Filkins Family Foundation

• The filing states that the foundation does not accept unsolicited requests and works by invitation only, so a charity should not send a cold proposal and should look for a connection that could lead to an invitation.
• Most of its grant value goes to specialist blindness-related work, with some general operating and community or recreation-related grants, so a charity whose work sits well outside those areas is unlikely to fit.
• No geographic focus is stated, although the filings show grants mainly in Vermont, New York and Nebraska, so location alone should not be read as a rule.
• Half of its grants to organisations were $60,000 or less, and the median was $60,000, so a modest request near that level fits better than a large one, even though its largest grant was about $20,500,000.
• Some 97% of its grant dollars in its latest filing went to organisations it had also funded in an earlier filing, so new applicants face a narrow path and should expect a relationship-led process.

The largest grants to organisations in the foundation’s latest filing:

• Himalayan Cataract Project · Surgeries & equipment
  $20,702,5162025 tax year
• Orbis · Treatment & prevention of blindness
  $12,790,0682025 tax year
• Nancy LF Davis Family Foundation · General operations
  $1,063,2802025 tax year
• Westside Foundation · Cal bentz natatorium
  $60,0002025 tax year
• Metropolitan Omaha Medical Society · General operations
  $31,3492025 tax year

Grants to organisations listed in the foundation’s Form 990-PF filings. Grants to individuals are not shown.

Figures from the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF filings. Assets are at fair market value at year end. The document icon links to each year’s filing on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.