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The Ra Bowen Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ra Bowen Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$421k
Granted FY2025still arriving
67
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$31k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$1.2MArts & Culture$211kHuman Services$124kHealth$122kFood & Nutrition$108kEmployment$99kScience & Tech$53kYouth Development$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 67 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k54 grants · $174k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $248k
$2,500
Median grant
8
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MERCER UNIVERSITY$31,250
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA$30,000
STRATFORD ACADEMY$30,000
WESLEYAN COLLEGE$29,750
WESLEYAN COLLEGE$28,750
GOODWILL WORKS FOUNDATION$18,000
GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY$15,000
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH GEORGIA$12,500
SAMFORD UNIVERSITY$12,500
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE OF CENTRAL GA$10,000
MACON LITTLE THEATRE$10,000
MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA$10,000
MUSEUM OF ARTS & SCIENCES$10,000
GEORGIA COLLEGE & STATE UNIVERSITY$8,750
CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL$8,500
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 (FY20–25, $115k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 33% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%GEORGIA SHERIFFS YOUTH HOME INC: $1k → 11%GEORGIA SHERIFFS YOUTH HOME INC: $1k → 11%GEORGIA SHERIFFS YOUTH HOME INC: $500 → 8%GEORGIA SHERIFFS YOUTH HOME INC: $1k → 11%MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA: $17k → 12%MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA: $15k → 12%MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA: $13k → 12%MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA: $13k → 12%MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA: $10k → 12%MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GA: $8k → 12%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $5k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $5k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $5k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $5k → 23%MEALS ON WHEELS: $9k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $5k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $4k → 23%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

NH
IL
NY
MA
IA
VA
TN
NC
SC
DC
AL
GA
TX
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.1M · 76 repeat orgs$48k to everyone else

76 repeat relationships: 60 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

76
20

Total granted

$2.1M
$36k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+37%

Still filing today

47%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $12k 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 ServicesArts & CultureRecreation & SportsEmploymentOther
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

  • TC
    THE CORPORATION OF MERCER UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $259k · revenue +19%
  • WC
    WESLEYAN COLLEGE
    6× · 2020–2025 · $227k · revenue +30%
  • SA
    STRATFORD ACADEMY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $107k · revenue +17%

Funded once

  • GI
    GOODWILL INDUSTRIES
    one grant, 2021 · $6k
  • RC
    ROTARY CLUB OF MACON NORTH INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $3k · revenue +102%
  • CG
    CENTRAL GA GSA
    one grant, 2022 · $3k
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
Coker University

Coker university is a student-centered, comprehensive university. it is dedicated to providing every student an academic curriculum based upon a uniformly excellent liberal arts core that enhances the structured development of key personal…

Education
2
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
3
Greenville College

Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.

Education
4
Marietta College

Marietta college (mc) provides a strong foundation for a lifetime of leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving. we achieve this mission by offering undergraduates a contemporary liberal arts education and graduate students an…

Education
5
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
6
Columbia College

Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.

Education
7
LaGrange College

Education - lagrange college challenges the minds and inspires the souls of its students. founded in 1831 and committed to its relationship with the united methodist church and its wesleyan and liberal arts traditions, the college supports…

Education
8
North Greenville University

North greenville university exists to glorify god by cultivating graduates who are equipped to serve as transformational leaders for church and society.

Education
9
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
10
University of the South

The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to the development of the whole person through a liberal arts education of the highest quality. The School of Theology educates women and men to serve the broad whole of the Episcopal Church in…

Education
11
Greensboro College

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Education
12
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Georgia Tech Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Md Anderson Foundation. 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

52 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. 52 of the 102 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/52
Grantees still filing
37/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: $147,250 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF GEORGIAMACON LITTLE THEATRE: $60,000 · OtherMACON LITTLE THEATREGEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY: $57,500 · OtherGEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITYGEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $52,750 · OtherGEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE OF CENTRAL GA: $50,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF NORTH GEORGIA: $46,000 · OtherGEORGIA COLLEGE & STATE UNIVERSITY: $42,250 · OtherMIDDLE GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: $41,000 · OtherCAMPUS CLUBS OF MACON: $32,500 · Other+56 more: $434,250 · Other+56 moreTHE CORPORATION OF MERCER UNIVERSITY: $258,750 · EducationTHE CORPORATION OF MERCER UNIVERSITYWESLEYAN COLLEGE: $227,250 · EducationWESLEYAN COLLEGESTRATFORD ACADEMY INC: $107,250 · EducationSTRATFORD ACADEMY INCSamford University: $59,750 · EducationSamford University+17 more: $67,500 · Education+17 moreMEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC: $82,500 · Human ServicesRESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC: $29,000 · Human Services+1 more: $3,500 · Human ServicesNAVICENT HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $42,500 · HealthMACON VOLUNTEER CLINIC INC: $17,500 · HealthJAY'S HOPE FOUNDATION: $15,000 · HealthUNITED IN PINK INC: $11,500 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $7,500 · HealthCRISIS LINE & SAFE HOUSE OF CENTRAL GEORGIA INC: $6,000 · HealthSHEPHERD CENTER INC: $6,000 · Health+1 more: $1,500 · HealthGOODWILL WORKS FOUNDATION INC: $93,000 · EmploymentMUSEUM OF ARTS & SCIENCES INC: $80,000 · Arts & CultureOTIS REDDING FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureMacon Georgia Cherry Blossom Festival: $40,000 · Recreation & SportsOCMULGEE NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE INITIATIVE INC: $7,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$963,500Education$720,500Human Services$115,000Health$107,500Employment$93,000Arts & Culture$85,000Recreation & Sports$47,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE CORPORATION OF MERCER UNIVERSITY: $258,750 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWESLEYAN COLLEGE: $227,250 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetSTRATFORD ACADEMY INC: $107,250 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetGOODWILL WORKS FOUNDATION INC: $93,000 over 5y, 3.1% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC: $82,500 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF ARTS & SCIENCES INC: $80,000 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetSamford University: $59,750 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNAVICENT HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $42,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMacon Georgia Cherry Blossom Festival: $40,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetRESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC: $29,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMIDDLE GEORGIA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $25,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetFORT VALLEY STATE COLLEGE NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC: $18,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF CENTRAL GEORGIA INC: $17,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMIDDLE GEORGIA ART ASSOCIATION INC: $17,500 over 6y, 5.3% of budgetMACON VOLUNTEER CLINIC INC: $17,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetJAY'S HOPE FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetBENEDICT COLLEGE: $11,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED IN PINK INC: $11,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetBERRY COLLEGE INC: $11,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMOREHOUSE COLLEGE: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetElon University: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOCMULGEE NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE INITIATIVE INC: $7,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetPIEDMONT UNIVERSITY INC: $6,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCRISIS LINE & SAFE HOUSE OF CENTRAL GEORGIA INC: $6,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSHEPHERD CENTER INC: $6,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetOTIS REDDING FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPENDLETON HISTORIC FOUNDATION: $4,500 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetOCMULGEE MOUNDS ASSOCIATION INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetWOFFORD COLLEGE: $3,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA SHERIFFS' YOUTH HOMES INC: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 96 CENTRAL GA COUNCIL: $3,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetHUNTINGDON COLLEGE: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIPTAY: $3,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMD Anderson Foundation: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetROTARY CLUB OF MACON NORTH INC: $2,500 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetCOVENANT COLLEGE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEE UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHORTER UNIVERSITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTuskegee University: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOINT UNIVERSITY INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWilliams College: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA SHERIFFS' ASSOCIATION INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: $1,250 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.

  • Who funds THE CORPORATION OF MERCER UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds WESLEYAN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds STRATFORD ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds GOODWILL WORKS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MEALS ON WHEELS OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF ARTS & SCIENCES INC ↗
  • Who funds Samford University ↗
  • Who funds NAVICENT HEALTH FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Macon Georgia Cherry Blossom Festival ↗
  • Who funds RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC ↗
  • Who funds MIDDLE GEORGIA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds FORT VALLEY STATE COLLEGE NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF CENTRAL GEORGIA INC ↗
  • Who funds MIDDLE GEORGIA ART ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MACON VOLUNTEER CLINIC INC ↗
  • Who funds JAY'S HOPE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BENEDICT COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds UNITED IN PINK INC ↗
  • Who funds BERRY COLLEGE INC ↗
  • Who funds MOREHOUSE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Elon University ↗

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.

Georgia Power Foundat…Griffith Family Found…The Peyton Anderson F…John S and James L Kn…Robins Financial Cred…WL Amos Sr Foundation…Ej Grassmann TrustMartin Foundation IncNavicent Health Found…Ia Ga Pine Level Fdn …The Thomas C Burke Fo…James Hyde Porter Tes…
Georgia Power Foundation IncGA37.4× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Georgia Power Foundation Inc · Griffith Family Foundation Inc · The Peyton Anderson Foundation · John S and James L Knight Foundation · Robins Financial Credit Union · WL Amos Sr Foundation Inc co William L Amos III · Ej Grassmann Trust · Martin Foundation Inc · Navicent Health Foundation Inc · Ia Ga Pine Level Fdn Non-Direct · The Thomas C Burke Foundation · James Hyde Porter Testamentary Trust

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 Ra Bowen Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ra Bowen Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Williams College: 0% of income from government
  • Ave Maria University Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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.

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 102 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 Ra Bowen’s 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