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Ruttenberg Arts Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ruttenberg Arts Foundation

Its FY2022 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.6M
Granted FY2022
16
Grants FY2022
3
States reached
$505k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2022.

Arts & Culture$3.9MHuman Services$820kRecreation & Sports$150kPhilanthropy$69kYouth Development$50kEducation$28kHealth$2k
02FY2022 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • $10k–50k10 grants · $195k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $394k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.0M
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ART INSTITUE OF CHICAGO$505,486
FAMILY FOCUS$500,000
CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL$125,000
FRIEDMAN PLACE$100,000
LINCOLN PARK CONSERVANCY$100,000
JEWISH UNITED FUND$69,000
BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART$25,000
PROJECT EDUCATION PLUS$25,000
YOUTH FOR A BETTER FUTURE$25,000
IL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM$25,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$20,000
COUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION$20,000
RENAISSANCE SOCIETY AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$20,000
MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM$15,000
BUILD INC GRANT$10,000
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 (FY22–22, $500k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FAMILY FOCUS: $500k → 14%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.
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.

40%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 8 repeat orgs$3.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2022, 3 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
13

Total granted

$2.0M
$2.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+13%

Still filing today

88%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $904k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22
Arts & CultureEducationRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyHealthHuman ServicesOther
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

  • TA
    THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
    2× · 2020–2022 · $1.4M · revenue +32%
  • CF
    COUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $320k · revenue +158%
  • EA
    ELMHURST ART MUSEUM
    2× · 2020–2021 · $67k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • NM
    NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $1.0M
  • HYDE PARK ART CENTER
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue -62%
  • IH
    IL HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
    one grant, 2020 · $161k
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
Chicago Historical Society

The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…

Arts & Culture
2
The Chicago High School for the Arts

The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…

Education
3
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
4
Design Museum of Chicago

The Design Museum of Chicago strives to inspire, educate and innovate through design. As a resource for the Chicago design community and beyond, the museum facilitates an open dialogue about contemporary and historical design through…

Arts & Culture
5
The Arts Club of Chicago

The arts club of chicago was formed as a means to encourage, foster, and develop higher standards of arts craftsmanship, and to maintain the city of chicago facility for the housing of galleries and exhibitions open to the public and free…

Arts & Culture
6
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
7
Children's Museum of Oak Park

To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.

Arts & Culture
8
Chicago Art Department

Cultivates new and emerging Chicago artists, and aims to benefit artists by exploring art and learning. Through exhibitions, artist residencies, classes/workshops and community building, we are dedicated to cultivating new voices, ideas,…

Arts & Culture
9
The Richard H Driehaus Museum

The driehaus museum engages and inspires the global community through exploration and ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. its permanent collection and temporary…

Arts & Culture
10
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
11
Museum of Contemporary Art

The mca is an innovative and compelling center of contemporary art where the public can directly experience the work and ideas of living artists, and understand the historical, social and cultural context of the art of our time. the museum…

Arts & Culture
12
Chicago Sculpture Exhibit

Establish public art programs

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hyde Park Art Center; the most unlike its peers is National Jewish Health. 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

20 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. 20 of the 32 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
14/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONIL HOLOCAUST MUSEUM: $161,150 · OtherIL HOLOCAUST MUSEUMMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORY PHOTOGRAPHY: $115,000 · OtherMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORY PHOTOGRAPHYFRIEDMAN PLACE: $100,000 · OtherFRIEDMAN PLACESPERTUS INSTITUTE: $62,850 · OtherCHAZEN MUSEUM OF ART: $56,000 · Other+7 more: $150,000 · Other+7 moreTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $1,350,836 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO+2 more: $53,350 · EducationHYDE PARK ART CENTER: $500,000 · Arts & CultureHYDE PARK ART CENTERChicago Humanities Festival: $140,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Humanities F…ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM: $99,750 · Arts & CultureROCKFORD ART MUSEUMELMHURST ART MUSEUM: $66,500 · Arts & CultureELMHURST ART MUSEUMChicago Children's Museum: $45,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC: $35,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $30,000 · Arts & CultureFAMILY FOCUS LEGACY: $500,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY FOCU…COUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $320,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $69,000 · PhilanthropyLINCOLN PARK CONSERVANCY: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Recreation & SportsNorthwestern University: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsYouth for A Better Future: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $1,650 · Health
Other$1,645,000Education$1,404,186Arts & Culture$916,250Human Services$500,000Philanthropy$389,000Recreation & Sports$150,000Youth Development$25,000Health$1,650

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 budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $1,350,836 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY FOCUS LEGACY: $500,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetHYDE PARK ART CENTER: $500,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $320,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetChicago Humanities Festival: $140,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetLINCOLN PARK CONSERVANCY: $100,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetROCKFORD ART MUSEUM: $99,750 over 1y, 15% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $69,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetELMHURST ART MUSEUM: $66,500 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetChicago Children's Museum: $45,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $28,350 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT EDUCATION PLUS: $25,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetYouth for A Better Future: $25,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetNorthwestern University: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $20,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCPS LIVES NFP: $10,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetPUBLIC ART FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $1,650 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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 Chicago Community…The Ruttenbergkagan F…Ncrc Community Develo…Richard and Mary L Gr…Fulk Family Foundatio…Polk Bros Foundation …Jewish Federation of …Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…
The Chicago Community TrustIL19× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · The Ruttenbergkagan Foundation · Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc · Richard and Mary L Gray Foundation · Fulk Family Foundation Inc · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 Ruttenberg Arts Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ruttenberg Arts Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Ruttenberg Arts Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Ruttenberg Arts Foundation 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.

    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 32 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Ruttenberg Arts’ 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