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· Private foundation

James a Ruppe 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.

$626k
Granted FY2024still arriving
63
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$180k
Largest
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$1.9MEducation$520kReligion$469kHuman Services$286kFood & Nutrition$135kArts & Culture$104kPhilanthropy$103kYouth Development$100kOther$0
02FY2024 · 63 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k47 grants · $204k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $181k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $241k
$5,500
Median grant
7
States reached
$7.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAYO CLINIC$180,184
BAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP$60,379
CO-CATHEDRAL OF ST JOHN THE$25,000
MICHIGAN TECH FUND$17,500
OMEGA HOUSE$16,000
CALUMET HIGH SCHOOL$13,000
ST ALBERT THE GREAT UNIVERSITY$13,000
CLK FOUNDATION$12,000
ST JUDE CHILDRENS RESEARCH HOSPITAL$12,000
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE$11,500
THE BOGGY CREEK GANG INC (CAMP$11,000
GOGEBIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE$10,000
COPPER COUNTRY SENIOR MEALS INC$10,000
LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF ELDERLY$10,000
CLK COUNCIL OF CHURCHES$10,000
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, $263k) 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.

area typical 11%BARAGA COUNTY SHELTER HOME: $3k → 14%BARAGA COUNTY SHELTER HOME: $3k → 14%UPCAP: $2k → 13%UPCAP: $2k → 13%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF ELDERLY: $10k → 14%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF ELDERLY: $10k → 14%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY: $10k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA: $8k → 13%COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA: $8k → 13%COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA: $6k → 13%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY: $7k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA: $5k → 13%COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA: $5k → 13%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY: $7k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA: $4k → 13%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY: $7k → 14%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY: $7k → 14%LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY: $7k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $16k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $15k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $13k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $11k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $11k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $11k → 14%COPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION: $10k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $11k → 14%COPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION: $10k → 14%OMEGA HOUSE: $11k → 14%COPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION: $9k → 14%COPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION: $6k → 14%BARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $5k → 14%BARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $4k → 14%BARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $4k → 14%BARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $4k → 14%BARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME: $3k → 14%BARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $3k → 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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 82 repeat orgs$50k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against -8% for those funded once.

82 repeat relationships: 58 still active in FY2024, 24 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

82
10

Total granted

$2.4M
$39k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
-8%

Still filing today

38%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k 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 ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BC
    BAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP
    8× · 2017–2024 · $313k · revenue +65%
  • OH
    OMEGA HOUSE INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $99k · revenue +58%
  • LB
    LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY UPPER MICHIGAN CHAPTER
    8× · 2017–2024 · $65k · revenue +100%

Funded once

  • KA
    KEWEENAW AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $13k
  • BB
    BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE WESTERN UP (UP KIDS)
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
  • TB
    THE BOGGY CREEK GANG INC
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue 0%
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
Baraga-Houghton-Keweenaw Community Action Agency Inc

The agency administers various governmental programs for the low income and elderly population in a three-county region in the northwestern upper peninsula of michigan.

Human Services
2
Mymichigan Home Care

Creating healthy communities - together

—
3
Huron Pines Resource Conservation & Development Council Inc

It is our mission at huron pines to conserve and enhance northern michigan's natural resources to ensure healthy water, protected places and vibrant communities. for alomst 50 years, our work across the forests, lakes and streams of…

Environment
4
Holland Community Hospital

To continuously improve the health of the communities we serve in the spirit of hope, compassion, respect and dignity.

Health
5
Upper Peninsula Family Solutions Inc

The Agency is licensed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services as a full-service adoption and foster care agency for families located in northern Michigan.

Human Services
6
Community Foundation of the Upper Peninsula

To receive and administer charitable endowment funds for the benefit of the residents of the upper peninsula of michigan and to provide administrative, communication and other support to affiliate members and other community foundations.

Philanthropy
7
Catholic Social Services of the Upper Peninsula Inc

Working in the spirit of Gods universal love, our mission is to nurture, stabilize and strengthen the diverse families of the Upper Peninsula Community by providing mental health and addiction counseling services, child welfare services,…

Human Services
8
Edward W Sparrow Hospital

Improving the health of the people in our communities by providing quality, compassionate care to everyone, every time.

Health
9
Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions Inc

To create opportunities of viability for health care providers in the upper peninsula of michigan and to improve access to quality health services for residents within their communities.

Health
10
Child and Family Services of the Upper Peninsula Inc

To strengthen, nuture and empower children and families for a brighter future by providing programs that preserve the dignity and enhance the well-being of families throughout michigan's upper peninsula, in a caring, compassionate and…

Human Services
11
Parkview Wabash Hospital Inc

Parkview wabash hospital, inc. works to improve the health of our communities and provides quality health services to all who entrust their care to us.

Health
12
Up Health Education Corporation

The msu chm upper peninsula education corporation is a collaborative medical education corporation funded by the michigan state university college of human medicine and up health system marquette, dedicated to the medical education of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Copper Shores Community Health Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Houghton County Historical Society. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

42 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. 42 of the 98 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/42
Grantees still filing
27/42
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP: $313,379 · OtherBAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMPCALUMET TOWNSHIP: $100,000 · OtherCALUMET TOWNSHIPCHURCH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST: $97,500 · OtherCHURCH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELISTCALUMET HIGH SCHOOL: $66,000 · Other+70 more: $1,157,500 · Other+70 moreMAYO CLINIC: $1,231,015 · HealthMAYO CLINICCOPPER SHORES COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Health+3 more: $69,500 · HealthOMEGA HOUSE INC: $99,000 · Human ServicesLITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY UPPER MICHIGAN CHAPTER: $64,500 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA INC: $41,000 · Human ServicesCOPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION: $35,000 · Human ServicesBARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $21,000 · Human Services+2 more: $8,000 · Human ServicesMichigan Tech Fund: $114,000 · EducationGOGEBIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $39,000 · EducationLAKE LINDEN-HUBBELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $33,000 · EducationBARAGA-HOUGHTON-KEWEENAW CHILD DEVELOPMENT BOARD INC: $20,500 · EducationCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD INC: $45,500 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $39,500 · PhilanthropyGROW & LEAD COMMUNITY AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: $11,500 · Philanthropy+1 more: $2,000 · PhilanthropyThe Calumet Theatre Company: $30,500 · Arts & CultureCALUMET ART CENTER: $8,000 · Arts & CultureCOPPER COUNTRY SUZUKI ASSOC INC: $5,000 · Arts & Culture31 BACKPACKS INC: $33,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$1,734,379Health$1,350,515Human Services$268,500Education$206,500Philanthropy$98,500Arts & Culture$43,500Food & Nutrition$33,000

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 budgetMAYO CLINIC: $1,231,015 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP: $313,379 over 8y, 2.0% of budgetMichigan Tech Fund: $114,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetOMEGA HOUSE INC: $99,000 over 8y, 1.6% of budgetLITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY UPPER MICHIGAN CHAPTER: $64,500 over 8y, 1.1% of budgetCOPPER SHORES COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetFINLANDIA UNIVERSITY: $48,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD INC: $45,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA INC: $41,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $39,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetGOGEBIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $39,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetCOPPER COUNTRY SENIOR MEALS INC: $37,500 over 4y, 5.4% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $37,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION: $35,000 over 4y, 8.8% of budget31 BACKPACKS INC: $33,000 over 8y, 4.7% of budgetLAKE LINDEN-HUBBELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $33,000 over 6y, 16% of budgetThe Calumet Theatre Company: $30,500 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetHOLY CROSS HOSPITAL INC: $27,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHOUGHTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $22,000 over 7y, 11% of budgetDIAL HELP INCORPORATED: $22,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetBARBARA KETTLE GUNDLACH SHELTER HOME FOR ABUSED WOMEN INC: $21,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetBARAGA-HOUGHTON-KEWEENAW CHILD DEVELOPMENT BOARD INC: $20,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $20,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUPPER PENINSULA HONOR FLIGHT: $20,500 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetMAIN STREET CALUMET INC: $17,000 over 7y, 6.3% of budgetCOPPER COUNTRY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $15,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetGROW & LEAD COMMUNITY AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: $11,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCALUMET ART CENTER: $8,000 over 3y, 8.6% of budgetCOPPER COUNTRY HUMANE SOCIETY: $8,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetGOOD WILL FARM ASSOCIATION INC: $5,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetBARAGA CO SHELTER HOME: $5,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCOPPER COUNTRY SUZUKI ASSOC INC: $5,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE BOGGY CREEK GANG INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOOTJACK FIRE & RESCUE FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetCopper Country United Way: $4,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetCAMP JOSH: $4,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetUPCAP SERVICES INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOak House Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKEWEENAW COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBAY-LAKES COUNCIL #635 BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS OF THE NORTHWESTERN GREAT LAKES INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKEWEENAW FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 MAYO CLINIC ↗
  • Who funds BAY CLIFF HEALTH CAMP ↗
  • Who funds Michigan Tech Fund ↗
  • Who funds OMEGA HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds LITTLE BROTHERS FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY UPPER MICHIGAN CHAPTER ↗
  • Who funds COPPER SHORES COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FINLANDIA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD INC ↗
  • Who funds COVENANT HOUSE FLORIDA INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF BROWARD COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds GOGEBIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds COPPER COUNTRY SENIOR MEALS INC ↗
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds COPPER COUNTRY ANGEL MISSION ↗
  • Who funds 31 BACKPACKS INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKE LINDEN-HUBBELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds The Calumet Theatre Company ↗
  • Who funds HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds HOUGHTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds DIAL HELP INCORPORATED ↗

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.

Copper Shores Community Health FoundationMI51.5× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Copper Shores Community Health Foundation · Keweenaw Community Foundation · The Klungness Family Foundation Inc · The Fb Heron Foundation · Community Foundation of the Upper Peninsula · Incrediblebank Foundation Inc · The Martin Family Foundation · United Way of Marquette County · West End Health Foundation · Superior Health Foundation · Steven C Leuthold Family Foundation · Feeding America West Michigan

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 James a Ruppe Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from James a Ruppe Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • United Way of Broward County Inc: 27% of income from government
  • Covenant House Florida Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Holy Cross Hospital Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 98 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

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