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May Ellen & Gerald Ritter Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

May Ellen & Gerald Ritter Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$555k
Granted FY2024still arriving
19
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$105k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Health$1.2MHuman Services$594kInternational$434kEducation$405kArts & Culture$324kReligion$240kPhilanthropy$207kFood & Nutrition$130kOther$0
02FY2024 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $205k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $327k
$20,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$8.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BUILD ON INC$105,000
ALFRED E SMITH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$100,000
MUSIC THAT HEALS INC$72,480
HASSENFELD CHILDRENS HOSPITAL AT NYU LANGONE$50,000
ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION$35,000
BIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC$30,000
THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING$25,000
ST MARY'S CHURCH$25,000
STAMFORD HOSPITAL$25,000
CATHOLIC CHARITIES BROOKLYN & QUEENS$20,000
FUTURES IN EDUCATION$15,000
STAMFORD POLICE FOUNDATION$10,000
PACE UNIVERSITY$10,000
FUTURES AND OPTIONS INC$10,000
BABE RUTH BASEBALL OF STAMFORD INC$7,000
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 (FY18–24, $288k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING: $25k → 17%THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING: $25k → 17%THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING: $25k → 17%Good Plus Foundation Inc: $15k → 17%WATER TRUST: $10k → 20%WATER TRUST: $10k → 20%WATER TRUST: $5k → 20%Salaam Club Foundation: $3k → 20%Red Hook Initiative Inc: $5k → 20%Red Hook Initiative Inc: $5k → 20%ALS Angels Inc: $5k → 9%BIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $30k → 17%Birch Family Services Inc: $15k → 17%BIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $15k → 17%BIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $15k → 17%Birch Family Services Inc: $15k → 17%BIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $15k → 17%GOOD PLUS FOUNDATION: $50k → 17%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

VT
IL
WI
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
VA
AZ
MS
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.4M · 36 repeat orgs$556k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
33

Total granted

$3.4M
$433k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+23%

Still filing today

64%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $123k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesHealthAnimalsPhilanthropyCrime & 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

  • BUILDON INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $434k · revenue +27%
  • TS
    The Stamford Hospital
    6× · 2018–2024 · $350k · revenue +59%
  • NL
    NYU LANGONE HOSPITALS
    2× · 2018–2019 · $250k · revenue +119%

Funded once

  • NL
    NYU LANGONE
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • AE
    ALFRED E SMITH MEMORIAL FUND
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • TM
    THE MAYOR'S FUND TO ADVANCE NEW YORK CITY
    one grant, 2019 · $45k · revenue -89%
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
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
2
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
3
The Baruch College Fund

The baruch college fund is an organization engaged in generating, encouraging and promoting the educational welfare of the students of the bernard m. baruch college of the city university of new york.

Education
4
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
5
Stony Brook Childrens Services University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
6
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
Stony Brook Ophthalmology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
8
Stony Brook Orthopedic Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
9
University Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology University Faculty Pract ice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
10
Fordham University

Fordham university, the jesuit university of new york, is committed to the discovery of wisdom and the transmission of learning, through research and through education of the highest quality. for more information, see schedule o.

Education
11
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
12
New York University School of Law Foundation

The foundation, a subsidiary of new york university, fosters legal education and research at new york university's school of law by awarding scholarships, making grants for educational purposes related to law, and supporting programs of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Futures in Education; the most unlike its peers is Long Ridge Fire Company Inc. 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

46 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. 46 of the 77 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
34/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALFRED E SMITH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherALFRED E SMITH MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONHOME FOR THE AGED OF LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR: $112,500 · OtherHOME FOR THE AGED OF LITTLE SISTERS OF THE…CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK: $97,500 · OtherCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF N…The Bowery MissionChristian Herald Assoc Inc: $70,000 · OtherSTAMFORD POLICE FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 · OtherNYU LANGONE: $50,000 · OtherHASSENFELD CHILDRENS HOSPITAL AT NYU LANGONE: $50,000 · OtherALFRED E SMITH MEMORIAL FUND: $50,000 · OtherSANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherSANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATIONSTAMFORD PEACE YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $85,000 · OtherSTAMFORD PEACE YOUTH FOUNDATION INC+41 more: $593,000 · Other+41 moreMUSIC THAT HEALS INC: $446,640 · HealthMUSIC THAT HEALS INCThe Stamford Hospital: $350,000 · HealthThe Stamford HospitalNYU LANGONE HOSPITALS: $250,000 · HealthNYU LANGONE HOSPITALS+2 more: $10,000 · HealthBUILDON INC: $434,000 · InternationalBUILDON INCPACE UNIVERSITY: $90,000 · EducationPACE UNIV…ST JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY NEW YORK: $70,000 · EducationST JOSEPH…ST FRANCIS COLLEGE: $45,000 · EducationST FRANCI…ST THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE: $35,000 · EducationST THOMAS…FUTURES IN EDUCATION: $30,000 · EducationFUTURES I…SAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationSAINT JOS…Norwich University: $20,000 · EducationNorwich U…+2 more: $20,000 · Education+2 moreBIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $105,000 · Human ServicesNEW YORK FOUNDLING: $75,000 · Human ServicesGOOD PLUS FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 · Human ServicesTHE WATER TRUST INC: $35,000 · Human ServicesRED HOOK INITIATIVE: $10,000 · Human Services+2 more: $8,000 · Human ServicesROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $182,000 · PhilanthropyAHRC NEW YORK CITY FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · PhilanthropyTHE INNER CIRCLE OF NEW YORK POLITICAL JOURNALISTS INC D/B/A INNER CIRCLE: $14,000 · PhilanthropyST FRANCIS FOOD PANTRIES AND SHELTERS INC: $125,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$1,473,000Health$1,056,640International$434,000Education$340,000Human Services$298,000Philanthropy$216,000Food & Nutrition$125,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMUSIC THAT HEALS INC: $446,640 over 7y, 84% of budgetBUILDON INC: $434,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetThe Stamford Hospital: $350,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNYU LANGONE HOSPITALS: $250,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $182,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetST FRANCIS FOOD PANTRIES AND SHELTERS INC: $125,000 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetBIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $105,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPACE UNIVERSITY: $90,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSTAMFORD PEACE YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $85,000 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetNEW YORK FOUNDLING: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetST JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY NEW YORK: $70,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD PLUS FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetST FRANCIS COLLEGE: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetST THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE WATER TRUST INC: $35,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetFUTURES IN EDUCATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDERMATOLOGY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMetropolitan Opera Association Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAHRC NEW YORK CITY FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNorwich University: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRISE AT WARREN INC: $20,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetST ELIZABETH SETON CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION LTD: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetPOCONO MOUNTAIN REGIONAL POLICE FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetTHE INNER CIRCLE OF NEW YORK POLITICAL JOURNALISTS INC D/B/A INNER CIRCLE: $14,000 over 2y, 31% of budgetCADETS BASEBALL CLUB INC: $10,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetFUTURES AND OPTIONS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetRED HOOK INITIATIVE: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEST BUDDIES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetRAINFOREST FOUNDATION INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE HONORABLE TINA BROZMAN FDTN INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBABE RUTH BASEBALL OF STAMFORD INC: $7,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY INC: $5,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSEAN CASEY ANIMAL RESCUE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetLONG RIDGE FIRE COMPANY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetROADSIDE RESCUE NETWORK: $3,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE SALAAM CLUB OF NEW YORK FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetKELLY ANNE DOLAN MEMORIAL FUND: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF EAST AURORA INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% 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 MUSIC THAT HEALS INC ↗
  • Who funds BUILDON INC ↗
  • Who funds The Stamford Hospital ↗
  • Who funds NYU LANGONE HOSPITALS ↗
  • Who funds ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ST FRANCIS FOOD PANTRIES AND SHELTERS INC ↗
  • Who funds BIRCH FAMILY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PACE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds STAMFORD PEACE YOUTH FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK FOUNDLING ↗
  • Who funds ST JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds GOOD PLUS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE MAYOR'S FUND TO ADVANCE NEW YORK CITY ↗
  • Who funds ST FRANCIS COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds ST THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds THE WATER TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds GRACIE MANSION CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds FUTURES IN EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds SAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds DERMATOLOGY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Metropolitan Opera Association Inc ↗
  • Who funds SERVICE DOGS BY WARREN RETRIEVERS ↗
  • Who funds AHRC NEW YORK CITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Norwich University ↗

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 Lazard Charitable…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Investors Foundation …Victoria Loconsolo Fo…East Coast Energy Fou…Mother Cabrini Health…Jewish Communal FundVerizon FoundationThe Ford FoundationThe Goldman Sachs Cha…T Rowe Price Program …The Bank of America C…
The Lazard Charitable FoundationNY16.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Lazard Charitable Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Investors Foundation Inc · Victoria Loconsolo Foundation Inc · East Coast Energy Foundation Inc · Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · Verizon Foundation · The Ford Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

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 May Ellen & Gerald Ritter Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from May Ellen & Gerald Ritter Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Norwich University: 4% of income from government
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
  • The Stamford Hospital: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get 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 · 0–20%
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 77 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 May Ellen & Gerald Ritter’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