About Lesher Family Foundation
Empowering people to take an active role in positively shaping where and how they live.
Focus Areas
Arts & CultureEarly Childhood DevelopmentHousingLand Stewardship & Community Revitalization
Who They Fund
workforce / working families in need of housingpublic library patrons and local communityrural/agricultural land stakeholders (pasture)women and girls pursuing STEM pathwaysAfghan women resettled in Tulsa (resettled refugees)students/young drivers
Funding Style
unrestricted support
About Lesher Family Foundation
Lesher Family Foundation has made a $3 million capital commitment to design and construct RES Park in Rockport, with plans to establish a conservancy for preservation, programming, and maintenance. That project captures the foundation’s blend of place-based investment and long-term stewardship. Across its recent grantmaking, the foundation supports arts and culture, early childhood development, housing, and land stewardship and community revitalization, often through operating support, unrestricted grants, property acquisition, and project-specific funding. Recent grants show a pattern of backing organizations at multiple stages of work. Darrowby Farm Sanctuary received several awards for unrestricted support, operating budgets, pasture land purchase, and a workforce housing property purchase. The Town of Rockport received funding tied to the public library and slope and concrete work. Other recent awards supported The Authors Guild Foundation for general funds and summer events, Westover School for the WISE STEM pathway program, and YWCA Tulsa for a film on Afghan women’s resettlement experience in Tulsa and development of a drivers education curriculum. The foundation’s approach is collaborative and targeted rather than broad open solicitation.
What Lesher Family Foundation Funds
Housing is a clear theme in the foundation’s recent awards. Darrowby Farm Sanctuary received $275,000 for workforce housing property purchase and $10,000 for a workforce housing property purchase down payment, pointing to interest in acquisition-based housing support. In community infrastructure, the Town of Rockport received $193,900 for the Rockport Public Library slope project and concrete work and walls, along with a separate $60,000 grant for the library. Arts and culture support appears through $50,000 to The Authors Guild Foundation for summer ’23 events and another $50,000 for general funds. Education and youth development show up in $50,000 to Westover School for the “WISE” program promoting STEM pathways. The foundation also supported YWCA Tulsa with $27,500 for film production on Afghan women’s resettlement experience in Tulsa and development of drivers education curriculum, linking grantmaking to resettled refugees and young drivers.
How Lesher Family Foundation Gives
Typical awards cluster tightly around the mid-five figures, with p25 at $50,000, a median of $55,000, and p75 at $198,475. The distribution includes both modest operating grants and much larger capital commitments, such as the $400,000 award to Darrowby Farm Sanctuary and the $193,900 library infrastructure grant in Rockport. The recent list also shows repeated support to the same recipient across multiple years, including Darrowby Farm Sanctuary and The Authors Guild Foundation, which points to ongoing relationships rather than one-off gifts. The foundation funds organizations, not individuals, and uses a partnership-based, non-unsolicited approach.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$523K
Total Assets
$41.8M
Total Revenue
$1.7M
Total Expenses
$1.7M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $50K and $198K, with a median of $55K.
25th Percentile
$50K
Median
$55K
75th Percentile
$198K
Geographic Reach
Regional5 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
JOHN G LESHER
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