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The Rust Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Rust Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$255k
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$1.1MInternational$173kHealth$119kArts & Culture$107kAnimals$102kScience & Tech$86kEnvironment$47kHuman Services$43kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $245k
$10,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$5.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITA$30,000
CONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY$30,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$25,000
BLOOD CANCER UNITED$15,000
SAVE THE CHILDREN$15,000
MARCH OF DIMES$10,000
HEIFER INTERNATIONAL$10,000
SAVE THE SOUND$10,000
ASPCA$10,000
CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE$10,000
WATER FOR GOOD$10,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$10,000
WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT$10,000
TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION$10,000
HABITAT FOR HORSES$10,000
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 (FY19–25, $19k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $10k → 14%FIDELCO GUIDE DOG FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $3k → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $2k → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $2k → 11%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

AK
ME
NH
WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 67 repeat orgs$744k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

67 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 58 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

67
97

Total granted

$1.1M
$614k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+24%

Still filing today

58%
49%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $130k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationInternationalAnimalsArts & CultureHealthEnvironmentOther
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

  • CH
    CONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $46k · revenue +81%
  • NY
    New York University
    3× · 2018–2022 · $43k · revenue +59%
  • TA
    THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND
    5× · 2019–2024 · $37k · revenue +46%

Funded once

  • AS
    AMERICAN SOCIETY UN OF HAIFA
    one grant, 2024 · $16k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA RESEARCH FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +54%
  • TG
    The George Washington University
    one grant, 2020 · $14k · revenue +22%
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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
2
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
3
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
4
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
7
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
8
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
9
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
10
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Wpi transforms lives, turns knowledge into action to confront global challenges, and revolutionizes stem through distinctive and inclusive education, projects and research. (http://www.wpi.edu/about/mission.html)

—
11
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
12
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Bioregions Program Inc. 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

104 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. 104 of the 182 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
103/104
Grantees still filing
77/104
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UCLFAA INC: $38,645 · Other+100 more: $978,678 · Other+100 moreNew York University: $42,980 · EducationNew York UniversityTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $36,696 · EducationTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TUL…ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $28,860 · EducationARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUN…Vanderbilt University: $27,400 · EducationVanderbilt UniversityCornell University: $24,169 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $20,030 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $18,500 · Education+37 more: $314,451 · Education+37 moreMYRIAD USA INC: $27,700 · InternationalMYRIAD US…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $25,000 · InternationalWORLD CEN…AMERICAN SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA: $23,750 · InternationalAMERICAN …Save The Children Federation Inc: $22,000 · InternationalSave The …Mercy Ships International: $12,000 · InternationalMercy Shi…WATER FOR GOOD: $10,000 · InternationalWATER FOR…INSTITUTE FOR FIELD RESEARCH: $9,900 · InternationalINSTITUTE…FUND FOR ARMENIAN RELIEF INC: $7,110 · InternationalThe Amer Research Inst of the South Cauc: $7,000 · InternationalPOLARIS PROJECT: $6,500 · InternationalUNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN FUND INC: $5,800 · International+4 more: $15,000 · International+4 moreCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $46,000 · AnimalsTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $24,500 · AnimalsHABITAT FOR HORSES INC: $11,000 · AnimalsAMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $9,500 · AnimalsNORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA INC: $5,000 · AnimalsAmerican Bird Conservancy: $4,000 · Animals+1 more: $2,000 · AnimalsST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $30,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $25,000 · HealthMARCH OF DIMES INC: $10,000 · HealthCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS FOUNDATION: $6,500 · Health+1 more: $2,000 · HealthSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $12,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $8,370 · Arts & CultureARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: $7,285 · Arts & CultureINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MESOPOTAMIAN AREA STUDIES: $7,052 · Arts & CultureAmerican Museum of Natural History: $6,870 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $6,450 · Arts & CultureKennebunkport Conservation Trust: $13,500 · EnvironmentSAVE THE SOUND: $10,000 · EnvironmentNature Forward: $6,000 · EnvironmentAMAZON CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $4,000 · Environment
Other$1,017,323Education$513,086International$171,760Animals$102,000Health$73,500Arts & Culture$48,027Environment$33,500

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 budgetCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $46,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $42,980 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $36,696 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $33,319 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE INC: $29,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $28,860 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMYRIAD USA INC: $27,700 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetVanderbilt University: $27,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Michigan: $26,853 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $25,080 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $24,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $24,169 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA: $23,750 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $22,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $21,280 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $20,030 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $18,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: $16,990 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $15,064 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTrustees of Dartmouth College: $14,115 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $13,975 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $13,935 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $13,670 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $13,515 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKennebunkport Conservation Trust: $13,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetTHE ASSOCIATES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO INC: $12,950 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD IN AMERICA INC: $12,357 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetCAL POLY POMONA FOUNDATION INC: $12,126 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMercy Ships International: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $11,954 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION: $11,720 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPEQUOT LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $11,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetHABITAT FOR HORSES INC: $11,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetOPERATION HOPE OF FAIRFIELD INC: $10,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $10,295 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAVE THE SOUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAIRFIELD COUNTY'S COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR FIELD RESEARCH: $9,900 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $9,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $9,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $8,582 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $8,370 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Ibm International Fou…The Malcolm Hewitt Wi…The Goldman Sachs Cha…AbbVie FoundationAmerican Endowment Fo…The Bessemer Giving F…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Charities Aid Foundat…Morgan Stanley Global…California Community …Shell USA Company Fou…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…
Ibm International FoundationNY14× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ibm International Foundation · The Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · AbbVie Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Bessemer Giving Fund · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · California Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase 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 Rust Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Rust Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Save the Sound: 37% of income from government
  • Nature Forward: 32% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Operation Hope of Fairfield Inc: 15% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • University of Central Florida Research Foundation Inc: 10% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Connecticut Foodshare Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Archaeological Institute of America: 1% of income from government
  • Sacred Heart University Incorporated: 1% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Pequot Library Association: 0% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
9report 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 Rust Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Rust Family 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 182 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 Rust Family’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