California · Nonprofit
Ruthless Kindness
Ruthless Kindness (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $779,963 to it, the largest being PETSMART CHARITIES INC ($524,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $752k
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $780k
- Net assets
- $548k
What Ruthless Kindness does
Mission
Ruthless Kindness provides multiple programs to remove barriers to safety for the most at-risk animals and people. This includes free mobile veterinary care and animal supplies/support for victims of domestic violence and others in crisis, free tele-support and human-service partner consultations, and free boarding and foster home placement for the pets of people in crisis. Additional programs involve investing in a future where less crisis support is needed. These programs include empathy education and the Human Animal Welfare Coalition.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Ruthless Kindness advances its mission of keeping pets and people together during times of crisis by providing veterinary and logistical support to victims of domestic violence and other vulnerable individuals with animals. During the 2025 tax year, Ruthless Kindness received 1,205 calls from victim service partners and clients seeking assistance. In response to these needs, Ruthless Kindness provided 728 animals, including 466 dogs and 262 cats, with direct veterinary care at zero cost, delivering $242,060 in veterinary medicine value to individuals navigating dangerous or unstable circumstances. $58,853 in pet food and pet supply value was distributed to those requiring support during challenging times. Staff logged 3,621 miles in the RK mobile unit to meet clients in locations where they felt safe and to help them access care. For survivors whose only path to safety required entering a non-pet-friendly shelter, Ruthless Kindness provided 651 days and nights of animal boarding and foster care for their pets, eliminating a critical barrier that often prevents victims from leaving abusive situations. 33 free mobile veterinary clinics were held on-site at victim and human service…
$333,486 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $333,486.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2024 to 2025, from $186k to $549k (+195%).
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: 2023 55% · 2024 25% · 2025 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Ruthless Kindness’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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
Sarah Reidenbach
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $20k → $146k.
4 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 Ruthless Kindness’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 19 of 20 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
Ruthless Kindness leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
91% 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 Ruthless Kindness.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 77% · 2022 34% · 2023 85% — 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.
Where its funders are
Ruthless Kindness draws 81% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $66k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Ruthless Kindness runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,661 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,661 crime & legal nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Ruthless Kindness receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $825k on record.
- Department of Justice$825k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Ruthless Kindness
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% 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 Ruthless Kindness: 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 Ruthless Kindness?
- Ruthless Kindness (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $779,963 to it, the largest being PETSMART CHARITIES INC ($524,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Ruthless Kindness have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $779,963 in grants to Ruthless Kindness, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ruthless Kindness?
- PETSMART CHARITIES INC is the largest funder on record, with $524,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ruthless Kindness find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Ruthless Kindness →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 20 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