G Carl Ball Family Foundation

• The foundation states that it does not accept unsolicited requests and works by invitation only, so a cold proposal is unlikely to be considered; the practical first step is to find a route to someone who already knows the foundation.
• Its grants are operating support across a broad mix of charitable organisations, so a request for general operating support fits, though the filings give no defined funding field to match against.
• Most grants are modest: about 8 in 10 fall between $4,000 and $185,000 and half are $15,000 or less, so a request near that scale is realistic, although the largest grant was $2,000,000 and that band is not a ceiling.
• About 28% of its grant dollars to organisations went to groups it had also funded in earlier filings, which suggests existing relationships matter, but that is a share of dollars, not of grants.
• No geographic focus is stated, so the Illinois and Arizona pattern in the filings is only a pattern and should not be read as a rule about who may apply.

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

• YMCA · Support operations
  $2,000,0002024 tax year
• Glenbard Spaulding Park · Support operations
  $322,9412024 tax year
• Orme School · Support operations
  $300,0002024 tax year
• Br Ryall YMCA · Support operations
  $250,0002024 tax year
• Edith Farnsworth · Support operations
  $210,0002024 tax year
• Morton Arboretum · Support operations
  $181,0002024 tax year
• Seed Your Future · Support operations
  $150,0002024 tax year
• Cal Poly · Support operations
  $100,0002024 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.