About us

Who we are

The Red Fox Foundation was founded in 2024 by two brothers, Matthew and Rick Goodson. There is no paid staff and no office. All three directors serve as unpaid volunteers, and the founders share the Foundation’s operating costs, so donations go to the programs.

Our suppliers are Good360, NAEIR and Operation Warm, and every item we give is new.

Our mission

Strengthening rural and underserved communities through food access, youth education, and family support.

What we believe

It’s a Wonderful Life has been part of our family for as long as Rick and Matthew can remember. We watch it every year, often more than once, and over the years we have met members of the cast and hosted them at our events. Its picture of a community that looks after its own shapes how we think about this work, and each of us has at some point held on to Clarence’s words to George: no man is a failure who has friends.

Two other ideas guide us. The first is that a rising tide lifts all boats. When one of us succeeds, we all do, and so do the people around us. The second is agape: love for someone simply because they exist. It sits behind everything the Foundation does.

Our goal is simple: to be a little better than we were the day before, and to do everything we realistically can for the people around us, because we are grateful for them.

The board

Matthew Goodson, Executive Director

Matthew has worked in the automotive industry since high school and has spent the last six years as a service advisor. He learned early how much a small group can do. From twelve to eighteen he was a member of DeMolay, and he was twice elected to lead the Lakes Chapter. During his first term the chapter collected food, candy and toys each month, sorted them, and delivered them to a local shelter for women and children, a job Matthew and his father did together. The chapter also ran grocery pickups for P.L.A.N. Food Pantry, and one Thanksgiving Matthew helped bring the makings of a holiday dinner to families’ homes. Several Lake County towns recognized the chapter’s work with official days in its honor.

During the pandemic, Matthew and Rick opened Good Family Clinics, two COVID testing sites in Algonquin built on a simple idea: a test should not frighten a child. The sites saw twenty to thirty people a day each and served four businesses, including a company that employs adults with intellectual disabilities and chose the clinics for the extra care they took. Matthew is quick to say he did not have a hard life. His family worked hard to give him a good one, and taught him to give back whenever he could.

Rick Goodson, Treasurer

Rick spent his early years in Humboldt Park in Chicago, where his parents, then in their early twenties, were building a life from very little, before the family moved to Glenview. He grew up the way plenty of kids did in the nineties, on a bike, outside with his friends, and from a young age he was the one who spoke up for kids who would not speak up for themselves. He was eleven when Matthew was born, and the two have been close ever since.

Rick has spent seventeen years in automotive service, starting at an auto parts store and going on to manage a tire and service store in Round Lake. Since 2015 he has been the top advisor, lane manager or service manager at every store where he has worked, and he holds himself and his teams to a standard of honesty with every customer who comes to his desk. The bicycle program was Rick’s idea, and he is the one who made it happen.

Richard A. Goodson, Director

Richard was born in Chicago and spent more than twenty-five years in the city, most of them in Humboldt Park. He grew up with very little and was on his own at sixteen, looking after his fourteen-year-old brother, and he refused to let that decide where his life would go. When he met the woman who would become his wife and knew he needed steady work, he walked into a parts store and offered to prove himself, telling them not to pay him unless they were satisfied. They hired him. Over more than thirty-five years he rose to service advisor, then service manager and director, building teams of advisors, parts specialists, technicians, porters and managers along the way.

Richard has a gift for seeing the best in people before they see it themselves. Several of the young men Rick and Matthew call brothers are people Richard took under his wing when they needed a steady hand. His sons put it simply: he believes in building a bigger table. Since the late 1990s he has collected memorabilia from It’s a Wonderful Life, has become a leading authority on the film, and brings his collection to public events in small towns to show that there is a Bedford Falls, and a George Bailey, in all of us.

Finances

Revenue and expenses by year

Year	Revenue	Expenses
2024	$8,633.20	$8,633.20
2025	$0.00	$0.00

The 2024 expenses include a $5,500.00 youth education grant and $3,133.20 in other expenses. Most of the 2024 bicycles were bought by the founders personally and do not appear in these figures.

In 2025 we had no revenue and no expenses. We fund most of this work ourselves, and that year we could not. The work resumed in 2026.

Financial records are available on request.

Governance and registration

• 501(c)(3) public charity under section 509(a)(1), EIN 99-3744225, exempt since June 28, 2024. IRS determination letter, dated October 20, 2024.
• Illinois not-for-profit corporation, registered with the Illinois Attorney General, CO# 01088924.
• Registered with the Tennessee Secretary of State to solicit charitable contributions, CO55095.
• Form 990-N filed for 2024 and 2025, searchable at IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.
• Operational Policies and Procedures Handbook adopted by the board in September 2026, covering financial controls, segregation of duties, procurement, conflicts of interest and records retention.
• A conflict of interest policy has been in place since 2024.
• The Foundation has never had a financial audit.

Who we work with

Suppliers

Good360, NAEIR and Operation Warm

Partners

Smokin’ Zo’s in Middleton, Tennessee; P.L.A.N. Food Pantry in Round Lake Beach, Illinois; the Education Foundation of Niles Township

Supporters

McGrath Evanston Subaru; Walmart in Gurnee; Stanley

We are always glad to hear from people who care about these communities and would like to help lead this work. If that sounds like you, write to matthew@theredfoxfoundation.org.