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Indiana · Private foundation

Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$159k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
15
Grants FY2025
18
Organizations funded FY2024
39%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$3,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$50,000
Organizations funded a year
12 to 18
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
1
Total assets, FY2025
$4.8M
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 39% of the organizations Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 50% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $75k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
EducationEnvironmentArts & CultureAnimalsHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving14$159k21%
FY202418$150k39%
FY202318$155k56%
FY202212$93k67%
FY202118$154k50%
FY202012$136kn/a
96% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$692kPhilanthropy$75kHuman Services$75kArts & Culture$21kFood & Nutrition$16kCivil Rights$15kYouth Development$8kRecreation & Sports$7kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Hanover College$296,10060%
Evsc Foundation Inc$122,00061%
Mater Dei High School$51,5002n/a
Evansville African American Museum$20,00016%
St Vincent Early Learning Center Inc$20,00020%
Student Financial Aid Association$14,0001n/a
University of Evansville$11,00010%
Tri-State Food Bank$10,00010%
Evansville Junior Football League$5,50047%
Urban Seeds Inc$5,00012%
Show all 25 grantees
All grantees of Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Hanover College$296,10060%
Evsc Foundation Inc$122,00061%
Mater Dei High School$51,5002n/a
Evansville African American Museum$20,00016%
St Vincent Early Learning Center Inc$20,00020%
Student Financial Aid Association$14,0001n/a
University of Evansville$11,00010%
Tri-State Food Bank$10,00010%
Evansville Junior Football League$5,50047%
Urban Seeds Inc$5,00012%
Wesselman Nature Society Inc$5,00021%
Voices Inc$5,00016%
YWCA of Evansville Indiana Inc$4,00040%
Ivy Tech Foundation Inc$3,50030%
Vanderburgh County Humane Society Inc$2,00020%
Hope of Evansville Inc$2,00010%
St Joseph Catholic Church$2,0002n/a
Buffalo Trace Council Inc Boy Scouts of America #156$1,65020%
Indiana University Foundation$1,00010%
North Posey High School$1,0001n/a
Big Blue Boosters$9004n/a
Meals on Wheels Inc$50010%
Altrusa International Inc$5001n/a
Resurrection Catholic Church$1001n/a
American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches$10010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 24 recipients with no EIN on record ($262k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHanover College: $296,100 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetEvsc Foundation Inc: $122,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetEvansville African American Museum: $20,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetSt Vincent Early Learning Center Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetUniversity of Evansville: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTri-State Food Bank: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEvansville Junior Football League: $5,500 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetUrban Seeds Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetWesselman Nature Society Inc: $5,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetVoices Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetYWCA of Evansville Indiana Inc: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetIvy Tech Foundation Inc: $3,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetVanderburgh County Humane Society Inc: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHope of Evansville Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBuffalo Trace Council Inc Boy Scouts of America #156: $1,650 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetIndiana University Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMeals on Wheels Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 18.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Community Foundation Alliance IncIN27.9× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation Alliance Inc · Evansville Endowment Fund Inc · Cecil a and Mabel Lene Hamman Foundation Inc · Koch Foundation Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · Welborn Baptist Foundation Inc · Bussing-Koch Foundation Inc · Centerpoint Energy Foundation Inc · The Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Fifth Third · James R Duncan Trust Uw Fifth Third · Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc · Lilly Endowment 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.

Compare Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation with peer funders

About Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation

How much does Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation give?
Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation reported 15 grants totaling $159,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 12 and 18 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (75%), Philanthropy (8%), Human Services (8%).
Who are Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Hanover College ($296k), Evsc Foundation Inc ($122k), Mater Dei High School ($52k).
Does Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 39% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Community Foundation Alliance Inc, Evansville Endowment Fund Inc, Cecil a and Mabel Lene Hamman Foundation Inc.
Where is Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation based?
Thomas A & Sharon K Ruder Foundation is based in IN.

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 50 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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