FundersIllinois

Charles Ruemmelin Foundation

Vandalia, IL · EIN 37-1055195. Reported 72 grants totalling $181,208 to 40 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$181,208granted, 2021-2024
40organizations funded
48%of grantees funded again the next year
$17assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Charles Ruemmelin Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $3,022; the smallest was $200 and the largest $10,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
12 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
53 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
6 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Vandalia Police DeptVandalia, IL$16,500332023
Vandalia Park DistrictVandalia, IL$14,750332023
Nourishing GreatnessVandalia, IL$11,000332024
Family YMCA of Fayette CoVandalia, IL$10,000112022
Vandalia StatehouseVandalia, IL$9,152222024
Fayette Co Farm BureauVandalia, IL$8,818332024
Ramsey High School Music DepartmentRamsey, IL$8,000332023
Roe 3Vandalia, IL$7,500442024
Fayette County Health DepartmentVandalia, IL$6,250332024
Friends and Family of Fayette Co HoVandalia, IL$6,218222022
Sexual Assualt & Family EmergenciesVandalia, IL$5,520332023
Vandalia Field of DreamsVandalia, IL$5,500332024
Evans Public LibraryVandalia, IL$5,153222022
Friends and Family of FchVandalia, IL$5,000112024
Vandalia Association of ChurchesVandalia, IL$5,000222023
YMCA of Fayette CoVandalia, IL$5,000112024
Vandalia Elementary SchoolVandalia, IL$4,822222024
Vandalia State HouseVandalia, IL$3,500112021
Vandalia Christian AcademyVandalia, IL$3,108112023
Brownstown Fire DepartmentBrownstown, IL$3,000112021
Vandalia Historical SocietyVandalia, IL$3,000112021
Vandalia JR High School Choral ProgVandalia, IL$3,000112021
Vandalia Little Community GardenVandalia, IL$3,000112021
First United Methodist ChurchVandalia, IL$2,950432023
Fayco EnterprisesVandalia, IL$2,758112024
Fayette Co Art ConnectionVandalia, IL$2,512332024
Vandalia JR Wrestling ClubVandalia, IL$2,382112024
Lighthouse Pregnancy & Health ServiVandalia, IL$2,000112024
Lighthouse Pregnancy and Health SerVandalia, IL$2,000222022
Vandalia Cusd 203Vandalia, IL$2,000112022
Vandalia Emergency ManagementVandalia, IL$1,915112021
Historical Vandalia IncVandalia, IL$1,700222024
Fayette County MuseumVandalia, IL$1,500112021
Tri County Quga A9 Clay GrindersRamsey, IL$1,500112021
Vandalia Youth Org JR Football LeagVandalia, IL$1,400112022
City of Vandalia Beautifcation CommVandalia, IL$1,000112023
National Road Interpretive CenterVandalia, IL$1,000112024
St James Lutheran ChurchVandalia, IL$800112023
Kaskaskia CollegeVandalia, IL$700222023
Fayette Co Cancer FundVandalia, IL$300112022

19 of 40 (48%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 48%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 10 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Recreation & Sports
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Education
1 grant
Employment
1 grant
Arts & Culture
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$42,036$1,500
202221$58,070$2,000
202315$40,412$2,818
202415$40,690$2,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Vandalia, IL
$169K
Ramsey, IL
$10K
Brownstown, IL
$3K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Illinois.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in IllinoisEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in IllinoisEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Charles Ruemmelin Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 40, Vandalia, IL, 62471. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 37-1055195 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.