Minnesota · Nonprofit
RUFF START RESCUE INC
RUFF START RESCUE INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,418,923 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($399,054). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What Ruff Start Rescue Inc does
Mission
Ruff start rescue is dedicated to saving the lives of animals in need. We improve animal welfare in communities through adoption, education, and providing resources for people and pets.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Rescue and adoption each year rsr helps thousands of companion animals by fostering quality care and placing them in loving adoptive homes. In 2025, rsr rescued a record breaking 3,773 animals including 1,570 dogs, 2,028 cats, and 139 critters. In addition to rsr's staff, rescue efforts are largely supported by volunteer intake teams who contributed an average 1,122 hours towards intake initiatives each month. Rsr provides each animal in rescue with quality veterinary care and foster home placements through adoption. In 2025, more than 2,194 active volunteer foster homes provided comprehensive care to each animal ensuring their well-being. Rsr's in-house veterinary team completed 2,370 spay/neuter surgeries, 56 special medical procedures, 42 heartworm treatments, 131 dental procedures, and 46 trap-neuter-return surgeries. In 2025, 3,587 animals were successfully placed in loving adoptive homes.
$2,535,070 spent$1,213,563 earned by the program96% of program spendingEducation rsr believes education is a critical component to responsible guardianship of companion animals and encourages community members of all ages to become responsible and compassionate pet owners and animal advocates. Rsr delivers age-appropriate information on topics including the importance of spay/neuter, animal safety, pet care, rescue, and adoption. Through classroom activities, presentations to youth and adult organizations, community outreach events, and unique programming, rsr's education program has reached over 12,475 total individuals since its inception in 2013. In 2025, 65 education programs were delivered statewide reaching 1,678 youth and 556 adults.
$5,051 spent0% of program spendingCommunity engagement rsr is committed to fostering resident animal welfare, reducing owner surrenders, and strengthening the relationship between pets and their families by providing resources to surrounding communities in need. In 2025, rsr expanded access to essential resources that help families navigate challenges, reduce barriers to pet care, and keep pets safe at home. Rsr contributed over 41,300 lbs of pet food and supplies to families, local shelters, food banks, and animal rescues. Through the owner surrender prevention program, rsr awarded 3,900 in mini grants providing support to families facing temporary financial hardship. In april, rsr held its 12th community wellness clinic offering low-cost vaccinations and preventative care for local residents and their pets serving 212 dogs and 72 cats.
$97,806 spentof which $97,806 as grants4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,637,927.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $1.6M to $2.1M (+26%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
61% of RUFF START RESCUE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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.
Board chair
Valerie Mccullough
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $78k → $708k.
12 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 RUFF START RESCUE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 funders by total. 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
RUFF START RESCUE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
76% 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 RUFF START RESCUE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 30% · 2019 36% · 2020 29% · 2021 21% · 2022 19% · 2023 53% — 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
61% of RUFF START RESCUE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
RUFF START RESCUE INC draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
RUFF START RESCUE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like RUFF START RESCUE INC
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 RUFF START RESCUE INC: 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 RUFF START RESCUE INC?
- RUFF START RESCUE INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,418,923 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($399,054). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RUFF START RESCUE INC have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $2,418,923 in grants to RUFF START RESCUE INC, 41 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RUFF START RESCUE INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $399,054 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RUFF START RESCUE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 65 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing