· Private foundation
Ray of Light Scholarship Fund
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, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k52 grants · $295k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $96k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MARIST COLLEGE ITF VILLA ANGELES | $18,000 |
| MOUNT ST MARY'S UNIVERSITY ITF GARC | $12,000 |
| LEHIGH UNIVERSITY ITF PIACENZA MIA | $12,000 |
| IONA UNIVERSITY ITF MIDY CASSANDRA | $12,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT ITF FRED | $11,500 |
| WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY ITF MAR | $10,000 |
| BROWN UNIVERSITY ITF SEABORN BRIANN | $10,000 |
| NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL ITF RIVERA K | $10,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT ITF PIERR | $9,000 |
| WINTHROP UNIVERSITY ITF LEDFORD ROS | $8,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND ITF STUART C | $8,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE ITF GARCIA D | $8,000 |
| SOUTHERN WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ITF HE | $8,000 |
| WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY ITF COX | $8,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ITF TRE | $8,000 |
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 27% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
67 repeat relationships: 35 still active in FY2025, 32 since wound down; 22 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $121k went to new ones.
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MUMARIST UNIVERSITY4× · 2022–2025 · $71k · revenue +22%
- FUFRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY OF STEUBENVILLE3× · 2023–2025 · $24k · revenue +29%
- SCSavannah College of Art and DesignInc2× · 2024–2025 · $16k · revenue +8%
Funded once
- UOU of Connecticutone grant, 2020 · $30k
- SHSACRED HEART UNIVERSITY INCORPORATEDone grant, 2022 · $28k · revenue +21%
- TCTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICAone grant, 2022 · $28k · revenue +16%
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.
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.
Enriched by the lasallian catholic heritage, saint mary's university of minnesota awakens, nurtures, and empowers learners to ethical lives of service and leadership.
As a Catholic, Jesuit university our mission is to search for truth, discover shareknowledge, foster personal professional excellence, promote a life of faith and developleadership expressed in service to others. See Schedule O.
To foster the vitality of community through learning and the pursuit of wisdom.
Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…
Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…
As a jesuit catholic university committed to academic rigor, inclusive excellence, and care for the whole person, john carroll university inspires individuals of intellect and character to learn, lead and serve in the community and…
The corporation of saint mary's college, notre dame (saint mary's) is a catholic, residential, women's, liberal arts college offering undergraduate degrees and co-educational graduate programs. (continued in schedule o)
Siena university is a learning community advancing the ideals of a liberal arts education, rooted in its identity as a franciscan and catholic institution. as a learning community, siena is committed to a student-centered education…
Georgian court university (gcu), provides a comprehensive liberal arts education and is open to students of all faiths, delivers a curriculum that promotes scholarship, service, and personal development.
Benedictine college's mission as a catholic, benedictine, liberal arts, residential college is the education of men and women within a community of faith & scholarship.
Endicott college offers students a vibrant academic environment that remains true to its founding principle of integrating professional and liberal arts with experiential learning. for more information see schedule o.
Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world.
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 161 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.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ray of Light Scholarship Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ray of Light Scholarship Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
- Northeastern University: 4% of income from government
- Fairfield University: 1% of income from government
- Sacred Heart University Incorporated: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ray of Light Scholarship Fund?
Find your warmest path to Ray of Light Scholarship Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
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.
Play a game based on Ray of Light Scholarship’s filings →