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· Private foundation

The Ruttenbergkagan 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.

$327k
Granted FY2025still arriving
74
Grants FY2025still arriving
12
States reached
$70k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0197% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2025.

Philanthropy$586kInternational$137kArts & Culture$135kEducation$96kCivil Rights$89kYouth Development$78kHealth$74kRecreation & Sports$46kOther$0
02FY2025 · 74 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k65 grants · $161k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $97k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $70k
$2,250
Median grant
12
States reached
$4.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METRO CHICAGO$69,500
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE$20,000
ACCESS COMMUNITY HEALTH NETWORK$15,000
WTTW JEWISH HERITAGE PROGRAMMING$12,000
FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES$10,000
CHICAGO'S WOMENS HEALTH CENTER$10,000
CHICAGO CRED$10,000
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY$10,000
YOUTH FOR A BETTER FUTURE$10,000
TEMPLE SHALOM$9,350
Individual grant recipient$7,500
PROJECT EDUCATION PLUS$6,000
CHICAGO GAY MEN'S CHORUS$6,000
INVEST FOR KIDS$5,000
YOUTH GUIDANCE$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 91% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%INVEST FOR KIDS: $5k → 9%STREET SOCCER USA: $5k → 17%STREET SOCCER USA: $5k → 17%CHRISTOPHER HOUSE: $3k → 14%CHRISTOPHER HOUSE: $3k → 14%CHRISTOPHER HOUSE: $3k → 14%CHRISTOPHER HOUSE: $3k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS: $5k → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $5k → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $5k → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $5k → 14%CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE: $3k → 14%A BETTER CHICAGO: $1k → 14%CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE: $2k → 14%CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE: $1k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

IL
WI
NY
MA
IA
IN
PA
CA
VA
MD
NM
DC
FL

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.2M · 50 repeat orgs$203k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +25% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.

50 repeat relationships — 43 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 30 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

50
22

Total granted

$1.2M
$109k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
0%

Still filing today

74%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $95k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesInternationalHealthRecreation & SportsOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    6× · 2020–2025 · $362k · revenue +13%
  • AL
    ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
    4× · 2021–2025 · $52k · revenue +34%
  • YG
    Youth Guidance
    5× · 2021–2025 · $38k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • JA
    JEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL - NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue -28%
  • WS
    WOLCOTT SCHOOL
    one grant, 2020 · $30k · revenue +14%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF BENNETT DAY SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +195%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
2
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
3
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
4
The Adler Planetarium

The adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…

Arts & Culture
5
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
6
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
7
University of Chicago

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
8
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.

—
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
Children's Museum of Oak Park

To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.

Arts & Culture
11
Chicago Historical Society

The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…

Arts & Culture
12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Museum of Contemporary Art and the most unlike its peers is Chicago Cred Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 42 years old; the field is 18. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%1%<5yr14%3%5–10yr19%16%10–20yr19%22%20–35yr14%28%35–55yr14%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%2%<5yr14%2%5–10yr19%9%10–20yr19%16%20–35yr14%20%35–55yr14%53%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/74
the rest of the field
14%
7,350/53,891

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

73 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 73 of the 104 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
73/73
Grantees still filing
45/73
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION — $210,200 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONTEMPLE SHALOM — $32,265 · OtherTEMPLE SHALOMWTTW JEWISH HERITAGE PROGRAMMING — $27,000 · OtherWTTW JEWISH HERITAGE PROGRAMMINGNorthwestern University — $19,000 · OtherYouth for A Better Future — $20,000 · Other+49 more — $186,048 · Other+49 moreJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO — $362,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLI…HAROLD E EISENBERG FOUNDATION — $20,000 · Philanthropy+1 more — $500 · PhilanthropyFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES — $80,000 · InternationalFRIENDS OF …JEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL - NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL — $50,000 · InternationalJEWISH AGEN…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF PEACE OF MIND INC — $5,000 · International+3 more — $5,500 · InternationalYouth Guidance — $37,500 · EducationYouth Guid…WOLCOTT SCHOOL — $30,000 · EducationWOLCOTT SC…COLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $20,000 · EducationCOLLEGE PO…PROJECT EDUCATION PLUS — $17,000 · EducationPROJECT ED…Francis W Parker School — $13,000 · EducationFrancis W …FRIENDS OF BENNETT DAY SCHOOL — $5,000 · Education+6 more — $8,500 · Education+6 moreANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE — $52,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE — $30,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 · Civil RightsChicago Symphony Orchestra — $22,500 · Arts & CultureThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — $9,750 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — $8,500 · Arts & CultureFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC — $8,000 · Arts & CultureTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC — $6,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC — $5,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART — $4,385 · Arts & CultureJUDD FOUNDATION — $4,250 · Arts & CultureREADING IN MOTION — $3,500 · Arts & Culture+11 more — $9,800 · Arts & CultureFAMILY FOCUS LEGACY — $15,000 · Human ServicesCHRISTOPHER HOUSE — $12,000 · Human ServicesSTREET SOCCER USA INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesInvest for Kids Inc — $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE — $5,500 · Human Services+1 more — $1,000 · Human Services
Other$494,513Philanthropy$382,500International$140,500Education$131,000Civil Rights$87,000Arts & Culture$81,685Human Services$53,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO — $362,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES — $80,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE — $52,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL - NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYouth Guidance — $37,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWOLCOTT SCHOOL — $30,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE — $30,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra — $22,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHAROLD E EISENBERG FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetYouth for A Better Future — $20,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetNorthwestern University — $19,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT EDUCATION PLUS — $17,000 over 4y, 3.4% of budgetFAMILY FOCUS LEGACY — $15,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION — $14,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Gay Mens Chorus — $13,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetFrancis W Parker School — $13,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHRISTOPHER HOUSE — $12,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTREET SOCCER USA INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetInvest for Kids Inc — $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — $9,750 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — $8,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC — $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetIMERMAN ANGELS — $7,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOutreach with Lacrosse Schools — $6,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC — $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE — $5,500 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF BENNETT DAY SCHOOL — $5,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF PEACE OF MIND INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART — $4,385 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJUDD FOUNDATION — $4,250 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetREADING IN MOTION — $3,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLYMPHOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPAWS CHICAGO — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBUILD INC — $2,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Children's Museum — $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetZETA BETA TAU FOUNDATION INC — $2,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetISRAEL ON CAMPUS COALITION INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDEBORAH'S PLACE — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSkyArt NFP — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Chicago Community…Jewish Federation of …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Kovler Family Foundat…Circle of Service Fou…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Pritzker Pucker F…Polk Bros Foundation …Ruttenberg Arts Found…Imc Chicago Charitabl…Field Foundation of I…John D and Catherine …
The Chicago Community TrustIL34.8× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Kovler Family Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Ruttenberg Arts Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Ruttenbergkagan Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%2%6%14%25%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Ruttenbergkagan Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Ruttenbergkagan 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 104 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines