Roy + Patricia Disney Family Foundation
At a glance
This funder does not accept unsolicited applications. The foundation chooses the organisations it funds itself.
Key takeaways
- This is a social justice grantmaker whose named priorities are affordable housing preservation, criminal justice reform and environmental justice, with civic empowerment running across all three, so a good fit means working on these themes in its priority places: Los Angeles, New Orleans or Tacoma.
- It funds by invitation only and does not accept unsolicited requests, so grant writers should not send in a cold application but should instead look for ways to be introduced or become known to the foundation before approaching it.
- On size, about 8 in 10 of its 468 grants to organisations fall between $1,000 and $93,500, the median grant is $10,000 and the largest is $500,000, so a modest request in that range is realistic for most applicants.
- The pattern of giving looks relationship-led rather than open-competition: 82% of its grant dollars went to organisations it had also funded in its two previous filings, so new relationships take time to build and a first approach is best seen as a long game rather than a one-off ask.
Overview
Roy + Patricia Disney Family Foundation is a US private foundation based in Burbank, CA.
What they fund
Profile derived from the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filings (TY2024, TY2023, TY2022) and its website, with every statement checked against those sources. Sources read on 7 October 2026.
Priority Areas
The foundation is a social justice grantmaker seeking strategic, systems-level interventions and on-the-ground solutions led by people and advocacy groups in the communities they serve. Its named priorities are affordable housing preservation, criminal justice reform and environmental justice, with civic empowerment across all three. In housing, it supports advocates working on displacement and affordability, including tenant protection policies, affordable housing finance and permanent affordability. Its criminal justice work backs community-led re-entry and policy reform, reducing incarceration and recidivism and strengthening civic participation. Environmental justice support is community-led and hyper-local, centred on advocacy, regulation, policy change and capacity building in historically marginalised communities. It uses place-based, trust-based grantmaking and supports partners through multi-year general and project-level grants, pilot projects and capacity-building initiatives intended to strengthen their programmes and operations.
Themes
- Affordable housing preservation
- Criminal justice reform
- Environmental justice
- Civic empowerment
Geographic Focus
Priority: Los Angeles; New Orleans; Tacoma.
How to apply
The foundation states that it does not accept unsolicited requests.
Application success factors
- Repeat giving: In its TY2024 filing, 82% of its grant dollars to organisations went to organisations it had also funded in its TY2022 or TY2023 filing.
- Grant size: Across its TY2022, TY2023 and TY2024 filings, half of its 468 grants to organisations were $10,000 or less.
What the foundation says:
- The foundation favours on-the-ground solutions led by individuals and advocacy groups living and working in the communities they serve.
- It elevates organisations and ideas addressing conditions that lead to inequities, with policy and narrative change, power building and the voices of marginalised groups.
- It values trust-based grantmaking and the strength of the organisations and leaders in which it invests.
Where grants go
From grants to organisations in the foundation’s filings for tax years 2022–2024.
Grant dollars by state
6 other states: 6%
Outside the US or with no state on the filing: 2%
- The largest single recipient received 6% of grant dollars to organisations.
- In tax year 2024, 82% of grant dollars went to organisations Roy + Patricia Disney Family Foundation had funded in earlier filings.
- No grants were paid directly to organisations outside the US.
- 26% of grant dollars went to intermediaries that regrant to other organisations.
Grants
How much do they typically give?
Share of 163 grants in tax year 2024 by size
Median $10,000 (tax year 2024)
The largest grants to organisations in the foundation’s latest filing:
- Movement Strategy Center · Project Operating Support : Return to the Heart Fo undation$500,0002024 tax year
- Liberty Hill Foundation · Project Operating Support : Fund For Change$300,0002024 tax year
- Common Counsel Foundation · Project Operating Support : Native Voices Rising$200,0002024 tax year
- Youth Justice Coalition · General Operating Support$100,0002024 tax year
- Social Good Fund · Project Operating Support : HBCUvc$100,0002024 tax year
- Frontline Women's Fund · Project Operating Support : Synergie & FWF General Operating Support$100,0002024 tax year
- National Urban Fellows · Project Operating Support : NUF Residency Class of 2025$93,1502024 tax year
- Ayiti Demen · Project Operating Support : LT Earthquake Recovery : Food Security & Economic Recovery$75,0002024 tax year
Grants to organisations listed in the foundation’s Form 990-PF filings. Grants to individuals are not shown.
Officers and directors
- Shawn Escoffrey — Chief Executive Officer
- Kim Disney — Member
- Maxwell Loughman Disney — Co-Vice-Chairperson / Director / Member
- Neda Disney — Member
- Caitlin Disney — Member
- Timothy J Disney — Member
- Charlotte Hauser — Director / Member
- Tom Camp — Secretary / Director
- Kathleen Galli — Treasurer / Director
- Pierre Hauser — Member
- Abigail Disney — Director / Member
- Sarah Loughman — Member
- Olivia Hauser — Board Chair / Director / Member
- Susan Disney Lord — Co-Vice-Chairperson / Director / Member
From the latest Form 990-PF filing
3 years of tax filings
| Year | Total expenses | Grants paid | Assets | Filing document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 tax year | $9,412,460 | $6,143,541 | $133,354,533 | Filing for 2022 tax year |
| 2023 tax year | $5,614,286 | $4,435,503 | $145,596,872 | Filing for 2023 tax year |
| 2024 tax year | $7,321,079 | $4,925,805 | $151,371,773 | Filing for 2024 tax year |
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.
Sources
Registers and filings
Other sources
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At a glance
Applying to Roy + Patricia Disney Family Foundation?
Hinchilla drafts your answers around this funder's priorities, using your organisation's own documents.
No credit card required
Contact
- Burbank, CA
- rpdff.org
Applying to Roy + Patricia Disney Family Foundation?
Hinchilla drafts your answers around this funder's priorities, using your organisation's own documents.
No credit card required
Contact
- Burbank, CA
- rpdff.org