California · Private foundation
The Ray Charles Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $1.6M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 10
- Grants FY2024
- 11
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 45%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $20,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $1,000,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 2 to 12
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 7
- Total assets, FY2024
- $39M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 45% of the organizations The Ray Charles Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 48% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 10 | $1.6M | 30% |
| FY2023 | 11 | $3.0M | 45% |
| FY2022 | 8 | $120k | 50% |
| FY2021 | 8 | $1.1M | 38% |
| FY2020 | 9 | $2.1M | 67% |
| FY2019 | 12 | $1.3M | 83% |
| FY2018 | 2 | $38k | 100% |
| FY2017 | 3 | $2.1M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morehouse College | $3,025,000 | 2 | 1% |
| Grammy Museum Foundation Inc | $2,000,000 | 2 | 7% |
| Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | $2,000,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Dillard University | $1,025,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Yes2jobs | $550,000 | 2 | 93% |
| New Village Arts Inc | $250,000 | 1 | 15% |
| Community Partners | $150,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Art Center College of Design | $142,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Educating Young Minds | $120,058 | 1 | n/a |
| The Blind Childrens Center Inc | $100,000 | 1 | 3% |
Show all 27 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morehouse College | $3,025,000 | 2 | 1% |
| Grammy Museum Foundation Inc | $2,000,000 | 2 | 7% |
| Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | $2,000,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Dillard University | $1,025,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Yes2jobs | $550,000 | 2 | 93% |
| New Village Arts Inc | $250,000 | 1 | 15% |
| Community Partners | $150,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Art Center College of Design | $142,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Educating Young Minds | $120,058 | 1 | n/a |
| The Blind Childrens Center Inc | $100,000 | 1 | 3% |
| Triumph Foundation | $75,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Jackie Robinson Foundation Inc | $75,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Reid Temple Ame Church | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| School on Wheels Inc | $37,500 | 2 | n/a |
| Role Models For The Future Foundation | $28,000 | 2 | 10% |
| Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery | $25,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Martin University | $25,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Southern Poverty Law Center Inc | $25,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Boule Foundation | $15,000 | 1 | 0% |
| The Howard University | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Los Angeles Urban League | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Children's Defense Fund | $10,000 | 2 | 0% |
| River Front Development Corp | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Power Access Inc | $5,000 | 1 | 2% |
| LeMoyne-Owen College | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Fulcrum Arts | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Wellspring | $5,000 | 1 | 1% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 9 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.6M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Ray Charles Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 23 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: California Community Foundation · Sempra Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Ray Charles Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Ray Charles 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.
About The Ray Charles Foundation
- How much does The Ray Charles Foundation give?
- The Ray Charles Foundation reported 10 grants totaling $1,612,500 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 12 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does The Ray Charles Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (41%), Health (27%), Arts & Culture (20%).
- Who are The Ray Charles Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Morehouse College ($3.0M), Grammy Museum Foundation Inc ($2.0M), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ($2.0M).
- Does The Ray Charles Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 45% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Ray Charles Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Ray Charles Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include California Community Foundation, Sempra Foundation, Charities Aid Foundation America.
- Where is The Ray Charles Foundation based?
- The Ray Charles Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on Ray Charles’ filings →