Bmi-Rupp Foundation

Bmi-Rupp Foundation is a small, closely held family trust — founded in 2000 by Alois K. Rupp and run today by trustees Christine Rupp (principal, compensated $110,000/year) and Alois J. Rupp (uncompensated), with Donna Koterba serving as secretary-treasurer. This is not a staffed institution with a grants office; it is a family giving vehicle whose trustees convene roughly twice a year to allocate funds among a stable, largely recurring list of favored charities. That structure has direct implications for strategy: the foundation states plainly on its own website that solicitations are 'by invitation only,' and the historical grantee data bears this out — of 75 recorded grants, the largest dollar amounts went to organizations (Catholic Relief Services, Smile Train, Doctors Without Borders, Heifer International, Community Food Bank of NJ) that recur across multiple filing years rather than appearing as one-off new relationships.

For unsolicited applicants, the realistic path is a mailed letter of inquiry addressed to Christine Rupp at the foundation's Ridgefield, NJ address, with a 501(c)(3) exemption certificate attached — the foundation's own stated application instructions confirm this exact format ('LETTER FORM WITH EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE ATTACHED'). There is no online portal, no published RFP, and no listed deadline. First-time applicants should not expect a full proposal or site-visit progression common to larger institutional foundations — this is a lean, relationship-driven, general-operating-support funder, not a program-officer-managed grantmaker.

Organizations most likely to break in share traits with the current grantee base: established 501(c)(3)s with a track record — large, recognizable international relief and health charities at the high end, and local NJ/NY food pantries, parishes, and small human-service nonprofits at the low end — requesting unrestricted general support rather than a defined program grant. A first ask should be modest, since most grants cluster near the $10,000 median, with the understanding that repeat, multi-year support is the norm once a relationship is established, rather than a single large gift.

Bmi-Rupp's grantmaking is small and heavily general-support oriented. The foundation's own typical-grant-size data covers 40 measured grants ranging from $100 to $200,000, with a median of $10,000 and an average of $20,405 — a right-skewed distribution driven by a handful of large, recurring gifts to major relief organizations. The broader 75-grant historical record (spanning 2012-2024 filings) totals $1,452,852 in tracked disbursements, averaging $19,371 per grant.

At the top of the distribution: Catholic Relief Services received $400,000 across 2 grants — the largest single relationship on record — followed by Smile Train at $260,000 across 2 grants and Doctors Without Borders at $90,000 across 2 grants. The next tier, $40,000-$50,000 cumulative, includes St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Shelter for Abused Women, Community Food Bank of NJ, and Water Mission. Below that, the large majority of the 75 recorded grants fall between $1,000 and $20,000, split between recurring $5,000-$20,000 gifts to food pantries, parishes, and small human-service nonprofits, and smaller $1,000-$5,000 tokens to disease-research and disaster-relief charities.

Geographically, despite a stated NJ/NY 'geographic focus' tag, only 28% of grants (21 of 75) went to New Jersey organizations and 17% (13 of 75) to New York — the majority of dollars flow to nationally or internationally headquartered relief organizations (Catholic Relief Services, Smile Train, Heifer International, Water Mission, Wings Over Haiti) regardless of the funder's home base.

By program area, giving splits roughly across four buckets: international humanitarian relief and health (the largest dollar share — Catholic Relief Services, Doctors Without Borders, Smile Train, Heifer International, Wings Over Haiti), domestic hunger relief (Community Food Bank of NJ, Paramus Community Pantry, Spring Food Pantry, Office of Concern Food Pantry, St. Agnes Food Pantry), health/medical research (St. Jude's, Shriners Hospital for Children, Boston Children's Hospital, breast cancer research charities), and Catholic/Christian institutional giving (Archdiocese of Newark, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Agnes Episcopal Church, St. Basil Academy).

Overall giving has contracted with the asset base: total giving peaked at $1,149,598 in FY2021 and has since fallen to an estimated $723,800-$944,212 in FY2023-FY2024, as net assets declined from $11.3 million (2019) to $8.84 million (2024) with no new contributions received since a one-time $3.9 million gift in FY2019.

All five peers sit within roughly $8,000 of Bmi-Rupp's $8.84 million asset base — a cohort of similarly sized family trusts clustered in the same NTEE 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' category, none of which maintain a public website or disclosed grantmaking process in available records. Bmi-Rupp stands out within this peer set for actually operating a public-facing website (bmiruppfoundation.org) that states its invitation-only policy and lists sample grantees — a transparency none of the five peers appear to offer. For applicants unable to secure a warm introduction to any foundation in this size tier, Bmi-Rupp's disclosed process and grantee list make it comparatively easier to research and target correctly, even though the practical outcome — invitation-only funding, limited to a stable recurring grantee roster — is likely similar across all six.

Web searches for 'Bmi-Rupp Foundation' news in 2025-2026 returned no foundation-specific press coverage, leadership changes, or program announcements — consistent with the profile of an unstaffed, closely held family trust that does not issue press releases. Search results referencing a '2025 peermusic Latin Music Award' and 'Curtis Mayfield Scholarships' belong to the unrelated Broadcast Music, Inc. Foundation, a music-industry nonprofit, and should not be confused with this NJ family trust.

The most concrete recent activity is financial: the foundation's most recent available Form 990-PF (fiscal year 2024) reports total revenue of $736,958 (roughly 32% dividends, 51% asset sales, 8% interest, with no new contributions) and net assets of $8,841,612, per ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. Charitable disbursements for FY2024 were $723,800, continuing a multi-year decline from the $1.15 million distributed in FY2021 and the $9.8-$11.3 million asset range the foundation held in 2019-2020. Officer compensation to trustee Christine Rupp has held steady at $110,000/year since at least 2020.

No new board appointments, program launches, or major gift announcements were identified. The trustee roster — Christine Rupp (principal), Alois J. Rupp, and Donna Koterba (secretary-treasurer) — appears unchanged based on available records. Given the foundation's asset trajectory (down roughly 22% from its 2019 peak) and the absence of new contributions since 2019, prospective applicants should expect continued gradual tightening of available grant dollars rather than expansion, absent a change in the family's contribution pattern.

Because Bmi-Rupp explicitly states that 'solicitations are by invitation only' and its own application instructions specify a 'LETTER FORM WITH EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE ATTACHED,' the single most important tip is format discipline: send a physical, mailed letter — not an email, not an online form — addressed to Christine Rupp c/o Kelly Barnes at 1200 Hendricks Causeway, Ridgefield, NJ 07657, with your organization's IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter (exemption certificate) attached. There is no grant portal, no LOI web form, and no published RFP to search for.

Because the trustees meet only about twice a year and there is no posted deadline, there is no confirmed public cycle to time a submission against — treat this as a rolling, low-frequency review rather than a deadline you can plan around.

Calibrate the ask to the funder's real distribution: the median recorded grant is $10,000, and the large majority of the 75-grant history sits under $20,000. Requesting anything near $200,000 (the ceiling reached only by Catholic Relief Services and Smile Train after multi-year relationships) as a first-time, cold applicant is unrealistic — anchor a first request in the $5,000-$15,000 range and frame it as general operating support, which is what nearly every recorded grant purpose reflects ('GENERAL' / 'GENERAL FUND' — no restricted program grants appear in the data).

The most common mistake for this funder type is treating it like a staffed institutional foundation: there is no program officer to build a relationship with by email, no guidelines document to mine for language, and no site-visit process. Instead, lean on: (1) a warm introduction if any board or staff member has a personal or geographic tie to Ridgefield/Bergen County, NJ, or to any current grantee — the recurring donor list (Catholic Relief Services, Smile Train, Doctors Without Borders, Heifer International) suggests personal/family cause affinities, likely faith- and relief-driven; (2) a follow-up phone call to (201) 941-2121 a few weeks after mailing, since the foundation lists a working phone number; and (3) patience if declined — this is a small trust with a stable, largely repeat grantee list, so breaking in as a brand-new organization is the exception rather than the rule.