Oklahoma · Nonprofit
Ralph Ellison Foundation
Ralph Ellison Foundation (Oklahoma) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $162,567 to it, the largest being KIRKPATRICK FAMILY AFFILIATED FUND OF OCCF INC ($85,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2022
- $99k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $163k
- Net assets
- $74k
What Ralph Ellison Foundation does
Mission
The Ralph Ellison Foundation connects communities, shapes culture, and shifts perspectives through literature, legacy, and the arts.
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.
Programs
Our Creative Writing Workshops have showcased some of the most talented writers, poets, and scholars in Oklahoma. Adults and student attendees continue to improve their writing skills. They are exposed to multiple genres in our workshops and many have gone on to write their own book. Beyond learning writing skills, they are challenged to view the world through the eyes of the presenter, thereby enriching their perspective of other peoples and cultures. With proper funding, the Foundation can carry the Creative Writing Workshops throughout Oklahoma, create a publishing company to publish local authors to highlight the stories of Oklahoma.
$1,914 spent95% of program spendingThe Foundation is proud to keep our The Light Bulb Room: A Podcast for the People available as a digital legacy of interviews with Ellison scholars and modern era activists.
$109 spent5% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,023.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $43k to $74k (+73%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
100% of Ralph Ellison Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Michael Owens
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2022 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $57k → $30.
3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Ralph Ellison Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Ralph Ellison Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
65% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Ralph Ellison Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 61% · 2021 71% · 2022 57% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
17% of Ralph Ellison Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
96% of Ralph Ellison Foundation's grant income comes from Oklahoma funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Ralph Ellison Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 14,184 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,184 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2022
Organizations like Ralph Ellison Foundation
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Oklahoma
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
3% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ralph Ellison Foundation: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Ralph Ellison Foundation?
- Ralph Ellison Foundation (Oklahoma) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $162,567 to it, the largest being KIRKPATRICK FAMILY AFFILIATED FUND OF OCCF INC ($85,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Ralph Ellison Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $162,567 in grants to Ralph Ellison Foundation, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ralph Ellison Foundation?
- KIRKPATRICK FAMILY AFFILIATED FUND OF OCCF INC is the largest funder on record, with $85,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ralph Ellison Foundation find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oklahoma. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2020–2022), and the filings of 8 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing