· Private foundation
Ruth Lee Charitable Trust
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, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k14 grants · $54k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $58k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| WESLEYAN FUND | $32,500 |
| ALABAMA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL | $15,000 |
| HEART OF ALABAMA FOOD BANK | $10,000 |
| COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION | $8,500 |
| FAULKNER UNIVERSITY | $6,557 |
| LUNCHES FOR LEARNING INC | $6,000 |
| MONTGOMERY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS | $5,000 |
| MONTGOMERY AREA COUNCIL ON AGING | $5,000 |
| OPP CHURCH OF CHRIST | $4,000 |
| ELBA CHURCH OF CHRIST | $4,000 |
| THE PRESCHOOL | $3,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $3,000 |
| AMERICAN RED CROSS | $2,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $2,500 |
| UNION CHURCH CEMETERY | $1,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY18–25, $91k) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-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.
23 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 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, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FUFAULKNER UNIVERSITY8× · 2018–2025 · $118k · revenue +51%
- MAMONTGOMERY AREA COUNCIL ON AGING8× · 2018–2025 · $83k · revenue +38%
- HOHEART OF ALABAMA FOOD BANK INC5× · 2019–2025 · $49k · revenue +48%
Funded once
- RFRESPITE FOR ALL FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +225%
- UMUNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOMEone grant, 2024 · $7k · revenue 0%
- MCMONTGOMERY CAPITAL ROTARY CHARITIES INCone grant, 2019 · $4k
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.
To feed people in need today and foster collaborative solutions to end hunger tomorrow.
The credit union's mission is to promote thrift among its members and create a source of credit for them at legitimate rates of interest. the credit union serves members in several counties throughout alabama. the total number of members…
To promote the preservation and continued development of commercial banking in alabama.
collect warehouse & distribute food to needy organizations
To elevate the legal profession to the highest possible standards, regulate its practice, and provide continuing legal education to its members.
Retirement and nursing home care
To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of the community
The alabama alliance netowrk works to strengthen and enhance alabama's civic society through research, education, and grantmaking
Operation of a public charter school in Mobile Alabama.
Community and economic development
To facilitate implementation of workforce development programs andservices that support economic and job development in the region andthat address the workforce needs of existing businesses and industry.
Administration of federal, state and local awards and grants for the poverty sector of a 7 county area in alabama, providing headstart education, food, shelter, maintenance, and weatherization programs.
How this is measured
14 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. 14 of the 34 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.
- Who funds ALABAMA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ↗
- Who funds FAULKNER UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds MONTGOMERY AREA COUNCIL ON AGING ↗
- Who funds HEART OF ALABAMA FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LUNCHES FOR LEARNING INC ↗
- Who funds MONTGOMERY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds CIVITAN INTERNATIONAL ↗
- Who funds RESPITE FOR ALL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Bridge Builders Alabama ↗
- Who funds UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME ↗
- Who funds HOPE INSPIRED MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds THE SAMARITAN COUNSELING CENTER IN ↗
- Who funds CENTRAL ALABAMA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
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: The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · The S Adam Schloss Foundation Inc · Kiwanis Club of Montgomery Foundation Inc · John and Joyce Caddell Foundation · The J K Lowder Family Foundation · Arthur M Britton Foundation Inc · Samuel L Schloss Family Foundation Tr Schlossburke K Trustee · B Stephen Schloss Foundation · The Landa Fund · Alfa Foundation · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Intouch Inc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ruth Lee Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ruth Lee Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Ruth Lee’s filings →