· Private foundation
Biff Ruttenberg Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k12 grants · $28k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $96k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FRANCIS W PARKER SCHOOL | $96,137 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,966 |
| US HOLOCAUST MUSEUM | $4,913 |
| JEWISH UNITED FUND | $4,913 |
| ANSHE EMET SYNAGOGUE | $4,081 |
| ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE | $1,827 |
| SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER | $1,826 |
| AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE | $1,826 |
| CHICAGO LOOP SYNAGOGUE | $531 |
| NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION | $515 |
| MAOT CHITIM OF GREATER CHICAGO | $500 |
| ARK THE | $360 |
| CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM | $360 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY21–23, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
21 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $360 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FWFrancis W Parker School4× · 2021–2024 · $800k · revenue +31%
- JUJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO4× · 2021–2024 · $182k · revenue +33%
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC2× · 2021–2024 · $25k · revenue +36%
Funded once
- TATHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGOgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $3k · revenue +43%
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INCone grant, 2022 · $500 · revenue -15%- PEPATIENT EMPOWERMENT NETWORKgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $500 · revenue +38%
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.
The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.
The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.
The weitzman national museum of american jewish history, on independence mall in philadelphia, presents educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore, and celebrate the history of jews in america. its purpose is to connect…
The museum of jewish heritage - a living memorial to the holocaust is new york's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. see schedule o for additional information.
Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.
The national center for jewish film is a unique, independent nonprofit motion picture archive, distributor, resource center and exhibitor. ncjf's ongoing mission is the collection, preservation and exhibition of films with artistic and…
Jcrc-ny builds relationships to advance the values, interests and security of the new york jewish community and to create a more interconnected new york for all.
Yivo's mission is to study the thousand-year history of jewish life in eastern europe and russia in all its aspects: language, history, religion, folkways and material culture. yivo's archive and library preserves a significant collection…
The organization's mission is to engage in non partisan analysis of u.s. foreign policy in the middle east, with special emphasis on the middle east peace process, and to present policymakers in the united states, in the region and in the…
How this is measured
17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 33 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds Francis W Parker School ↗
- Who funds ELLISON INSTITUTE RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ↗
- Who funds SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ↗
- Who funds COUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY ↗
- Who funds ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds MAOT CHITIM OF GREATER CHICAGO INC ↗
- Who funds THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS INC ↗
- Who funds PATIENT EMPOWERMENT NETWORK ↗
- Who funds GUS GIORDANO'S JAZZ DANCE CHICAGO INC D/B/A GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds DANA-FARBER INC ↗
- Who funds ZETA BETA TAU FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · The Chicago Community Trust · Jarvis Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Biff Ruttenberg Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Biff Ruttenberg Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Biff Ruttenberg Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Biff Ruttenberg Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
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