About Taylor Family Foundation
The Taylor Family Foundation concentrates its philanthropy on higher education and foreign policy institutions, making a small number of very large gifts—primarily to university annual funds and to Washington-based policy centers. Grants are unrestricted/annual-fund support, suggesting a preference for bolstering core institutional capacity rather than project-specific funding. While the foundation is based in St. Louis, its major recipients are national institutions with strong research, policy, and academic profiles.
Focus Areas
Major research universities' annual funds (private unrestricted support)Elite higher-education fundraising in Colorado and St. Louis (University of Denver, Washington University)Foreign policy and international affairs think tanks (e.g., CSIS)Institutional capacity-building for policy research organizations
Giving Approach
Very concentrated giving: few, very large grants (multi-million-dollar) focused on institutional/annual-fund support; mix of one-time large gifts and at least one repeat grantee (CSIS).
Funding Style
unrestricted/general operating supportannual/recurring funding
About Taylor Family Foundation
A $10 million annual-fund gift to the University of Denver and a $5 million annual-fund gift to Washington University show how Taylor Family Foundation uses philanthropy to strengthen core institutional capacity. The foundation’s recent record is defined by large unrestricted support rather than project-specific awards, with annual-fund grants also reaching policy organizations such as the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the Center for Strategic & International Relations. That pattern points to a donor advised on institutional operating needs, especially for universities and research centers. Beyond the headline gifts, the foundation has continued to back a small circle of recipients over multiple years. Washington University received another major gift in 2024, while the Center for Strategic & International Studies appears in both 2024 and 2025. The same annual-fund approach also extends to cultural and civic institutions in St. Louis, including the Saint Louis Zoo, St Louis Art Museum, Forest Park Forever, and United Way of Greater St Louis. Across the grant list, the foundation’s priorities are visible in its choice of grantees: higher education, policy research, and local institutions that support community infrastructure.
What Taylor Family Foundation Funds
Higher education is one of the clearest through lines in Taylor Family Foundation’s grantmaking. In 2023, it gave $10 million to University of Denver for annual fund support, and in 2024 it gave $5 million to Washington University for the same purpose. Those gifts sit alongside recurring support for John Burroughs School, which received $12,000 in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Policy research is another consistent area. The foundation awarded $1 million to Center for Strategic & International Studies in 2024 and again in 2025, both as annual-fund support, after a $1 million grant in 2023 to Center for Strategic & International Relations. Locally, it has also backed civic and cultural institutions such as St Louis Public Library Foundation, Springboard to Learning, and Forest Park Forever, each through annual-fund grants.
How Taylor Family Foundation Gives
Typical grants cluster tightly around $10,000 to $20,000, with a p25 of $10,000, a median of $10,000, and a p75 of $20,000. The recent list also includes a few outlier gifts at much larger levels, indicating a dual pattern of steady smaller support and occasional major institutional commitments. The foundation gives recurring support rather than one-off awards in several cases: Center for Strategic & International Studies appears in 2024 and 2025, and John Burroughs School appears in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The grant language is consistently annual-fund support, suggesting unrestricted or general operating funding. No public application process is indicated in the data, and the foundation does not fund individuals.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$14.2M
Total Assets
$109.2M
Total Revenue
$12.5M
Total Expenses
$14.7M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $10K and $20K, with a median of $10K.
25th Percentile
$10K
Median
$10K
75th Percentile
$20K
Geographic Reach
Local6 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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