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The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao 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.

$65k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Education$714kInternational$390kScience & Tech$350kArts & Culture$307kReligion$250kHealth$95kPublic Benefit$90k
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $15k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$50,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$42k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION$50,000
SERICA INITIATIVE INC$15,000
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.

US giving: 68% of grant dollars ($1.5M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 32% that went abroad ($700k) is mapped below.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–20, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%THE AFYA FOUNDATION: $20k → 9%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.

Beyond the US: 32% of all-years giving ($700k)

2 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Taiwan$680k · 2 grants
China$20k · 1 grant
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
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 40% of The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 33% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 17%.

The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 61% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

46%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$845k · 4 repeat orgs$1.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +55% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
12

Total granted

$845k
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+55%
+17%

Still filing today

75%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’25
EducationHealthPublic BenefitHuman ServicesPhilanthropyInternationalOther
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

  • IL
    INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2025 · $90k · revenue +55%
  • TH
    The Hospital for Special Surgery Fund Inc
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +14%
  • SI
    SERICA INITIATIVE INC
    2× · 2021–2025 · $25k · revenue +279%

Funded once

  • SU
    STUF UNITED FUND INC
    one grant, 2022 · $320k · revenue +17% · 35% of their budget
  • CI
    CTUAFA INC
    one grant, 2023 · $250k
  • RD
    REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF NEWTOWN
    one grant, 2018 · $250k
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
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
2
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
3
Harvard Club of Washington Dc

To inform and enrich the intellectual lives of 20,000 alumni of harvard university in the washington, dc area and to assist harvard university with respect to applicants and undergraduates from the dc area.

Education
4
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.

—
5
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
6
University of Hartford

Dedicated to learning, personal growth, knowledge creation, and the betterment of society. the university engages students in aquiring the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to thrive in and contribute to a pluralistic, complex world.

Education
7
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
8
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
9
Manhattanville University

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

Education
10
Boston Architectural College

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

—
11
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
12
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

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

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Scholarship America Inc; the most unlike its peers is Harvardwood. 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

12 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. 12 of the 17 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
8/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL TAIWAN OCEAN UNIVERSITY: $680,000 · OtherNATIONAL TAIWAN OCEAN UNIVERSITYCTUAFA INC: $250,000 · OtherCTUAFA INCREFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF NEWTOWN: $250,000 · OtherREFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF NEWTOWN+2 more: $40,000 · OtherPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $350,000 · EducationPresident and Fellow…SUNY MARITIME FOUNDATION INC: $21,000 · Education+3 more: $24,500 · Education+3 moreSTUF UNITED FUND INC: $320,000 · PhilanthropySTUF UNITED FUND…INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $90,000 · Public BenefitThe Hospital for Special Surgery Fund Inc: $50,000 · HealthNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $25,000 · HealthCARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: $50,000 · InternationalSERICA INITIATIVE INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureTHE AFYA FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $19,500 · Human Services
Other$1,220,000Education$395,500Philanthropy$320,000Public Benefit$90,000Health$75,000International$50,000Arts & Culture$25,000Human Services$19,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $350,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTUF UNITED FUND INC: $320,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetINTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetCARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Hospital for Special Surgery Fund Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSERICA INITIATIVE INC: $25,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetSUNY MARITIME FOUNDATION INC: $21,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE AFYA FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $19,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHarvardwood: $12,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetWILSON COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSCHOLARSHIP AMERICA INC: $2,500 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.

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.

American Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
American Endowment FoundationOH10.1× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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.

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 17 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

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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