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The Rydin Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Rydin Foundation

THE RYDIN FOUNDATION'S MISSION IS TO HONOR DR.

$6.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$3.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.

Public Benefit$11MCrime & Legal$3.4MEducation$120kArts & Culture$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $107k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $767k
  • $250k+3 grants · $5.7M
$100,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CONSERVATIVE PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE$3,500,000
AMERICA FIRST LEGAL FOUNDATION$1,851,000
TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION$375,000
AMERICAN ACCOUNTABILITY FOUNDATION$200,000
AMERICAN MOMENT INC$200,000
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION$167,000
AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE$100,000
FAIR ELECTIONS FUND$100,000
LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE$30,000
Individual grant recipient$22,000
AMERICAN CORNERSTONE INSTITUTE$20,000
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ASSOCIATION INC$20,000
HOUSTON BALLET$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.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 97% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $375k → 10%HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ASSOCIATION INC: $20k → 16%CONSERVATIVE PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE: $5.0M → 14%LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: $30k → 7%HOUSTON BALLET: $15k → 16%CONSERVATIVE PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE: $3.5M → 14%MIKE RYDIN: $22k → 16%AMERICA FIRST LEGAL FOUNDATION: $1.9M → 14%CONSERVATIVE PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE: $1.5M → 14%AMERICA FIRST LEGAL FOUNDATION: $1.5M → 14%AMERICAN MOMENT INC: $200k → 14%AMERICAN ACCOUNTABILITY FOUNDATION: $200k → 14%FAIR ELECTIONS FUND: $100k → 14%AMERICAN CORNERSTONE INSTITUTE: $20k → 14%AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE: $100k → 14%THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $167k → 14%THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $167k → 14%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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14M · 3 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
9

Total granted

$14M
$1.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
0%

Still filing today

100%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
Public BenefitEducationCrime & LegalArts & CultureOther
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

  • Conservative Partnership Institute
    3× · 2022–2024 · $10M · revenue -5% · 26% of their budget
  • AF
    America First Legal Foundation
    2× · 2023–2024 · $3.4M · revenue +231%
  • THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2024 · $334k · revenue +33%

Funded once

  • TP
    TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $375k · revenue 0%
  • AA
    AMERICAN ACCOUNTABILITY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $200k · revenue 0%
  • AM
    American Moment Inc
    one grant, 2024 · $200k · revenue 0%
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
American Policy Coalition

With a commitment to free market principles, APC focuses on educating the public about conservative fiscal policies that foster job growth, a stronger economy, and increased opportunity for all Americans.

Public Benefit
2
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
3
American Exceptionalism Institute

The organization engaged in public communications and issue education activities related to national security, the protection of life, and tax and spending issues.

Community Improvement
4
Frontiers of Freedom Institute

To educate the public on constitutional issues and public policy matters. We are dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and the values embodied in the Declaration of…

Public Benefit
5
Progress Texas Institute

The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.

Civil Rights
6
First Look Institute Inc

First Look Institute supports fearless investigative journalism, innovative and cinematic nonfiction filmmaking, and press freedom initiatives to protect the right to a free and open society and press.

Arts & Culture
7
Foundation for Public Affairs

Our mission is to conduct and support research on issues and trends that affect the practice of public affairs and organizations' ability to thrive in a dynamic business environment. Our research provides actionable intelligence on…

Public Benefit
8
Institute for Policy Innovation

It is the mission of the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) to provide education, research, analysis and recommendations to policy makers, opinion leaders and the American people designed to help solve public policy problems through…

—
9
Foreign Policy for America

Foreign Policy For America is a nonpartisan advocacy organization founded to strengthen support for principled American engagement in the world.

—
10
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
11
American-German Institute Inc

The American-German Institute is a center for policy research and scholarship dedicated to the most important political, economic, and security issues confronting Germany and the United States in the global arena. AGI anticipates…

Social Science
12
American Principles Project Foundation

American Principles Project Foundation was created to promote the dignity of the human person and the importance of the family in protecting human dignity. We educate the public about problems facing families and what policy solutions can…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is America First Policy Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Houston Grand Opera Association 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

11 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. 11 of the 13 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
3/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Conservative Partnership Institute: $10,000,000 · EducationConservative Partnership Institute+2 more: $120,000 · EducationAmerica First Legal Foundation: $3,351,000 · Crime & LegalAmerica First Legal Found…TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $375,000 · Public BenefitTEXAS PUB…THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $334,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERIT…AMERICAN ACCOUNTABILITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 · Public BenefitAMERICAN …American Moment Inc: $200,000 · Public BenefitAmerican …Foundation for Accountability Integrity & Research in Elections Fund: $100,000 · Public BenefitFoundatio…+1 more: $30,000 · Public BenefitIndividual grant recipient: $22,000 · OtherHOUSTON BALLET: $15,000 · OtherHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $20,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$10,120,000Crime & Legal$3,351,000Public Benefit$1,239,000Other$37,000Arts & Culture$20,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetConservative Partnership Institute: $10,000,000 over 3y, 26% of budgetAmerica First Legal Foundation: $3,351,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $375,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $334,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN ACCOUNTABILITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetAmerican Moment Inc: $200,000 over 1y, 9.8% of budgetAMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFoundation for Accountability Integrity & Research in Elections Fund: $100,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetLeadership Institute: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CORNERSTONE INSTITUTE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $20,000 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.

Conservative Partners…Donors Trust IncServant FoundationThe Dunn FoundationThe Goldman Sachs Cha…Natl Christian Charit…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…
Conservative Partnership InstituteDC15.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Conservative Partnership Institute · Donors Trust Inc · Servant Foundation · The Dunn Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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.

    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 13 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 Rydin’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