· Private foundation
Ruth Lepson Charitable Foundation Inc
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, FY2017 to 2022.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SAVE THE CHILDREN | $668 |
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 (FY20–20, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 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
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 17% of Ruth Lepson Charitable Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 58% of the giving stays in MA; by stated purpose, 42%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
12 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2022, 11 since wound down.
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 FY2022, 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
OXFAM-AMERICA INC2× · 2017–2020 · $9k · revenue +8%
HIMALAYAN CATARACT PROJECT INC3× · 2017–2021 · $9k · revenue +233%- MFMERCY FOR ANIMALS INC3× · 2017–2021 · $7k · revenue +106%
Funded once
- HWHumane World for Animals Incgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +46%
FRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INCgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +361%
United States Association for UNHCRgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +67%
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.
The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
Animal outlook is a national animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals using a variety of strategies, including investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and vegan outreach.
Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…
Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…
Our mission is to build a movement of global citizens whose actions will help achieve our vision of a world without extreme poverty.
We exist to end the abuse of animals raised for food. this mission is executed by persuading companies and institutions to adopt animal welfare policies through negotiation and pressure campaigns, and then holding them accountable to their…
Rockefeller philanthropy advisors aims to accelerate philanthropy in pursuit of a just world
Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)
The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…
Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…
How this is measured
16 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 16 of the 20 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 OXFAM-AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds HIMALAYAN CATARACT PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds MERCY FOR ANIMALS INC ↗
- Who funds Humane World for Animals Inc ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC ↗
- Who funds United States Association for UNHCR ↗
- Who funds Save The Children Federation Inc ↗
- Who funds GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ↗
- Who funds FRACTURED ATLAS INC ↗
- Who funds GLOUCESTER WRITERS CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds EDVESTORS INC ↗
- Who funds SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds ROSIE'S PLACE INC ↗
- Who funds American Civil Liberties Union Foundation ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
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: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ruth Lepson Charitable Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ruth Lepson Charitable Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
- Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
- Gloucester Writers Center Inc: 1% of income from government
- Edvestors Inc: 1% of income from government
- Rosie's Place Inc: 0% of income from government
- Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Ruth Lepson’s filings →