OVERVIEW: The Dume Wolverine Foundation supports education, health, international development and human rights, journalism and civic engagement, and animal and wildlife causes. Its recent grantmaking also includes conservation and selected human services. The foundation does not publish formal funding programs or accept unsolicited applications.
IP TAKE: The Dume Wolverine Foundation is a low-profile, relationship-driven funder with wide-ranging interests and little public-facing infrastructure. It has no website, reports no employees and says in its latest tax filing that it makes grants only to preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited applications.
That makes Dume a difficult cold prospect. The best way onto this funder’s radar is likely through a genuine connection to an existing or repeat grantee, nonprofit leader or institutional fundraising network already known to the foundation. Dume has maintained relationships with organizations including Howard University, Valley Presbyterian Hospital Foundation, Berea College, Rett Syndrome Research Trust and the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Valley Presbyterian has also publicly listed Dume as a presenting sponsor of its annual golf event, suggesting that at least some relationships extend beyond foundation checks.
Grantseekers should not read Dume’s unusually large recent grants as typical. A realistic first ask, assuming a relationship can be established, would therefore be much closer to the foundation’s smaller recurring awards than its exceptional Howard grant.
PROFILE: Located in Woodland Hills, California, the Dume Wolverine Foundation is a family foundation that maintains an exceptionally low public profile. It is steered by members of the Kay family, including Dr. Susan B. Kay, its president, and Dr. Gregory L. Kay, its vice president. The foundation does not operate a website, and does not employ a formal staff. Tax filings reveal a broad range of grantmaking interests, including education, health, journalism, democracy, animals and global development. However, none of these interests are formally declared grantmaking programs.
Grants for Education
Tax filings indicate that education is the foundation’s largest area of giving overall, given an outsized share of recent funding to Howard University.
- The foundation gives broadly in this area and does not appear to have specific areas of focus.
- Grantees include the Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society, Berea College and Hoa Aina O Makaha, an environmental education center on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
Health and diseases account for a significant portion of Dume Wolverine’s giving, although the foundation does not articulate goals for this giving.
- Grantees include the Rett Syndrome Research Trust, USC’s Keck School of Medicine, the Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California and the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, a professional organization of pharmacists.
- Valley Presbyterian is significant in that beyond Dume’s five-year grant history, the hospital listed Dume Wolverine as a presenting sponsor of its 2025 Golf Classic.
Grants for Global Development and Human Rights
The foundation does not appear to have any specific priorities for its global giving; Dume supports a recurring group of U.S.-based nonprofits working internationally on poverty, humanitarian assistance, women’s rights, hunger and development.
- Grantees include the women’s rights group MADRE, the anti-poverty organization Fonkoze, A Well-Fed World, OXFAM, Cure Violence Global and A Well-Fed World, which offers plant-based solutions to global hunger.
Grants for Journalism, Civic Engagement and Democracy
This funder demonstrates interest in journalism, democracy and civic engagement.
- Grantees include Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Gulf Region Advocacy Center.Colorado’s High Country News, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Fair Warning, Mother Jones and the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Grants for Animals and Wildlife
Grants have supported organizations involved in both the welfare of domestic animals and the protection of wildlife in the U.S. and around the world.
- Recipients include Akashinga USA, APOPO USA, the San Diego Zoo Wildilfe Alliance, the International Anti-Poaching Foundation and Project Street Vet in New Mexico.
Important Grant Details:
In 2024, it awarded about $1.21 million through 23 grants, but $887,012 went to Howard University alone. The median grant was just $10,000.
- This funder supports organizations of all sizes, and its grantees tend to receive multi-year support.
- Grantmaking is global in scope, but more than half of all grants stay in the U.S., where California historically has been a priority.
- This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals.
- Dume Wolverine does not provide a direct way to get in touch. The foundation’s phone number is listed as (818) 746-3070.
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CONTACT:
Dume Wolverine Foundation
21600 Oxnard Street Suite 1110
Woodland Hills, California 91367
(818) 746-3070
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