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· Private foundation

The Ronne & Donald Hess Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$364k
Granted FY2024still arriving
46
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Health$696kEducation$511kPhilanthropy$375kReligion$206kArts & Culture$103kEnvironment$89kHuman Services$70kCivil Rights$36kOther$0
02FY2024 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k37 grants · $65k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $100k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $199k
$1,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$929k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BREAKTHROUGH T1D$124,502
INDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL$74,833
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION$20,000
CHABAD OF DARTMOUTH$18,210
BIRMINGHAM JEWISH FEDERATION$16,005
WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF ALABAMA$13,222
UNION FOR REFORM JUDAISM$12,726
UAB HEERSINK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE$10,166
DARTMOUTH HITCHCOCK HEALTH$10,000
GRANITE UNITED WAY$7,500
NE MILES JEWISH DAY SCHOOL$7,500
PROJECT NIGHT NIGHT$7,200
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE FUND$5,000
NEW LONDON BARN THEATER$4,000
TEMPLE EMANU-EL$3,600
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, $55k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 91% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CHRYSALIS: $1k → 11%PROJECT NIGHT NIGHT: $7k → 10%CHRYSALIS: $1k → 11%CHRYSALIS: $1k → 11%SPECIAL EQUESTRIANS: $1k → 7%SPECIAL EQUESTIANS: $1k → 7%SPECIAL EQUESTIANS: $1k → 7%SPECIAL EQUESTIANS: $1k → 7%SPECIAL EQUESTIANS: $1k → 7%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $18k → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $18k → 16%CHRYSALIS: $1k → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $250 → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $250 → 16%ALABAMA POSSIBLE: $500 → 16%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

VT
NH
MN
WI
NY
MA
NJ
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 9% of The Ronne & Donald Hess Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Ronne & Donald Hess Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
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.
$1.7M · 72 repeat orgs$267k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

72 repeat relationships: 39 still active in FY2024, 33 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

72
39

Total granted

$1.7M
$119k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+5%

Still filing today

50%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 58% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $148k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyInternationalOther
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

  • IS
    INDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $354k · revenue +201%
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $87k · revenue +193%
  • NE
    N E MILES JEWISH DAY SCHOOL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $67k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • IA
    I3 ACADEMYgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue ×81
  • RM
    RED MOUNTAIN THEATRE CO
    one grant, 2021 · $20k
  • DIRECT RELIEF
    one grant, 2022 · $12k · revenue +8%
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
Uab Educational Foundation

To support the university of alabama at birmingham in its scientific and educational mission, including managing and disbursing funds, acquiring real property, and providing operational flexibility.

Education
2
American Association for the Advancement of Science

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,…

Science & Tech
3
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
4
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
5
Board of Jewish Education Inc

The organization works to inspire and empower educators and institutions to create transformative jewish learning experiences for children, teens, and families. building on its historic role serving jewish day schools, congregations, and…

Religion
6
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…

—
7
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
8
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
9
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.

—
10
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

United way's mission is to end intergenerational poverty in our region by harnessing, leveraging and strategically investing the collective power of donors, advocates and volunteers, to help individuals and families break the cycle of…

Philanthropy
11
The Jewish Agency for Israel

The jewish agency binds jews across ideologies and civilizations together in a worldwide jewish family with israel at its center. it provides the global framework for aliyah, ensures global jewish safety, strengthens jewish identity and…

—
12
Atlanta Jewish Academy Inc

Atlanta jewish academy is a college preparatory, co-educational, preschool-12th grade, independent jewish day school, guided by modern orthodox values and principles. we embody the ideals of community, tradition, individual development and…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish of New Hampshire Inc; the most unlike its peers is Aloha Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

58 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. 58 of the 118 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)
57/58
Grantees still filing
40/58
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JDRF T1D FUND: $377,440 · OtherJDRF T1D FUNDUNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: $91,458 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAMAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION: $87,000 · OtherAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATIONCHABAD AT DARTMOUTH: $61,505 · OtherCHABAD AT DARTMOUTHTEMPLE EMANU-EL: $52,572 · OtherCHABAD OF ALABAMA: $41,650 · Other+78 more: $386,770 · Other+78 moreINDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL: $353,684 · EducationINDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOLN E MILES JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $66,546 · EducationN E MILES JEWISH DAY SC…I3 ACADEMY: $20,496 · Education+7 more: $19,300 · EducationBIRMINGHAM JEWISH FEDERATION INC: $229,031 · PhilanthropyBIRMINGHAM JEWISH…WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF ALABAMA: $59,222 · PhilanthropyWOMEN'S FOUNDATIO…UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC: $40,539 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF CEN…+4 more: $5,300 · PhilanthropyBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $124,502 · HealthBREAKTHRO…Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health: $31,250 · HealthDartmouth…UNITED ABILITY INC: $25,942 · HealthUNITED AB…Alabama Children's Hospital Foundation: $6,800 · Health+1 more: $5,000 · HealthCOLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF BIRMINGHAM: $37,024 · Human ServicesCHARITY GLOBAL INC: $8,360 · Human ServicesPROJECT NIGHT NIGHT: $7,200 · Human ServicesChrysalis Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence Inc: $5,000 · Human ServicesSpecial Equestrians Inc: $5,000 · Human Services+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesDIRECT RELIEF: $11,800 · InternationalIMPACTISRAEL INC: $10,800 · InternationalRAINFOREST TRUST: $2,000 · InternationalTHE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN JAFFA INC: $1,800 · InternationalALABAMA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTER: $12,938 · ReligionFAITH IN ACTION ALABAMA: $11,250 · Religion
Other$1,098,395Education$460,026Philanthropy$334,092Health$193,494Human Services$63,084International$26,400Religion$24,188

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 budgetINDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL: $353,684 over 5y, 5.3% of budgetBIRMINGHAM JEWISH FEDERATION INC: $229,031 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $124,502 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION: $87,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetN E MILES JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $66,546 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetWOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF ALABAMA: $59,222 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC: $40,539 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF BIRMINGHAM: $37,024 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetGRANITE UNITED WAY: $33,341 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetDartmouth-Hitchcock Health: $31,250 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED ABILITY INC: $25,942 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE: $20,298 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALABAMA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTER: $12,938 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetHISPANIC AND IMMIGRANT CENTER OF ALABAMA: $12,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $11,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAITH IN ACTION ALABAMA: $11,250 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetIMPACTISRAEL INC: $10,800 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCHARITY GLOBAL INC: $8,360 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT NIGHT NIGHT: $7,200 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH OF NEW HAMPSHIRE INC: $7,200 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAlabama Children's Hospital Foundation: $6,800 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Mike Slive Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research: $6,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetNEW LONDON BARN PLAYHOUSE INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetChrysalis Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence Inc: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSpecial Equestrians Inc: $5,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetLUPUS FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetALOHA FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC: $3,600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAILROAD PARK FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMDRC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $3,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetALABAMA HUMANITIES ALLIANCE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMOTE MARINE LABORATORY INC: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFIRST BOOK: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHIGHLANDS DAY SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $2,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRAINFOREST TRUST: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHOMEWOOD CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetALABAMA GIVING INC: $2,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetTHE ALOHA FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN AND FAMILIES: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE SOUTHERN JEWISH EXPERIENCE: $1,800 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN JAFFA INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMONTSHIRE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINTEGRITY FIRST FOR AMERICA INC: $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.

  • Who funds INDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds BIRMINGHAM JEWISH FEDERATION INC ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH T1D ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds N E MILES JEWISH DAY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF ALABAMA ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC ↗
  • Who funds COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF BIRMINGHAM ↗
  • Who funds GRANITE UNITED WAY ↗
  • Who funds Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health ↗
  • Who funds UNITED ABILITY INC ↗
  • Who funds I3 ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds ALABAMA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds HISPANIC AND IMMIGRANT CENTER OF ALABAMA ↗
  • Who funds DIRECT RELIEF ↗
  • Who funds FAITH IN ACTION ALABAMA ↗
  • Who funds IMPACTISRAEL INC ↗
  • Who funds GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds CHARITY GLOBAL INC ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT NIGHT NIGHT ↗

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.

Lisa and Alan Engel FoundationAL49.4× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lisa and Alan Engel Foundation · Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation · Protective Life Foundation · The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham · The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Hill Crest Foundation Inc · Altecstyslinger Foundation · Robert R Meyer Foundation · Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Abroms Charitable Foundation Inc · Arlington Partners Charitable 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 Ronne & Donald Hess Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ronne & Donald Hess Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Montshire Museum of Science Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Mote Marine Laboratory Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Ronne & Donald Hess Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Ronne & Donald Hess 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 118 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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