A Houston pesticide maker with a commitment to Christian causes. A psychiatric social worker whose husband earned millions as a Washington-area developer. A former nurse married to a Los Angeles bank president.
Each year, deaths cause new money to move into philanthropy. In the three cases above, the result is three foundations moving suddenly — insofar as any transfer from a multimillion-dollar estate happens quickly — into the top 1% of all grantmakers, according to Grantmakers.io.
All three philanthropies now face the challenge of rapidly scaling up their operations, in some cases from nothing at all, based on their 990s. One has never made a grant, at least as of its latest 990. The other two have some experience, but now have endowments that are four and 14 times larger, respectively.
We will no doubt see such cases with increasing frequency as the Great Wealth Transfer accelerates, as I have written before. An estimate from Cerulli Associates says $124 trillion will transfer between generations by 2048 in the U.S. alone. Some share of that will land in philanthropy, birthing a whole generation of grantmakers and shifting the map of philanthropic power and possibility.
I’ve often profiled new or unknown billion-dollar foundations, but there are many more philanthropies that fall just below that mark, and more emerge each month. Below, I review three such institutions that were transformed by bequests in 2023 or later, and what we might expect from them in the years to come.
Stoller Foundation: Christian foundation grows big from pesticide fortune
For years, the Stoller Foundation consistently granted between $2 million and $3 million annually to support Christian causes, and typically received that much or more in donations from the Stoller Group, a maker of pesticides and fertilizers. Then came the 2019 death of Jerry Stoller, the founder of both operations. In 2023, a transfer from his trust grew the foundation’s endowment 14-fold, leaving it with $847 million in assets.
The Houston, Texas-based grantmaker will now have to get around $40 million a year out the door to meet the 5% payout requirement. The foundation’s spending has risen somewhat since Stoller’s death, climbing to $4.1 million in 2022 and $9 million in 2023, but it still has a long way to grow.
The foundation may need to make a switch from retail to wholesale philanthropy, as Princeton scholar Stan Katz has put it — making lots of small-scale grants versus major gifts to regrantors and large institutions. In 2023, for instance, Stoller did not make a single award above six figures. But the foundation does have expertise on hand to make that switch. Stoller not only has a compensated board — members receive $12,000 a year for their services — but several longtime paid staff. And it’s not likely to operate below the radar: It even has an Instagram account.
Eugene B. Casey Foundation: Maryland philanthropy of heiress who survived car bomb
Betty Brown Casey’s death in 2022 earned an obituary in the Washington Post for the kind of life that makes a mockery of fiction. She was a former psychiatric social worker who married a multimillion-dollar real estate developer and survived a car bomb similar to the type used “in professional hits in places like Las Vegas,” an expert told the paper. An anonymous relative told the paper a decade before: “Who would want her dead? Just open the phone book and start with A.” Perhaps that was because she moved a lot of money to philanthropy, rather than to her husband’s 11 grandchildren, 10 of whom sued her for allegedly pushing her husband to cut them out of his will. She won in court.
In 2023 and 2024, Betty Casey’s trust transferred nearly $287 million to the foundation, leaving it with assets of more than $397 million, four times its endowment of a few years before. In preceding years, the foundation had typically granted about $7 million annually. Now, it will need to get almost $20 million out the door each year.
The philanthropy’s new assets are a boon for Washington, D.C.-area nonprofits. More than 80% of its grants in recent years have gone to organizations in Virginia, the District of Columbia and, especially, Maryland. Casey, incidentally, died in Potomac, Maryland. Recent Maryland grantees include the Olney Theater Center ($800,000, two grants), Maryland School for the Blind ($300,000) and Rebuilding Together Montgomery ($250,000). Two significant out-of-state grants were for Tampa, Florida-based Shriners Hospital for Children ($250,000) and South Bend, Indiana-based Feed the Hungry ($200,000). All awards were for general operating support.
Related Inside Philanthropy Resources:
For Subscribers Only
William and Barbara Martin Foundation: A new Los Angeles philanthropic force
The death of Barbara Anne Martin, 98, in 2023, added one more entry to the list of philanthropic giants in Los Angeles. With a $455 million transfer from the Martin Marital Trust, the newly formed William and Barbara Martin Foundation instantly became as large as the foundations of David Geffen or the late Ralph M. Parsons.
William S. Martin Jr. stepped down in 1990 as chairman and CEO of both UnionFed Financial Corp. and its subsidiary, the Union Federal Savings Bank. He made the Los Angeles Times list of Orange County’s highest-paid executives the following year, with total compensation reaching nearly $1.2 million, based on public records. He died in 2015.
The foundation has not yet made a grant, but clues to its possible priorities can be found in Martin’s obituary, which describes her as a devout Catholic. She logged more than 4,500 hours, it reads, as a volunteer at St. John’s Hospital and was a donor to numerous Catholic charitable organizations. The foundation is now in the hands of her son, David Martin, who serves as president. No other family members appear to be on the board.
Michael Kavate covers climate philanthropy and billionaire donors. He welcomes all feedback, tips and requests.
