Smiles for Life Foundation
Salt Lake City, UT · EIN 87-0575845. Reported 104 grants totalling $2,356,585 to 57 organizations across tax years 2020-2025, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Smiles for Life Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a corporate foundation (NTEE T21).
- How spread out its giving is. 57 distinct organizations, with 30% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 56% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 56% median for grantmaking charities -- lower than the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $7,887. Half of what it reported fell between $5,594 and $14,117; the smallest was $5,001 and the largest $195,337. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O Wayne and Glenda Sue Mortenson Charitable Foundation in | Louisville, KY | $701,546 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Esperanza International | Lancaster, PA | $585,756 | 6 | 6 | 2025 |
| Koltael Inc | Ammon, ID | $108,618 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Eagle U Inc | Lawrence, KS | $108,209 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Boxes of Basics | Manassas, VA | $95,177 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Intercultural Exchange | Draper, UT | $63,374 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Christs Haven for Children | Fort Worth, TX | $58,213 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Fellowship of Christian Athletes | Kansas City, MO | $37,086 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Fam | Stafford, TX | $33,667 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Elizabethtown Area Education Foundation | Elizabethtown, PA | $31,448 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Bear Bags | Lancaster, PA | $31,031 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany Inc | Albany, GA | $27,452 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Tri-County YMCA of the Ozarks | Osage Beach, MO | $22,901 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Lauras House | Aliso Viejo, CA | $22,800 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Aboudit Developmental Association | Phoenix, AZ | $22,414 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Isabella Santos Foundation | Charlotte, NC | $19,357 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| University of California San Francisco Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $18,011 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Patriot Paws Service Dogs | Rockwall, TX | $17,514 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Oklahoma Dental Foundation | Oklahoma City, OK | $17,392 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Project R I D E Incorporated | Elk Grove, CA | $16,911 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Warrior Foundation Freedom Station | San Diego, CA | $16,255 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Donum Dei | Nursery, TX | $16,145 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Backpack Beginnings | Greensboro, NC | $15,260 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| C a S a - a Voice for Children | Napa, CA | $14,176 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Childrens Home Society of North Carolina Inc | Greensboro, NC | $13,296 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Kellin Foundation | Greensboro, NC | $12,895 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Southwest Butler Food Cupboard | Harmony, PA | $12,703 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Childrens Hospital Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | $11,462 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Project Ride | Elk Grove, CA | $11,266 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| St John the Baptist | Oklahoma City, OK | $11,256 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters Wc Tx | Abilene, TX | $11,056 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Family Place Utah | Logan, UT | $10,862 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Foundation of Yrmcbridgetts Gift | Yuma, AZ | $10,220 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Camp Courageous of Iowa | Monticello, IA | $10,211 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Foundation of Yuma Regional Medical Center | Yuma, AZ | $9,630 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, UT | $9,001 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Special Operations Warrior Foundation | Tampa, FL | $8,655 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Optimist International Foundation | Saint Louis, MO | $7,054 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Community Foundation of Fayette County Pennsylvania | Uniontown, PA | $6,557 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Family Room Foster Care Resource Center | Greensboro, NC | $6,440 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Housing Trust Fund of Northern Virginia Inc | Chantilly, VA | $6,343 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Neighbors United | Macomb, MI | $6,213 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Holy Pursuits Dream Foundation Inc | Rowlesburg, WV | $6,131 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Solutions for Change Inc | Vista, CA | $5,845 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Womens Resource Center of Greensboro Inc | Greensboro, NC | $5,800 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Feednc | Mooresville, NC | $5,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jonah Project | Spokane, WA | $5,493 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Believe in Tomorrow National Childrens Foundation Inc | Baltimore, MD | $5,400 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Foundation for Living Beauty | Pasadena, CA | $5,347 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Kansas City Gunsnhoses | Lenexa, KS | $5,298 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Childhood Cancer Family Alliance Inc | Stafford, TX | $5,231 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Lee & Aidan Mcmahon Foundation | Holbrook, NY | $5,229 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Faw Emergency Dental Fund | Calhoun, GA | $5,226 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Teen Closet | Spokane, WA | $5,141 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Stafford County SPCA | Stafford, VA | $5,105 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Macomb Foster Closet | Mount Clemens, MI | $5,005 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Childrens Flight of Hope Inc | Raleigh, NC | $5,001 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
27 of 57 (47%) received money in more than one year over the 6 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 41 of 57 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 19 | $209,225 | $8,097 |
| 2021 | 31 | $492,215 | $6,079 |
| 2022 | 2 | $114,909 | $57,454 |
| 2023 | 17 | $526,204 | $8,886 |
| 2024 | 20 | $507,113 | $8,063 |
| 2025 | 15 | $506,919 | $9,581 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
30% of its giving went to organizations in Kentucky. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. 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 grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $7,887 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Kentucky.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Smiles for Life Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 6 returns (tax years 2020-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 15 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 975 Woodoak Lane Ste 200, Salt Lake City, UT, 84117.
EIN 87-0575845 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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