grant cycle across multiple years, well above the $10,000 median for the broader applicant pool.

By category, purposes logged in the data skew heavily toward Community & Social Services and Art, with Education as a distinct third tier and only isolated Religion-tagged grants. Geographically, Oregon dominates (314 of 434 grants, 72%), followed by California (37), Virginia (24, largely International Rescue Committee's Charlottesville affiliate), Washington (12), Massachusetts (9), and single digits each for New York, Maryland, DC, Alabama, and Ohio — consistent with the restrictions field's explicit "Portland preference" for arts, music, education, and social-service grants, paired with a handful of long-standing national commitments.

Wyss is the smallest foundation in this Portland-area peer set by both assets and annual giving, sitting closest in scale and model to the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust — both are family-run, both have a roughly $10,000 median or average award, and both concentrate on Portland-metro organizations. Autzen, Collins, and Miller operate an order of magnitude larger, with formal LOI processes and typical grants 5-30x the size of Wyss's median — meaning organizations with smaller budgets or newer track records will find Wyss and Tucker far more realistic entry points than Collins or Miller.

No foundation-specific news, leadership changes, or new program announcements surfaced for the Portland Wyss Foundation (EIN 93-1010019) in this research window. Nearly all 2025-2026 search results for "Wyss Foundation" instead describe the unrelated, far larger Hansjorg Wyss Foundation headquartered in Washington, DC — including a reported $10 million gift to Children's Hospital Los Angeles (October 2025), a $15 million grant to The Nature Conservancy, a $2.3 million grant to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and a 2026 Wyss Scholars cohort announced March 17, 2026. None of this activity involves the Portland family foundation covered in this report, and applicants should take care not to conflate the two when researching or referencing prior grants in a proposal.

The last verifiable activity specific to this foundation is its FY2023 Form 990-PF filing, showing $1,041,502 in total giving and $9,437,852 in assets — both essentially flat against FY2022 ($1,042,715 giving, $9,595,166 assets) and FY2021 ($1,077,133 giving, $9,579,650 assets). Board composition (Judith Wyss as President; Edmund J., Jennifer A., Isabel, and Emily A. Wyss, and James Damis as Directors) has been consistent across the filings reviewed, with zero officer compensation reported in any year. This reads as a mature, steady-state family foundation rather than one in a period of strategic change — applicants should not expect a shifting set of priorities or a recent influx of new capital, and should approach it as a stable, low-visibility, relationship-driven funder.

Unlike the much larger, unrelated Hansjorg Wyss Foundation, this Portland foundation does not operate an invitation-only or closed process — its own website states an informal application with no required forms, and invites written inquiries by email (wyssfoundationoregon@gmail.com). The DB record's application_instructions confirm the same substance is expected regardless of format: a statement of need, an organizational budget, background on the organization, a list of current directors/leadership, and proof of tax-exempt status.

There is a real discrepancy worth flagging to applicants: the foundation's own website describes a July 1 annual submission deadline ahead of spring funding decisions, while the DB record instead notes trustee meetings in December and April. Given the informal, unstaffed nature of the foundation, the safest approach is to email first, confirm the currently active cycle, and only then submit — do not assume either date is authoritative without checking.

Respect the explicit restrictions: no support for individuals (including scholarships or medical needs), no capital or endowment campaigns, and no discrimination-practicing organizations. The "Portland preference" language in the restrictions field, paired with the fact that 72% of tracked grants went to Oregon organizations, means non-Portland/Oregon applicants for arts, music, education, or social-service funding face materially longer odds than local groups — national causes (Doctors Without Borders, Southern Poverty Law Center, IRC) appear to be a small, fixed slate the family has already committed to rather than an open category.

Size the ask appropriately: the median grant is $10,000 and the average is $15,385 across a sampled $1,000-$50,000 range. Even the foundation's longest-tenured, highest-cumulative partners (Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Doctors Without Borders USA) appear to receive roughly $25,000-$50,000 per cycle, not per single ask — so a first-time request above $15,000-$20,000 is likely oversized relative to typical practice. Because the board is small, unpaid, and directly reads submissions (no program-officer layer evident), keep the proposal short, direct, and personal, and limit yourself to one request per calendar year as the foundation specifies. The clearest common mistake to avoid is addressing a proposal to the wrong Wyss Foundation or using that foundation's conservation-focused language — this signals a mail-merge approach rather than genuine familiarity with this funder.