Petit Family Foundation (PFF): Grant & Sponsorship Update
For more than 18 years, the Petit Family Foundation has awarded over $10 million to nonprofit organizations that align with our mission. As a small foundation, we are committed to supporting our local communities, and to sustain this commitment, we are implementing updated grant criteria beginning with the Fall 2025 General Project Support Grant Cycle.
To see if you quality for a PFF award, see the new Grant Eligibility Checklist:
Here’s a quick rundown of the key requirements for applying for a grant from the Petit Family Foundation (PFF):
- 501(c)(3) Status Your organization must be a registered 501(c)(3) public charity or operate under the fiscal sponsorship of one.
- Alignment with PFF Mission Your program must align with at least one of PFF’s three mission pillars:
- Prevention efforts to protect and assist those affected by violence
- Supporting women in the sciences
- Assisting individuals affected by chronic health conditions
- Board of Directors Organizations must demonstrate best governance practices, including:
- Regular board meetings
- Strategic planning
- Compliance with bylaws
- Timely IRS Form 990 filings
- Grant Amount: For general project support grants, the program budget should not exceed $10,000.
- Budget Detail: Generic budgets will not be accepted
- Use of Funds: Funding may be used for general operating expenses or specific program services. Funds may not be used for individual scholarships, or for religious or political activities.
- Operating Requirements
- Organizations must have been in continuous operation for at least three years.
- Programming must occur year-round and may include school-year or summer programs.
- Two-Year Funding Limitation Organizations receiving more than $4,000/year for two consecutive years must wait one year before applying again. This policy begins in spring 2026.
- Non-Discrimination Policy Organizations must have a non-discrimination policy that ensures equal opportunity regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or disability.
Latest Updates / Press
2024 Grants Awarded list announced.
2025 Petit Family Foundation Women in Science Leadership Award Honoree:
Dr. Nicole Wagner, CEO of LambdaVision, Inc.
2025 Petit Family Foundation Women in Science Leadership Youth Honoree:
Natalia Torres, a Senior at Bloomfield High School.
For more information, visit:
https://ctsciencecenter.org/awards/
The Children’s Museum awarded Petit Grant for reopening of Early Childhood Learning Lab Read the Press Release
To our Community and Grantees:
We are happy to announce that for 2025, PFF is planning on two grant submission cycles for the spring and fall.
The 2025 Fall Grants Timeline
In order to ensure all applicants have an equal opportunity to apply during the grant open window period, applications submitted before the official opening date will not be considered
To manage our review process and ensure responsible stewardship of our resources, we reserve the right to close the application period early if the total amount of funding requested exceeds 150% of our available grant budget.
Grantees must submit Grant Applications electronically only on: Tuesday September 30th
Final Grant decisions will be made and notifications send: November 10th
We hope that you, your families and neighbors are well and we thank you for your partnership over the years.
The Grant Committee (currently 6 people) is appointed by the Board of Directors and reviews grant proposals as they are received, assesses them on the basis of their direct relevance to the Petit Family Foundation’s goals, prioritizes the requests, and then makes recommendations to the full Board for approval and endorsement.
During the review process the Petit Family Foundation Grants Committee puts a significant focus on the following criteria:
- Mission Alignment with the Petit Family Foundation’s mission and goals.
- Financial and Programmatic Capacity: Successful applicants will show evidence that they are stable, and their program plans give us confidence their work will be sustained beyond our funding.
- Leadership: Successful applicants will have strong leadership that is collaborative and knowledgeable about the community and the field in which they operate.
- Measurable Results: We place a high priority on organizations that are able to clearly articulate organizational goals, present a clear plan for achieving results and track outcomes and impact on the people and communities served.
- Only organizations with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Code are eligible to apply.
- Other Criteria:
- Prior grant recipients are eligible to apply for an additional grant if the organization meets the current eligibility requirements and has provided a Grants Impact Report with measurement results and outcomes from any prior grant
- We currently fund programs/projects rather than individuals. The Board of Directors believes this creates the greatest benefit to the most people for the dollars expended.
- We prefer to fund programs including program-related equipment, materials, and supplies to run the program and tend to avoid paying for salary/benefits as we cannot guarantee ongoing funding.
- Due to the high volume of grant requests, the Petit Family Foundation gives local New England based non-profit programs priority in our funding determinations.
The Petit Family Foundation is pleased to support local communities and does so by funding two different types of grants, General Project Support Grants and Signature Grant.
General Project Support Grants are a portion of our awards and tend to be in the $500 to $10,000 range. Most of the funds are used for the programs of organizations, supplies, or projects.
Currently, the Petit Family Foundation does not fund unsolicited Signature Grant proposals. Typically, the Foundation will reach out to one or more agencies in an area that previously had grant support that the Board of Directors feels they would like to fund. The Grants Committee first considers Signature Grants and then presents them to the Board of Directors for approval. Signature Grants may be for multiple years with the funding request range of $10-$50,000 per year up to a total of $100,000. Signature Grants must meet the current existing Grant Project Support criteria but impact a more substantial number of people. If this is an organization’s initial grant request, you may only apply at the General Impact grant level and not at the Signature Grant level. If you are awarded funding, there is a waiting period of two years before you can apply for another Signature Grant. Recent examples of signature grants are multi-year partnerships with the Community Mental Health Affiliates in New Britain, The Injury Prevention Program at CCMS running the Hayley Petit Fellowship Program, and The Hospital for Special Care Foundation in New Britain. Applicants who apply for grants typically meet with the Grants committee and/or the Board of Directors to present a funding request and, if funded, issue a final report on the program’s outcomes.
The Petit Family Foundation will not generally consider requests for:
- International organizations
- Endowment or Medical research endeavors
- Relatively new entities
- Political, legislative, or lobbying organizations
- Individuals or debt reduction, no matter how worthy
- Organizations that do not regularly file IRS Form 990
- Major capital campaigns, unless very near completion
- Primary and secondary schools that charge significant tuition.
- Very large organizations already supported by robust endowments
- National or regional organizations, or local branches thereof, that do not have an EIN separate from that of the larger entity
- Organizations that discriminate based on race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, etc.
Grant requests to support causes directly related to the Petit Family Foundation’s mission will be accepted during the indicated schedule.
Use the form above or contact us to receive it by mail.
Submit completed forms to:
info@petitfamilyfoundation.org
Mission Statement
The Petit Family Foundation honors the memories of JENNIFER HAWKE-PETIT, HAYLEY ELIZABETH PETIT and MICHAELA ROSE PETIT by continuing the kindness, idealism and activism that defined their lives.
The Foundation’s funds are given to foster the education of young people, especially women in the sciences; to improve the lives of those affected by chronic illnesses; and to support efforts to protect and help those affected by violence.
Background
The Petit Family Foundation tries to do as many good actions as possible to counteract the evil that truly exists in world today. We feel that we all must make a commitment to do what we can to make this world a better place.
At the age of 11, MICHAELA PETIT was taken by Gandhi’s quotation, “YOU MUST BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD.” The Foundation is helping to “be the change” by funding different programs that are consistent with our mission statement and goals. We are a new Foundation and are mainly funding programs that can help a larger number of people and give our donors and the programs we fund the biggest bang for our investment. We are doing our best to fulfill our mission statement. We want to remember three very special women, JENNIFER LYNN HAWKE-PETIT, HAYLEY ELIZABETH PETIT, and MICHAELA ROSE PETIT, who were ruthlessly taken from us by very evil men who have no place in a moral and just society.
These special women’s futures and abilities that were helping to change the world were destroyed by evil. We need to stand for JENNIFER, HAYLEY, and MICHAELA along with the many other victims of violent crime that are often forgotten by a media uninterested in focusing on the victims and the rights of those left behind. The Petit Family Foundation is trying to change the focus towards that which is truly important and that which JENNIFER, HAYLEY, and MICHAELA taught us through their example. We need to replace evil with ACTIVISM, IDEALISM, and KINDNESS.
