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George and Cindy Rusu Family Found at a glance

· Private foundation

George and Cindy Rusu Family Found

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.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Youth Development$4.3MFood & Nutrition$4.2MHuman Services$2.5MHealth$864kEmployment$757kEnvironment$675kInternational$555kCrime & Legal$362kOther$0
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $165k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $380k
  • $250k+1 grant · $500k
$25,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY$500,000
HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION$110,000
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS$100,000
AUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP$100,000
Individual grant recipient$69,500
SHERWOOD CARES$40,000
AEROANGEL$40,000
KNICKER OPEN CHARITIES$25,000
DOODLEBUG WORKSHOP VOC TRN CENTER$15,100
WE ARE CALLED TO CARE$15,000
RECLAIM 13$15,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
COUNTRY SHRINE CLUB$5,000
GLOVES 4 GRIEF INC$5,000
INSPIRATION CORPORATION$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $507k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GLOVES 4 GRIEF INC: $10k → 10%DOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER: $25k → 14%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $110k → 17%GLOVES 4 GRIEF INC: $5k → 10%GUADALUPE CENTER: $20k → 10%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $105k → 17%INSPIRATION CORPORATION: $5k → 14%GUADALUPE CENTER: $20k → 10%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $100k → 17%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $11k → 14%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $53k → 17%THE OUTREACH HOUSE: $4k → 7%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%FAMILY SHELTER SERVICE: $15k → 7%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $3k → 17%HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION: $3k → 17%BREWING OPPORTUNITIES: $10k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
IA
IN
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
OK
GA
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 8% of George and Cindy Rusu Family Found’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

George and Cindy Rusu Family Foundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$13M · 23 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
35

Total granted

$13M
$1.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+35%

Still filing today

70%
66%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $67k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHealthPhilanthropyFood & NutritionHousing & ShelterCrime & LegalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO
    7× · 2017–2023 · $4.3M · revenue +39%
  • GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
    4× · 2020–2024 · $2.9M · revenue +17%
  • AM
    AUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $707k · revenue +120% · 84% of their budget

Funded once

  • Feeding America
    one grant, 2021 · $750k · revenue +23%
  • CC
    CRISIS CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $500k
  • WP
    WINGS PROGRAM INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +122%
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Pediatric Faculty Foundation Inc

We value excellence and innovation in clinical and basic research, coordinated and comprehensive patient care, ongoing physician education, and evidence-based child advocacy. our goal is to provide leadership in endeavors that promote the…

Health
2
Lurie Children's Surgical Foundation Inc

Provide pediatric and subspecialty surgical, research, and educational services.

—
3
Nourishing Hope

Nourishing hope provides food, mental health support, and social services to help all our neighbors thrive.

—
4
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
5
Children's Hospital of Chicago Medical Center

We are dedicated to the health and well-being of all children. as the pediatric teaching facility for the northwestern university feinberg school of medicine, this commitment drives us to be a leader in: -pediatric health care delivery…

Health
6
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group

Northwestern memorial healthcare is an integrated healthcare system, consisting of multiple hospitals (including northwestern memorial hospital, an academic medical center) and networks of physicians and healthcare professionals, where the…

Health
7
Children's Health Care

We champion the health needs of children and families. we are committed to improving children's health by providing the highest-quality, family centered care, advanced through research and education.

Health
8
Infant Welfare Society of Chicago

Infant welfare society of chicago (iws) (d/b/a iws family health) provides quality medical, dental and behavioral health services for the health, physical and mental development of children and their families in the chicagoland community.

—
9
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
10
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
11
Mercy Foundation Inc

We, mercy health system of chicago and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.mercy foundation is a member of mercy health system of chicago…

Philanthropy
12
Stanley Manne Childrens Research Institute

Stanley manne children's research institute strives to generate new knowledge and advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric diseases.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northern Illinois Food Bank; the most unlike its peers is Fore Griffin Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 65 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/44
Grantees still filing
30/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $4,290,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO+1 more: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $2,900,000 · Food & NutritionGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORYFeeding America: $750,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding AmericaNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $482,000 · Food & NutritionNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANKFRIENDS OF FOLDS OF HONOR: $1,722,152 · OtherFRIENDS OF FOLDS OF HONORIndividual grant recipient: $675,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientCRISIS CENTER: $500,000 · OtherCRISIS CENTERIndividual grant recipient: $316,910 · OtherIndividual grant recipientDELTA TAU DELTA: $260,000 · OtherDELTA TAU DELTASHERWOOD CARES: $205,001 · Other+33 more: $669,300 · Other+33 moreAUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP INC: $707,000 · EmploymentHEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION FKA HEALTH NET FOUNDATION INC: $382,500 · Human ServicesGuadalupe Center Inc: $40,000 · Human ServicesDOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER: $25,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $25,000 · Human Services+6 more: $59,400 · Human ServicesINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $525,000 · InternationalAEROANGEL INC: $265,000 · HealthAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $50,000 · HealthEBOD FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · HealthChicago South Side Birth Center: $15,000 · Health+5 more: $38,600 · Health
Youth Development$4,325,000Food & Nutrition$4,132,000Other$4,348,363Employment$707,000Human Services$531,900International$525,000Health$398,600

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $4,290,000 over 7y, 13% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $2,900,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetFeeding America: $750,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP INC: $707,000 over 8y, 84% of budgetINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $525,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $482,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION FKA HEALTH NET FOUNDATION INC: $382,500 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetAEROANGEL INC: $265,000 over 5y, 29% of budgetWINGS PROGRAM INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKnicker Open Charities: $50,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetGuadalupe Center Inc: $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFore Griffin Foundation Inc: $35,000 over 3y, 20% of budgetEBOD FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 2y, 31% of budgetLittle Heroes League: $25,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetTHE MAYOR'S FUND FOR LOS ANGELES: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTOGETHER RISING: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetDOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO ABORTION FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLOVES 4 GRIEF INC: $15,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetFamily Shelter Service Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetCOMPASSIONATE COMMUNITIES FOR CHILDREN: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR ENRICHED LIVING INC: $11,300 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $11,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $10,900 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNAPERVILLE RESPONDS FOR OUR VETERANS: $10,600 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetCESCO'S HEART: $10,600 over 1y, 11% of budgetGIRLS IN THE GAME NFP: $10,600 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSAVE ABANDONED BABIES FOUNDATION: $10,400 over 1y, 15% of budgetMagic Foundation: $10,300 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBREWING OPPORTUNITIES NFP DBA GERRYS CAFE: $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInspiration Corporation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES MISSION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYORK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPENN-MAR FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE OUTREACH HOUSE: $3,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCHILDREN'S TUMOR FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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 BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds Feeding America ↗
  • Who funds AUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP INC ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds HEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION FKA HEALTH NET FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds AEROANGEL INC ↗
  • Who funds DELTA TAU DELTA ↗
  • Who funds WINGS PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds Knicker Open Charities ↗
  • Who funds Guadalupe Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds Fore Griffin Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds EBOD FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Little Heroes League ↗
  • Who funds THE MAYOR'S FUND FOR LOS ANGELES ↗
  • Who funds TOGETHER RISING ↗
  • Who funds DOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO ABORTION FUND ↗
  • Who funds SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds GLOVES 4 GRIEF INC ↗
  • Who funds Family Shelter Service 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.

The Richard M Schulze…The Dupage Community …Arthur J Gallagher Fo…AbbVie FoundationThe Chicago Community…Network for GoodJpmorgan Chase Founda…The Bank of America C…The Blackbaud Giving …American Endowment Fo…Donor Advised Charita…National Philanthropi…
The Richard M Schulze Family FoundationMN20× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · The Dupage Community Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Network for Good · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · National Philanthropic Trust

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization George and Cindy Rusu Family Found funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from George and Cindy Rusu Family Found. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
  • Guadalupe Center Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 65 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on George and Cindy Rusu Family Found’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home