OVERVIEW: This Little Rock, Arkansas-based funder supports education, human services, health, and hospitals. First-time grant seekers need to submit a survey form to start.
FUNDING AREAS: education, human services, health, hospitals, hunger, daycare, economic development, child poverty, health agencies, HIV/AIDS education
IP TAKE: Arkansas is just one of quite a few places that CAFF supports, but Little Rock is its home base. Grant seekers should come to this funder for capital support, endowments, matching grants, and collaborative projects.
PROFILE: The Charles A. Frueauff Foundation (CAFF) was established in 1950 and is based in Little Rock, Arkansas. It seeks to “improve the lives of those in need by awarding grants to non-profit organizations in the areas of education, human services, and health and hospitals.” Since its start, the foundation has made over $164 million in grants to over 1,185 organizations. Grant seekers can find a distribution and totals map on the funder’s History page.
Frueauff was a New York attorney who contributed to many charitable organizations in New York during his lifetime. His namesake foundation is a family affair, and it has been led by the founder’s decedents since the beginning. Today it is led by David A. Frueauff, grandnephew of Charles. David has been president since 1996.
The foundation’s funding priorities include education, human services, and health and hospitals. Other topics that this funder supports include the cost of college tuition, youth imprisonment, and eating disorders as a mental illness.
Since the foundation was first established, education has been a big topic for this funder. It regularly supports private four-year colleges and universities. It also gives grants for technology and software updates, as well as infrastructure assistance. On rarer occasions, education grants have gone to building campaigns and major fund drives.
For human services funding, CAFF has been most interested in issues facing young people, at-risk youth, economic conditions in cities, hunger, daycare systems, and economic development initiatives. Child poverty has been a big issue of interest for this funder. CAFF has also been an advocate for improving the quality of healthcare. Grants support hospitals and health agencies for equipment, staff positions, outreach programs, screenings, and education materials. It has also supported health education for at-risk kids, HIV/AIDS education programs, and nursing scholarships.
This foundation typically sticks to one-year grants, and the board meets twice per year to review requests. It makes funding distributions each year in mid-December. The foundation provides a short online survey on the funder’s website for first-time grant seekers. The foundation provides letter of inquiry instructions to organizations it is interested in. The deadlines for proposals are typically September 15 and March 15 each year and must be sent by mail to the Little Rock office.
Most grants are less than $10,000 for first-time grantees. However, returning grantees often see amounts as high as $30,000 to $50,000. Find a list of past grants here.
Grant seekers may be able to keep up with what this funder by following its news section. However, it does not appear to be updated frequently. There are four staff members at the foundation: president, chief administrative officer, vice president of programs and communications, and office manager. There are seven foundation trustees.
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