The Sarkeys Foundation was formed in 1962 by S. J. Sarkeys, who was born in Lebanon in 1874 and emigrated to the United States when he was seventeen. On route to South America, he stopped to visit a brother in St. Louis who showed him a new invention: the carbide lamp. Sarkeys found a market for the lamps in Oklahoma and, as he peddled them around the countryside, he began to buy farmland and, later, oil and gas leases. The successful production from these holdings became the basis for the several fortunes he made and lost during his lifetime.

He was ninety when he died in 1965, three years after setting up the Sarkeys Foundation with 2,750 shares of Sarkeys Inc. stock. At the time of his death, the Foundation had made contributions of about $14,000. Since that time, grants totaling over $55 million have been awarded.

With assets of around $100 million, the Foundation provides grants to a diverse group of non-profit organizations and institutions, almost all of which are located in Oklahoma. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees, currently composed of the following individuals: Teresa Adwan, Richard Bell, Fred Gipson, Kim Henry,
Dan Little, Joseph Morris, and Terry West.