Carl A Desantis Foundation

Carl A Desantis Foundation is a US private foundation based in Delray Beach, FL.

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 supports not-for-profit organisations serving Broward and Palm Beach Counties, with four main areas of support: civic innovation, faith-based organisations, health and wellness, and leadership and entrepreneurial programmes. Its civic work includes community efforts to improve public spaces and innovative local programmes, including crime prevention, after-school tutoring, affordable housing, college preparation, job creation, beautification and economic development. It also backs programmes designed to alleviate human suffering, help people facing hardship or special needs, improve human health, and nurture the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. It prefers organisations with three full years of operation and assesses each proposal individually according to programme relevance.

Themes

• Civic Innovation
• Faith-based Giving
• Health & Wellness
• Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Geographic Focus

Broward County; Palm Beach County.

What They Don't Fund

• Organizations that are not exempt from federal taxation under Section 501(c)(3) or are not described in either Section 509(a)(1) or Section 509(a)(2)
• Individuals, private foundations, or supporting organizations defined under Section 509(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended
• Social, religious, fraternal or veteran groups for projects that primarily benefit their own members or adherents
• The retirement of an organization’s accumulated debt
• Legislative, lobbying or other political purposes
• Routine operating expenses
• Pay off deficits or pre-existing debt
• Church planting

Organisations may submit a Letter of Intent at any time. If invited, they submit a full grant proposal within one of the three annual grant cycles and its deadline.

Deadlines: Full grant proposals have quarterly deadlines on October 31, February 28 and June 30.

• Repeat giving: In its TY2024 filing, 42% 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 66 grants to organisations were $60,000 or less.

What the foundation says:

• It prefers organisations with three full years of operation after receiving their tax-exempt determination letter.
• It judges each proposal individually according to the relevance of the proposed programme.
• Independent statistical evidence that a project will address an important community need strengthens a proposal.
• Approaches should be innovative, cost-effective and include cooperative effort from several community groups.
• Community impact should be consistent with the proposed expenditure.
• Demonstrated expertise among those guiding or staffing a project strengthens it.
• Single-year applications are preferred; multi-year proposals are considered when a project needs more than a year to reach its objectives and become sustainable.
• It assesses requests according to their purpose, scope and significance, the organisation's budget, and the diversity of funding sources.
• Applicants may be asked to take part in a grant review meeting with the Board and/or staff.
• It may conduct a site visit and confer with the organisation's professional staff, board or trustees, and accounting personnel.
• Grantees are asked for progress reports at least every six months and must file a final report when grant funds have been fully spent.