May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

What May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust does

The May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation established in 1989 by May Smith to perpetuate the charitable legacy of May and Stanley Smith, who built his fortune through iron ore mining operations in British Malaya. The Trust awards grants by invitation only to nonprofit organizations serving four focus populations in the Western United States: Adults & Transitioning Youth with Disabilities, Foster Youth, Older Adults, and Veterans. Its program structure consists of four parallel grantmaking pillars plus a smaller Discretionary Grants allocation for activities outside the core focus areas. Grants are typically awarded as one-year awards for first-time recipients, with multi-year commitments of two to three years available to organizations that complete an initial grant cycle; more than half of grantmaking takes the form of general operating support.

Operationally, the Trust runs an extremely lean staff of 1-10 employees from its headquarters at 101 Larkspur Landing Circle in Larkspur, California, administering applications and reporting through the Fluxx grants management platform (smithtrust.fluxx.io). The 2024 grantmaking year produced 142 awards totaling $19,559,226, with an average grant size of approximately $137,741, distributed across 14 Western US states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). The Trust does not currently accept unsolicited funding requests, instead inviting email inquiries from eligible organizations and convening quarterly trustee meetings to render funding decisions.

As a 501(c)(3) private foundation, the Trust does not generate revenue from products or services; instead, it distributes capital from its endowment under a 2024-2028 Strategic Plan that reaffirmed its four focus populations while phasing out prior grantmaking in British Columbia, Canada. Trustee leadership includes William Smith (CEO), Ruth Collins (Former CEO), David Cuneo (Managing Partner at Calegari & Morris), and Daniel Piombo (Partner at Benson, Piombo & Company).

Name

May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

Legal name

May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

Website

https://smithct.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust is a private 501(c)(3) foundation that awards grants by invitation only to nonprofits serving adults with disabilities, foster youth, older adults, and veterans across 14 Western US states, disbursing approximately $19.5M across 142 grants in 2024.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Foundation Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), Philanthropic & Charitable Trust Services (FSAAANAI), Charitable Giving & Philanthropic Trust Advisory (FSAEAKAH)

Keywords

• Private foundation grantmaking
• Philanthropic trust grants
• Charitable endowment funding
• Nonprofit grant programs
• Family foundation grantmaking

Headquarters

HQ city

Corte Madera

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Endowment-Based Philanthropy: The Trust operates as a private foundation stewarding the charitable legacy of May and Stanley Smith. As a grantmaking organization, the Trust does not generate revenue from products or services but instead distributes funds from its endowment to qualifying nonprofit organizations serving its focus populations.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation that awards grants to nonprofit organizations serving four focus populations: Adults and Transitioning Youth with Disabilities, Foster Youth, Older Adults, and Veterans. The Trust distributes funds from an endowment, primarily in the Western United States, through invitation-only grantmaking that supports direct services and systems-change efforts. More than half of grants are general operating support, with first-time grants typically one year and multi-year commitments of two to three years available for established grantees.

Product overview

The May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust operates as a private foundation with a single unified grantmaking approach rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The Trust's core offering consists of four programmatic focus areas (Adults & Transitioning Youth with Disabilities, Foster Youth, Older Adults, and Veterans) that function as parallel grantmaking programs, plus a smaller Discretionary Grants component. More than half of grantmaking is general operating support. First-time grants are typically one year; multi-year grants of two to three years are considered for organizations that have completed a grant cycle. The Trust does not currently accept unsolicited funding requests but invites inquiries from eligible organizations aligned with its priorities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Adults & Transitioning Youth with Disabilities Program Grantmaking program supporting adults and transitioning youth (16+) with intellectual, developmental, and/or physical disabilities to achieve economic security, employment, and community inclusion through direct services and systems change efforts. Targeted at nonprofits in the Western United States.
• Foster Youth Program Grantmaking program supporting families at risk of foster-care entry, youth currently or formerly in foster care, kinship-care youth, homeless and unaccompanied immigrant youth, and birth parents and caregivers. Funding advances four strategies: reducing family-child welfare system contact, safe and stable homes, wellbeing, and successful adulthood transitions.
• Older Adults Program Grantmaking program supporting adults age 60+ to age safely in community through three strategies: aging in community, caregiver support and respite, and community engagement and civic participation. Emphasis on low and fixed-income older adults, the 'missing middle,' communities of color, and those in remote or tribal areas.
• Veterans Program Grantmaking program supporting veterans' transition to civilian life through access to benefits and resources navigation, housing security and homelessness prevention, and legal services for benefits access. Focus on non-career enlisted veterans (E-1 through E-6) including National Guard and Reserves, with emphasis on populations disproportionately impacted by historic injustices such as people of color, LGBTQ people, women, and those with mental or behavioral health conditions related to service.
• Discretionary Grants Annual allocation that supports activities outside the Trust's four main programmatic areas, including disaster relief, nonprofit sector associations, emergent opportunities, and grants honoring the founding donors' interests. Unsolicited inquiries are not accepted for this funding stream.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NGOsourceminorOthersEngaged by the Trust to conduct equivalency determinations for foreign charitable organizations, verifying whether non-U.S. organizations meet requirements equivalent to U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity status before grants are awarded.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• California Wellness Foundation: A private foundation advancing health and equity for Californians, including aging, disability, and workforce inclusion — comparable as a large California grantmaker serving many of Smith Trust's same focus populations.
• The California Endowment: A large California-focused health foundation supporting communities across the state, with overlapping older adults, disability, and youth populations — a broader incumbent that shares geography and some thematic priorities but at far greater scale.
• Weingart Foundation: A large Los Angeles-based private foundation providing general operating and capacity-building support to nonprofits across Southern California — shares Western US geography, multi-year unrestricted grantmaking, and similar nonprofit sector strategy.

Direct peers

• Santa Fe Community Foundation: A New Mexico community foundation led by William Smith before he joined Smith Trust — comparable as a regional grantmaking institution with similar trust-based practices and prior leadership continuity.
• Bob Woodruff Foundation: A national foundation focused on veterans and military families, particularly post-9/11 service members — closely aligned with Smith Trust's Veterans program, with shared leadership lineage (Sam Holmes previously served as a Program Officer there).
• Walter S. Johnson Foundation: A Northern California private foundation focused on youth, education, and community transitions — directly comparable to Smith Trust's grantmaking model, similar program officer pedigree, and overlapping priority populations including foster and transitioning youth.
• Stuart Foundation: A California-based private foundation that funds systems change for youth and families involved in child welfare and juvenile justice — highly comparable given overlapping foster-youth strategy, general operating support approach, and California footprint.
• Sunlight Giving: A Northern California private foundation funding grassroots organizations for children, youth, and families — directly comparable in size, geography, trust-based philosophy, and prior staff overlap with Smith Trust (Amy Freeman previously served as Executive Director).
• Morris Stulsaft Foundation: A Bay Area private foundation supporting vulnerable and at-risk children, youth, and families — highly comparable in scale, Bay Area base, and historic staff connections (Amy Freeman previously served as Executive Director).

Regional players

• Sierra Health Foundation: A Sacramento-based foundation advancing health and racial equity across Northern California — comparable as a Western US private health-adjacent funder, though operating at a different scale and with a broader health mandate.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments1 record

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Frequently asked questions about May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust