· Private foundation
Melinda and Charles Ruperto Foundation
Its FY2025 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, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k6 grants · $22k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $57k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| GREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN | $45,000 |
| DES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS | $12,000 |
| MARSHA P JOHNSON INSTITUTE | $5,000 |
| DES MOINES ART CENTER | $5,000 |
| FORDHAM UNIVERSITY | $5,000 |
| DES MOINES COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE | $5,000 |
| IOWA PUBLIC RADIO | $1,000 |
| IOWA PUBLIC TELEVISION | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 5% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- GDGREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN3× · 2021–2025 · $60k · revenue +294%
- DMDES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS3× · 2021–2025 · $42k · revenue +395%
- FUFordham University2× · 2024–2025 · $10k · revenue +9%
Funded once
- ICIOWA CULINARY INSTITUTE AT DMACCone grant, 2024 · $5k
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.
6 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. 6 of the 9 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.
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: Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation · Mary K and Daniel M Kelly Family Foundation C/O Dan Kelly · Bookey Family Foundation · EMC Insurance Foundation · Meredith Corporation Foundation · Amg Charitable Gift Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Melinda and Charles Ruperto Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Melinda and Charles Ruperto Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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How do I get to Melinda and Charles Ruperto Foundation?
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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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