Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation
Orlando, FL · EIN 59-3332929. Reported 139 grants totalling $21.5M to 56 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $165,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $4,000,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feeding America | Chicago, IL | $10.5M | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of America | Atlanta, GA | $2,250,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches | New York, NY | $2,000,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Heart of Florida United Way | Orlando, FL | $1,250,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| United Arts of Central Florida Inc | Orlando, FL | $1,215,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation | Washington, DC | $1,000,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida Inc | Orlando, FL | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| National Fish and Wildlife Foundation | Washington, DC | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Scholarship America Inc | Manchester, NH | $357,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Scholarship America Inc | Saint Peter, MN | $328,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chap | New York, NY | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank | Orlando, FL | $240,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| National Restaurant Association Educational Founda | Washington, DC | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Volunteer Florida Foundation Inc | Tallahassee, FL | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Round It Up America | Los Angeles, CA | $165,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Seniors First Inc | Orlando, FL | $150,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| The Monarch Learning Academy Inc | Winter Park, FL | $55,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Coalition for the Homeless of Central Fl Inc | Orlando, FL | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Meals on Wheels Inc | Sanford, FL | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Suffolk University | Boston, MA | $43,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Johnson & Wales University | Providence, RI | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Saint Anselm College | Manchester, NH | $27,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Tampa Preparatory School | Tampa, FL | $24,584 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Culinary Institute of America | Hyde Park, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rollins College | Winter Park, FL | $15,250 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Conductive Education Center of Orlando Inc | Winter Park, FL | $15,200 | 5 | 4 | 2023 |
| Lake Highland Preparatory School | Orlando, FL | $12,553 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Trustees of Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | $12,500 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Seacoast Charter School | Dover, NH | $11,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Foundation Academy of Winter Garden | Winter Garden, FL | $11,097 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Board of Trustees of Michigan State University | East Lansing, MI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| A Gift for Teaching Inc | Orlando, FL | $8,024 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Lake Forest Academy | Lake Forest, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wake Forest University | Winstonsalem, NC | $4,150 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| University of Florida Foundation Inc | Gainesville, FL | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Marietta College | Marietta, OH | $3,000 | 6 | 5 | 2024 |
| Westover School | Middlebury, CT | $1,770 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Furman University | Greenville, SC | $1,650 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| University of Dubuque | Dubuque, IA | $1,500 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| University of Central Florida Foundation Incorporated | Orlando, FL | $1,100 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Morehouse College Inc | Atlanta, GA | $1,040 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bryn Mawr College | Bryn Mawr, PA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Walnut Hills High School Alumni Foundation | Cincinnati, OH | $750 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Christian Brothers Lasalle High School | Wyndmoor, PA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Miami University | Oxford, OH | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| St Marys Episcopal School | Tampa, FL | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Knoxville Catholic High School | Knoxville, TN | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Miami University | Coral Gables, FL | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Neocity Knights Ptso | Kissimmee, FL | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Pulaski Academy | Little Rock, AR | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ptsa Florida Congress Blankner School Ptsa | Orlando, FL | $158 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Christian Brothers Lasalle High School | Memphis, TN | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Hope College | Holland, MI | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| St Gilbert Catholic School | Grayslake, IL | $120 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Bishop Moore Catholic High School | Orlando, FL | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
28 of 56 (50%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 65%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Feeding America
GRANTS - HEALTHY COMMUNITIES - Scholarship America Inc
GRANTS - EDUCATION GIFT MATCH
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 103 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 38 | $4,627,618 | $2,075 |
| 2021 | 28 | $4,384,214 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 29 | $4,229,625 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 17 | $1,646,549 | $9,549 |
| 2024 | 27 | $6,641,840 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation has 4 of them, worth $2,609,650. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Feeding America | Chicago, IL | $2,000,000 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida | Orlando, FL | $499,650 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank | Orlando, FL | $100,000 |
| Suffolk University | Boston, MA | $10,000 |
Where its money goes
49% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Illinois.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 1000 Darden Center Drive, Orlando, FL, 32837. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 59-3332929 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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