Iowa · Private foundation
John Ruan Foundation Trust
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $4.0M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 52
- Grants FY2025
- 51
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 12%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $1,000,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 51 to 66
- FY2021 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 7
- Total assets, FY2025
- $100M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 12% of the organizations John Ruan Foundation Trust funded were first-time grantees, receiving 27% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 49 | $4.0M | 6% |
| FY2024 | 51 | $4.0M | 12% |
| FY2023 | 53 | $4.2M | 25% |
| FY2022 | 63 | $5.4M | 21% |
| FY2021 | 66 | $5.6M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2021 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blank Park Zoo Foundation Inc | $2,045,000 | 5 | 13% |
| Science Center of Iowa | $1,545,000 | 5 | 14% |
| Drake University | $1,070,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Northwestern University | $1,042,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Des Moines Symphony Association | $525,000 | 5 | 6% |
| Iowa Motor Carriers Foundation | $500,000 | 2 | 62% |
| Iowa Confluence Water Trails | $500,000 | 2 | 9% |
| Childserve Inc | $500,000 | 1 | 3% |
| Roosevelt High School Foundation | $435,000 | 5 | 20% |
| Maltz Jupiter Theatre Inc | $415,000 | 2 | 2% |
Show all 60 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 41 recipients with no EIN on record ($12M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
John Ruan Foundation Trust supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 55 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: EMC Insurance Foundation · Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc · Meredith Corporation Foundation · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · Bookey Family Foundation · The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc · Wt and Edna M Dahl Trust · Kyle J & Sharon Krause Family Foundation · Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation · Gartner Family Foundation % Michael G Gartner · William C Knapp Charitable Fdn
How this is measured
About John Ruan Foundation Trust
- How much does John Ruan Foundation Trust give?
- John Ruan Foundation Trust reported 52 grants totaling $4,042,500 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 51 and 66 organizations a year over FY2021 to FY2024.
- What does John Ruan Foundation Trust fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2021 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (20%), Recreation & Sports (14%), Arts & Culture (12%).
- Who are John Ruan Foundation Trust's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2021 to FY2025: Blank Park Zoo Foundation Inc ($2.0M), Science Center of Iowa ($1.5M), Drake University ($1.1M).
- Does John Ruan Foundation Trust fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 12% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does John Ruan Foundation Trust accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as John Ruan Foundation Trust?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include EMC Insurance Foundation, Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn, Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc.
- Where is John Ruan Foundation Trust based?
- John Ruan Foundation Trust is based in IA.
Play a game based on John Ruan’s filings →