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The Ross Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ross Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$748k
Granted FY2024still arriving
27
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$352k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$3.6MAnimals$913kEnvironment$793kRecreation & Sports$172kFood & Nutrition$145kHealth$135kArts & Culture$82kHuman Services$64kOther$0
02FY2024 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k17 grants · $37k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $206k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $153k
  • $250k+1 grant · $352k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$112M
Total assets

Largely a single collection: about 97% of reported assets are Timber Land Held For Exempt Purposes.

Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Arkadelphia Promise Foundation$351,684
Arkansas Game & Fish Foundation$153,209
Arkansas Forestry Assoc Education Foundation$46,606
The Nature Conservancy$46,606
Individual grant recipient$33,750
Ouachita Baptist University$28,600
Dawson Education Cooperative$15,000
Arkansas Foodbank Network$15,000
Arkadelphia Public Schools$10,000
Ouachita Baptist University$10,000
University of Arkansas Foundation Inc$5,000
The CALL of Clark County$5,000
Arkadelphia Public Schools$5,000
Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services$5,000
CASA of Clark and Pike Counties$4,200
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 (FY17–24, $56k) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services: $6k → 17%Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services: $5k → 17%Group Living Inc: $17k → 20%Community Family Enrichment Center: $5k → 20%Group Living Inc: $2k → 20%Arkansas Hospices Inc: $10k → 17%The CALL: $2k → 20%Group Living Inc: $2k → 20%Group Living Inc: $1k → 20%Group Living Inc: $1k → 20%Group Living Inc: $1k → 20%The CALL: $1k → 20%Group Living Inc: $1k → 20%Group Living Inc: $1k → 20%Community Family Enrichment Center: $500 → 20%CASA of Clark County: $500 → 20%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.
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 7% of The Ross Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in AR; by stated purpose, 97%.

The Ross 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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.5M · 45 repeat orgs$170k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

45 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

45
35

Total granted

$5.5M
$159k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
+1%

Still filing today

42%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureAnimalsFood & 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

  • AP
    ARKADELPHIA PROMISE FOUNDATION INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.2M · revenue +12% · 77% of their budget
  • AG
    ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $560k · revenue +64%
  • AF
    ARKANSAS FOODBANK
    8× · 2017–2024 · $122k · revenue +106%

Funded once

  • CO
    CHOOSE OUTDOORS INC
    one grant, 2021 · $30k · revenue -95%
  • PD
    Percy Donna Malone Child Safety Cnt
    one grant, 2020 · $15k
  • TA
    THE ARKANSAS REGIONAL INNOVATION HUB INC
    one grant, 2020 · $14k · revenue -26%
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
Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation
Education
2
Arkansas Education Association

Advocate for educational professionals and unite our members and the state to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.

Education
3
Arkansas Land & Farm Development Corporation

The organization provides training and service assistance to farm development, community education programs, land retention, program management, housing, rural and community development

Food & Nutrition
4
Arkansas Nonprofit News Network

Producing journalism that matters to Arkansans.

Arts & Culture
5
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Advocating for the development and implementation of data-driven public policy that improves child well-being in arkansas, with a focus on economic security, education, health, early childhood, child welfare, juvenile justice, and racial…

Human Services
6
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc

To promote excellence in health care through evaluation and education

Health
7
Arkansas Construction Education Foundation

Provide educational programs for construction industries.

Education
8
Opportunity Arkansas Foundation

Renewing the land of opportunity by simplifying government and solving generational problems for the next generation.

Philanthropy
9
The Arkansas Center for Independence

Habilitation and residential services for adults with developmental disabilities

Human Services
10
Arkansas Farm Bureau Foundation

Arkansas farm bureau foundation (the "foundation") is organized for charitable and educational purposes to further the understanding of agricultural and rural issues, and to support the agricultural and rural community through financial…

Food & Nutrition
11
Arkansas Farm Bureau Scholarship Foundation
Philanthropy
12
Arkansas Bankers Association Foundation
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Arkansas Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center Inc. 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

33 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. 33 of the 86 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/33
Grantees still filing
23/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ARKADELPHIA PROMISE FOUNDATION INC: $3,166,383 · EducationARKADELPHIA PROMISE FOUNDATION INCOUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY: $121,150 · Education+3 more: $26,500 · EducationArkansas Game Fish Foundation: $462,198 · OtherArkansas Game Fish FoundationTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $338,340 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYIndividual grant recipient: $182,747 · OtherIndividual grant recipientArkansas Forestry Assoc Education F: $153,262 · OtherArkansas Forestry Assoc Educatio…Arkadelphia Public Schools: $101,500 · OtherArkadelphia Public SchoolsDawson Educational Cooperative: $76,309 · Other+59 more: $444,193 · Other+59 moreARKANSAS GAME AND FISH FOUNDATION: $559,598 · AnimalsARKANSAS G…+2 more: $13,700 · AnimalsARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $170,078 · Environment+1 more: $2,000 · EnvironmentARKANSAS FOODBANK: $122,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more: $500 · Food & NutritionGROUP LIVING INC: $25,705 · Human ServicesVERA LLOYD PRESBYTERIAN FAMILY SERVICES INC: $11,000 · Human ServicesARKANSAS HOSPICE INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY FAMILY ENRICHMENT CENTER: $5,500 · Human ServicesTHE CALL: $3,500 · Human Services+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesBaptist Health Foundation Inc: $30,000 · HealthARKANSAS CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $10,500 · HealthARKANSAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $4,971 · Health
Education$3,314,033Other$1,758,549Animals$573,298Environment$172,078Food & Nutrition$122,500Human Services$56,205Health$45,471

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 budgetARKADELPHIA PROMISE FOUNDATION INC: $3,166,383 over 8y, 77% of budgetARKANSAS GAME AND FISH FOUNDATION: $559,598 over 4y, 6.9% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $338,340 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $170,078 over 4y, 24% of budgetARKANSAS FOODBANK: $122,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetOUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY: $121,150 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBaptist Health Foundation Inc: $30,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetCHOOSE OUTDOORS INC: $30,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetARKANSAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $28,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHot Springs Documentary Film Institute: $26,500 over 8y, 1.6% of budgetGROUP LIVING INC: $25,705 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetARKANSAS HUNTERS FEEDING THE HUNGRY INC: $15,500 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ARKANSAS REGIONAL INNOVATION HUB INC: $14,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetPERCY AND DONNA MALONE CHILD SAFETY CENTER INC: $11,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetVERA LLOYD PRESBYTERIAN FAMILY SERVICES INC: $11,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetARKANSAS CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARKANSAS HOSPICE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetArkansas FIRST Incorporated: $10,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetARKADELPHIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $9,000 over 4y, 75% of budgetMID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM: $7,250 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNATURAL STATE COUNCIL: $7,147 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FAMILY ENRICHMENT CENTER: $5,500 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetARKANSAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $4,971 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF DISCOVERY: $4,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CALL: $3,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF CLARK COUNTY: $2,700 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ARKANSAS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetOrgaization for Youth in Agriculture: $1,500 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetCASA OF CLARK COUNTY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetARKANSAS ASSOCIATION OF: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOUACHITA CHILDREN YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRAL ARKANSAS DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $131 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 ARKADELPHIA PROMISE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS FORESTRY ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS FOODBANK ↗
  • Who funds OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Baptist Health Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds CHOOSE OUTDOORS INC ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute ↗
  • Who funds GROUP LIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS HUNTERS FEEDING THE HUNGRY INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ARKANSAS REGIONAL INNOVATION HUB INC ↗
  • Who funds PERCY AND DONNA MALONE CHILD SAFETY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds VERA LLOYD PRESBYTERIAN FAMILY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ARKANSAS HOSPICE INC ↗
  • Who funds Arkansas FIRST Incorporated ↗
  • Who funds ARKADELPHIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL STATE COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FAMILY ENRICHMENT CENTER ↗

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.

Arkansas Community Fo…C Louis and Mary C Ca…Arvest FoundationRoy & Christine Sturg…George H Dunklin Jr C…Riggs Benevolent FundRoy and Christine Stu…The Coulson FoundationWindgate Charitable F…Entergy Charitable Fo…Morris Foundation IncMunro Foundation
Arkansas Community Foundation IncAR40.2× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arkansas Community Foundation Inc · C Louis and Mary C Cabe Foundation · Arvest Foundation · Roy & Christine Sturgis Charitable & Educational Trust · George H Dunklin Jr Charitable Foundation · Riggs Benevolent Fund · Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable And · The Coulson Foundation · Windgate Charitable Foundation Inc · Entergy Charitable Foundation · Morris Foundation Inc · Munro Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report 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 Ross Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Ross 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 86 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

    Play a game based on Ross’ 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