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The Ruckus Society at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Ruckus Society

To provide environmental, human rights, and social justice organizers with the tools, training, and support needed to achieve their goals through the strategic use of creative, nonviolent direct action.

$200k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$200k
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.

Civil Rights$2.2MFood & Nutrition$375kHuman Services$260kEnvironment$200kReligion$200kCommunity Improvement$91kHealth$80kCrime & Legal$75k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$200,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Center for Third World Org$200,000
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 (FY20–21, $240k) land where the poverty rate runs at 26%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Natures Garden for Victory: $100k → 32%Clinton CommunityChristian Co: $65k → 23%Operation Restoration: $75k → 19%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
IL
SD
CA
MD
TN
NC
MS
AL
GA
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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 3 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +125% since the first grant, against +39% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
13

Total granted

$1.6M
$1.9M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+125%
+39%

Still filing today

67%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’20’21’24
EnvironmentHuman ServicesInternationalFood & NutritionCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • Center for Third World Organizing
    2× · 2021–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +125%
  • SC
    SOUTHERN CONSERVATION PARTNERS INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $100k · revenue +83%
  • TC
    THE COME UP PROJECT
    2× · 2020–2021 · $80k

Funded once

  • HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC
    one grant, 2021 · $832k · revenue -30%
  • SL
    SoulShifting LLC
    one grant, 2020 · $200k
  • TF
    TKO Farming LLC
    one grant, 2020 · $155k
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
Community Organization for Resource Equity
—
2
Nature for Justice

To empower frontline communities to lead nature-based solutions that advance climate justice, ecosystem restoration, and resilient livelihoods through connecting locally-led initiatives to funding, markets, and technical support.

Environment
3
Southeast Tn Rc&D Council

Plan and develop resource conservation and development programs

Environment
4
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
5
Community Agroecology Network

Community Agroecology Network's (CAN) mission is to develop a network comprised of rural communities in Latin America and U.S. consumers that work together to support self-sufficiency and sustainable farming practices.

Community Improvement
6
Regrow Inc

To restore the environment and the economy.

Community Improvement
7
Curry Watersheds Nonprofit

Protect and enhance watersheds

Environment
8
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
9
The Farm Collaborative

Growing a local food system where the health of people and planet come first

Education
10
Bountiful Cities Project

Bountiful Cities is the urban agriculture resource in Asheville. We share and support agriculture resources and skills centered in equity, inclusion and economic viability. Bountiful Cities works collaboratively investing in re-development…

Environment
11
Hometown Organizing Project

Promoting inclusive and sustainable rural communities in Alabama through grassroots organizing, leadership development, and civic engagement.

Community Improvement
12
Revive the Roots

Revive The Roots cultivates an inclusive environment free of judgment and biases where people and the environment thrive through sustainable practices, community building, and education

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Operation Restoration; the most unlike its peers is Center for Third World Organizing. 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

9 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. 9 of the 16 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)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Center for Third World Organizing: $1,400,500 · InternationalCenter for Third World OrganizingHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $831,729 · EnvironmentHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION C…BLACK OAKS CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE RENEWABLE LIVING: $100,000 · EnvironmentBLACK OAKS CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE…SOUTHERN CONSERVATION PARTNERS INC: $100,000 · EnvironmentSOUTHERN CONSERVATION PARTNERS IN…SoulShifting LLC: $200,000 · OtherSoulShifting LLCTKO Farming LLC: $155,000 · OtherTKO Farming LLCFoxfire Ranch LLC: $95,000 · OtherFoxfire Ranch LLCTHE COME UP PROJECT: $80,000 · OtherTHE COME UP PROJECTBLACK CHURCH FOOD SECURITY NETWORK: $50,000 · OtherBLACK CHURCH FOOD SE…Yisrael Family Urban Farm: $50,000 · OtherYisrael Family Urban…+1 more: $20,000 · OtherNATURES GARDEN FOR VICTORY AND PEACE INC: $100,000 · Human ServicesOPERATION RESTORATION: $75,000 · Human ServicesCLINTON COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CORP: $65,000 · Human ServicesOperation Spring Plant: $100,000 · Food & NutritionTHUNDER VALLEY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COR: $91,176 · Community Improvement
International$1,400,500Environment$1,031,729Other$650,000Human Services$240,000Food & Nutrition$100,000Community Improvement$91,176

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCenter for Third World Organizing: $1,400,500 over 2y, 22% of budgetHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $831,729 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetBLACK OAKS CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE RENEWABLE LIVING: $100,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetNATURES GARDEN FOR VICTORY AND PEACE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 78% of budgetSOUTHERN CONSERVATION PARTNERS INC: $100,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetOperation Spring Plant: $100,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetTHUNDER VALLEY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COR: $91,176 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetOPERATION RESTORATION: $75,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCLINTON COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CORP: $65,000 over 1y, 4.3% 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.

Center for Third Worl…The Praxis Project IncImpactassetsincMovement Strategy Cen…Common Counsel Founda…Rsf Social Finance IncAmalgamated Charitabl…Robert Rauschenberg F…Tides FoundationFidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Center for Third World OrganizingCA22.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Center for Third World Organizing · The Praxis Project Inc · Impactassetsinc · Movement Strategy Center · Common Counsel Foundation · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Robert Rauschenberg Foundation · Tides Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Ruckus Society funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ruckus Society. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24
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
    2report 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, FY20–24
    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 Ruckus Society?

    Find your warmest path to The Ruckus Society 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 16 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 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 Ruckus Society’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