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The Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales 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.

$132M
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$123M
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 2025.

Education$170MCivil Rights$28MHuman Services$14MHealth$980kReligion$320kInternational$310kPhilanthropy$130kArts & Culture$123kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $85k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $525k
  • $250k+5 grants · $131M
$150,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$53M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY$122,714,163
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE$2,525,000
RUTH AND NORMAN RALES JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES INC$2,500,000
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC$2,000,000
SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC$1,440,000
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$160,000
RON BROWN SCHOLAR FUND$150,000
CONQUER CANCER FDN OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY$115,000
CONGREGATION BETH EL OF MONTGOMERY$100,000
FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES INC$25,000
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL$25,000
CHABAD AT DUKE UG INC$25,000
ST BARTHOLOMEW CATHOLIC CHURCH$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 (FY20–24, $86k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 12% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%JOAN ROSE FOUNDATION: $10k → 8%OZONE HOUSE INC: $10k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $25k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $25k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $15k → 6%JEWISH SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY: $1k → 8%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
PA
CA
VA
MD
KS
NC
SC
DC
FL
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$183M · 21 repeat orgs$30M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

21 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
29

Total granted

$183M
$27M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+14%

Still filing today

90%
79%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.7M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthHuman ServicesCivil RightsArts & CultureFood & NutritionOther
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

  • CM
    Carnegie Mellon University
    2× · 2024–2025 · $125M · revenue +25%
  • SA
    SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $22M · revenue +113%
  • RN
    RUTH & NORMAN RALES JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $12M · revenue +74%

Funded once

  • FT
    FOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC
    one grant, 2024 · $25M · revenue 0%
  • JH
    JOHNS HOPKINS CHILDREN'S CENTER
    one grant, 2020 · $1.1M
  • ROCKETSHIP EDUCATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $261k · revenue +60%
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
Charles E Smith Jewish Day School of Greater Washington Inc

Cesjds is a pre k-12 grade independent day school that delivers an exemplary general and jewish education. our purpose is to ensure a vibrant jewish future by fostering the growth of confident, compassionate thinkers who engage the world…

Education
2
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
3
Dc Bilingual Public Charter School

The mission of dc bilingual public charter school is to create a learning community that ensures high academic achievement for all students in both spanish and english, develops leadership, and values all cultures.

Education
4
The Seed Public Charter School of Washington Dc

The seed public charter school of washington, dc is a public college-preparatory boarding school whose primary mission is to provide an outstanding intensive educational program that prepares children, both academically and socially, for…

Education
5
National Association of Independent Schools Inc

As the largest association of independent schools, nais co-creates the future of education by uniting and empowering our community. we do this through thought leadership, research, creation and curation of resources, and direct…

—
6
National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships Inc

Advancing a national community to foster equity in dual and concurrent enrollment through accreditation, advocacy, research, and professional development.

Education
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
8
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
10
Meridian International Center

Meridian international center is a nonpartisan diplomacy institution founded in 1960 to advance american leadership. headquartered on a historic campus in washington dc, our mission is to empower leaders to advance the next era of…

International
11
Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy

To prepare students to succeed in competitive colleges and to empower them to use public policy to create a more just, free, and equal world.

Education
12
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Success Academy Charter Schools Inc; the most unlike its peers is Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism Inc. 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

46 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. 46 of the 55 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
33/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Carnegie Mellon University: $124,734,951 · OtherCarnegie Mellon University+23 more: $1,763,988 · OtherSUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $21,790,000 · EducationSUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER…Montgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation Inc: $8,281,250 · EducationMontgomery County Publi…KIPP FOUNDATION: $6,000,000 · EducationKIPP FOUNDATIONRon Brown Scholar Fund: $4,457,500 · EducationRon Brown Scholar FundKIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS: $1,572,355 · Education+10 more: $2,999,629 · Education+10 moreFOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC: $25,000,000 · Civil RightsFOUNDATION TO …ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $2,525,000 · Civil RightsANTI-DEFAMATIO…+2 more: $50,000 · Civil RightsRUTH & NORMAN RALES JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $12,460,811 · HealthCONQUER CANCER FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY: $690,000 · Health+4 more: $290,000 · HealthJEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL - NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL: $250,000 · InternationalFoundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $25,000 · InternationalThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $100,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM: $74,332 · Arts & CultureCITYDANCE ENSEMBLE INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureTHE JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $130,000 · Philanthropy
Other$126,498,939Education$45,100,734Civil Rights$27,575,000Health$13,440,811International$275,000Arts & Culture$184,332Philanthropy$130,000

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 budgetCarnegie Mellon University: $124,734,951 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetFOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC: $25,000,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetSUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $21,790,000 over 6y, 5.2% of budgetRUTH & NORMAN RALES JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES INC: $12,460,811 over 6y, 15% of budgetMontgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation Inc: $8,281,250 over 5y, 60% of budgetKIPP FOUNDATION: $6,000,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetRon Brown Scholar Fund: $4,457,500 over 6y, 34% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $2,525,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetKIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS: $1,572,355 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetDC PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $715,193 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCONQUER CANCER FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY: $690,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $531,370 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetINGENUITY PREP: $521,414 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetCORPORATION OF THE WASHINGTON LATIN SCHOOL: $286,588 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetRELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION: $282,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetROCKETSHIP EDUCATION: $260,639 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL: $250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL - NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL: $250,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS: $200,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetDistrict of Columbia International School: $142,425 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $130,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetDC ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $119,488 over 1y, 15% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $100,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM: $74,332 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $65,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMANNA FOOD CENTER INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEDUCATION REFORM NOW INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetOCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN IN DISTRESS OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOMFIELD-GARFIELD CORPORATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMBAT HATE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetMEDSTAR HEALTH INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENTS OF MAJOR AMERICAN JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPROJECT HEALING WATERS FLY FISHING INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOZONE HOUSE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCITYDANCE ENSEMBLE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF GREENVILLE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER WASHINGTON AND AFFILIATE: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFREDERICK DOUGLASS PROJECT FOR JUSTICE: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTFK Chicago Voyagers: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY: $1,000 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.

Education Forward DCThe Jewish Federation…Greater Washington Co…Citybridge Foundation50can IncThe Morris and Gwendo…City FundCharter Fund Inc D/B/…RFI Foundation IncBender Foundation IncClark Charitable Foun…The Carl M Freeman Fo…
Education Forward DCDC24.1× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Education Forward DC · The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington Inc · Greater Washington Community Foundation · Citybridge Foundation · 50can Inc · The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation · City Fund · Charter Fund Inc D/B/A Charter School Growth Fund · RFI Foundation Inc · Bender Foundation Inc · Clark Charitable Foundation Inc Dba a James & Alice B Clark Foundation · The Carl M Freeman Foundation Inc

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 The Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Inc: 46% of income from government
  • Medstar Health Inc: 23% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Manna Food Center Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Jewish Social Service Agency: 1% of income from government
  • The Johns Hopkins Hospital: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 The Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales 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 55 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Norman R Rales and Ruth Rales’ 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