The Butler Family Fund
The Butler Family Fund is a private foundation based in Washington, DC. Its 2025 grants supported organizations working on tenant organizing and housing, community safety, and other community-led efforts.
Key facts about The Butler Family Fund
In short: The Butler Family Fund gave $990K across 34 grants in 2025 (avg $29K), top state District of Columbia. 82% of 2025 grantees were new. Source: 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.
- EIN
- 52-1786778
- Latest 990 filing
- Form 990-PF, 2025
- Annual giving (2025)
- $990,450
- Grants made (2025)
- 34
- Average grant
- $29,131
- Median grant
- $37,500
- New grantees (estimate)
- 82% first-time grantees (28 of 34, 2025)
- Total assets
- $10,899,328
- Primary geography
- District of Columbia (28% of itemized 2025 grant dollars)
- Accepts unsolicited proposals
- No
- How to apply
- The foundation makes contributions only to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds. Full details ↓
Data from IRS Form 990-PF, 2025; updated September 2026. New grantees are estimated by matching recipient names across years (methodology). Application details from Grantable's research on the foundation's public materials; confirm on its website before applying.
Financial Overview
From 2025 IRS Form 990-PF · View filing
Total Assets
$10.9M
+0.7% YoY
Annual Giving
$990K
+22.4% YoY
Grant Count
34
+6.3% YoY
Avg Grant Size
$29K
+15.2% YoY
Under IRS private-foundation payout rules, The Butler Family Fund reported a distributable amount of $547K for 2025 — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.
Is The Butler Family Fund open to new grantees?
82%
first-time grantees, 2025
In 2025, 28 of 34 grantees (82%) were first-time recipients. First grants averaged $30K; repeat grants $26K. How we count
Medians: $38K first-time, $27K repeat.
- 12% of 2025 grantees were also funded in 2024. Method
- Giving held roughly steady from 2022 to 2025 (−3%). Method
- In 2025 it paid out 233% of its IRS minimum distribution (the 5% rule). Method
Estimate from itemized grant lists in IRS Form 990-PF filings (2020–2025). Recipient names are matched across years, so a renamed or misspelled grantee can look new; grants to individuals are left out. Methodology.
Mission & Focus Areas
No funder mission statement is provided. Its 2025 grantees include tenant and housing organizations, grassroots community-safety groups, and organizations working with workers and families. For example, Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia describes its work as organizing Minneapolis tenants around affordable, dignified housing and structural changes; Act 4 SA says it works to build community power and advance public safety measures centered on health and well-being; and Miami Workers Center says it builds power with working-class tenants, workers, women, and families in Miami-Dade County.
Grantmaking
In 2025, the fund awarded 34 grants totaling $990,450. Grants ranged from $250 to $100,000, with a median of $37,500. Its largest grant was $100,000 to HouseUS, which supports tenant organizing and tenant power for safe, affordable, sustainable housing. Other notable awards included $75,000 to the Just Futures Initiative – Community Transforming Policing Fund and $50,000 each to ACT 4 SA, Bozeman Tenants Education Fund, CAAAV- Organizing Asian Communities, CHISPA OC Education Fund, Equity and Transformation, For the Many, Free DC, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, and Miami Workers Center.
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Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
In 2025, the largest shares of grant dollars went to recipients in DC (28%), California (26%), Minnesota (13%), New York (10%), and Texas (6%). Listed grantees also include organizations in Illinois and Florida.
Grant Distribution by State
Share of 2025 grant dollars across all 34 itemized grants.
States
Cities
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
From 2020 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $548K (2021) to $1.0M (2020). In 2025 it made 34 grants totaling $990K.
Grant Insights
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2025
The largest 2025 recipient was HouseUS ($100K). Together the top 10 received $575K.
Grant Size Distribution
207 grants across all recorded years
The most common grant size was under $50K: 167 grants of 207 (81%).
Giving History
Grant recipients and amounts by year
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| HouseUS Washington, DC | HouseUs supports tenant organizing and tenant power as a pathway towards achieving safe, affordable, sustainable housing for all. | $100,000 |
| Just Futures Inititiative - Community Transforming Policing Fund Minneapolis, MN | Just Futures is a donor collaborative housed at Borealis Philanthropy that supports groups working to build power, increase police accountability and create transformative community-based safety. | $75,000 |
| Act 4 Sa San Antonio, TX | ACT 4SA is a grassroots organization striving to center the well-being of their community without a reliance on police or prisons. | $50,000 |
| Bozeman Tenants Education Fund Los Angeles, CA | BTU is a city-wide tenant union dedicated to building a world in which safe, dignified housing is available to all, regardless of race, income, or any other identity. | $50,000 |
| CAAAV- Organizing Asian Communities New York, NY | CAAAV organizes Asian immigrants in New York City to ensure that working class people make decisions over their own homes and neighborhoods. | $50,000 |
| CHISPA OC Education Fund Los Angeles, CA | CHISPA OC is a Latinx organizing ecosystem in Orange County dedicated to harnessing the power of young people through organizing, policy advocacy, and electoral power. | $50,000 |
| Equity and Transformation Chicago, IL | EAT is a community-led organization seeking to build social and economic equity for Black workers engaged in the informal economy. | $50,000 |
| For the Many Washingont, DC | For the Many is a grassroots, multiracial, intergenerational, and bi-lingual movement in rural upstate New York centering the needs of working-class people in multi-issue campaigns. | $50,000 |
| Free DC Washington, DC | Free DC is a grassroots organizing campaign to fight for noninterference in home rule for DC. | $50,000 |
| Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco San Francisco, CA | HRCSF is a multiracial, multilingual tenant rights organization working to stop the displacement of working-class communities of color in San Francisco. | $50,000 |
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
| Filing year | Grants awarded | Grant count |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $990,450 | 34 |
| 2024 | $809,000 | 32 |
| 2023 | $954,250 | 51 |
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | $10,899,328 | $10,826,847 | $10,934,945 |
| Revenue | $125,620 | $2,849,791 | $1,301,676 |
| Expenses | $1,387,065 | $1,229,628 | $1,369,007 |
| Qualifying Distributions | $1,274,386 | $1,117,721 | $1,266,008 |
| Net Investment Income | $102,343 | $2,800,786 | $780,953 |
| Distributable Amount | $546,888 | $503,664 | $512,336 |
Data update history
When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2020 (received by the IRS May 12, 2021)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2021 (received by the IRS May 5, 2022)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2022 (received by the IRS October 23, 2023)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2023 (received by the IRS September 3, 2024)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2024 (received by the IRS September 15, 2025)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2025 (received by the IRS April 16, 2026)
- IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2020–2025
Leadership & Key People
Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings
The 2025 filing lists Molly Schultz as Executive Director; Eve Wildrick as President; Joanne Snider as Treasurer; Rebecca Morrison as Secretary; and Jennifer Gavin, Oliver Phineas Hirsch, Colette Hirsch, Eleanor Leyden Dunbar, and Lisa Siegel as trustees or officers. Lisa Siegel is listed as Vice President.
The Butler Family Fund is led by Molly Schultz, Executive Director on every filing since 2020; 1 of 9 officers listed in 2025 is compensated.
Officers on the 2025 filing
Molly Schultz
Executive Director
On filings since 2020
24 hrs/week
$39K (2020) → $130K (2025)
Eve B Wildrick
President
On filings since 2020
5 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Jennifer Gavin
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2024
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Colette Hirsch
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Eleanor Leyden Dunbar
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Oliver Phineas Hirsch
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Lisa Siegel
Vice President
Director → Secretary, 2023
Secretary → Vice President, 2025
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Rebecca Morrison
Secretary
Director → Vice President, 2023
Vice President → Secretary, 2025
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Joanne Snider
Treasurer
On filings since 2023
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Former officers (9)
- Former: Lucia Horan (2023–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Remy Klein (2020–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Alexandra Hirsch (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jody Snider (2021–2022) — Director
- Former: Lucia Horan Drummond (2021–2022) — Director
- Former: Phineas Hircsh (2021) — Director
- Former: Georgina Hirsch (2020) — Director
- Former: Martha A Toll (2020) — Former Executive Director
- Former: Phineas Hirsch (2020) — Director
Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2020–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.
Compensation Overview
From 2025 IRS filing
The highest reported compensation on the 2025 filing was $130K, to Molly Schultz (Executive Director).
Contact
Mailing address: 4200 Wisconsin Ave Nw Ste 106-342, Washington, DC 20016-2143
Phone: (202) 463-8288
Website: https://butlerfamilyfund.org
Frequently asked questions about The Butler Family Fund
How much does The Butler Family Fund give each year?
The Butler Family Fund gave $990K across 34 grants in 2025, according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. In 2024 it gave $809K across 32 grants.
What is The Butler Family Fund's typical grant size?
The Butler Family Fund's median grant in 2025 was $37,500, and its average grant was $29,131, across 34 grants on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Organizations receiving their first grant from The Butler Family Fund that year got $30K on average.
Where does The Butler Family Fund give grants?
The Butler Family Fund's top state is District of Columbia, with 28% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. The next largest states were California (26%) and Minnesota (13%). The most frequent recipient cities were Washington, DC (6 grants), San Francisco, CA (4 grants), Los Angeles, CA (3 grants) and Minneapolis, MN (2 grants).
Does The Butler Family Fund give general operating support?
Yes: 38% of The Butler Family Fund's 2025 grants with a stated purpose (13 of 34) were for general or operating support, per its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.
Who are The Butler Family Fund's largest grantees?
The Butler Family Fund's largest 2025 grantees include HouseUS ($100,000), Just Futures Inititiative - Community Transforming Policing Fund ($75,000) and Act 4 Sa ($50,000), according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Together they received 23% of its itemized 2025 grant dollars.
How large is The Butler Family Fund?
The Butler Family Fund reported $10.9M in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. It paid out $1.3M in qualifying distributions that year, against a required minimum of $547K (roughly 5% of its investment assets).
What does The Butler Family Fund fund?
No funder mission statement is provided. Its 2025 grantees include tenant and housing organizations, grassroots community-safety groups, and organizations working with workers and families. See mission & focus areas ↑
How do I apply for a grant from The Butler Family Fund?
The foundation makes contributions only to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds. Eligibility and process details are in the grantmaking section of this profile. See how to apply ↑
What is The Butler Family Fund's EIN?
The Butler Family Fund's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 52-1786778. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2020–2025.
Does The Butler Family Fund accept unsolicited proposals?
No, according to Grantable's research on the foundation's published guidelines. See how to apply ↑
Data last updated September 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated September 2026.
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