Ramser Arboretum

Ramser Arboretum is best understood as a family-operated private foundation that primarily funds itself — it owns and maintains a 680-acre arboretum and trail system in northeast Knox County, Ohio, founded by Russell Ramser and today led by Susan E. Ramser (President), Mark R. Ramser (Secretary/Treasurer), and historically Mary E. Ramser (Vice President), all uncompensated. It is not a solicitation-based grantmaker with a published RFP or portal; its own website (ramserarboretum.org) is a visitor-information site listing trail hours, a map kiosk, and a restroom facility, with no grants page, LOI form, or deadline calendar.

The foundation's tracked outside giving is small and hyper-local: across its recorded grant history it has supported just five recipients for a combined $69,845, and every one is based in the Mount Vernon/Knox County, Ohio area the family calls home. The single largest relationship is the Foundation for Knox Community Hospital ($50,000 across two gifts, 72% of all tracked giving), followed by Joy of Living Ministries ($11,970 across three gifts for summer camps), Loudonville FFA Alumni ($5,000 for a greenhouse fund), Main Market and Beyond ($2,500 for a downtown lighting initiative), and Experience Mount Vernon ($375 across three small gifts). This pattern — health care, youth/faith programming, agricultural education, and Main Street civic beautification — reads as personal, identity-based giving rather than a competitive program area.

First-time applicants should recognize two things. First, geography is close to a hard filter: there is no evidence of giving outside Knox County. Second, there is no formal LOI-to-proposal-to-site-visit pipeline to navigate — the relationship is the process. The most realistic path in is a direct, low-friction introduction (phone or email) from a Knox County nonprofit with a specific, modestly scoped ask, ideally one that echoes a cause the family has already supported or that connects naturally to the arboretum's own mission of outdoor education and community access.

Ramser Arboretum's finances are dominated by asset growth and self-funded operations, not outbound grantmaking. Total assets stood at $8,354,140 at the end of FY2023 and, per the FY2024 Form 990 reviewed via Cause IQ, grew to roughly $9.86 million (matching the $9,864,551 current asset figure in the foundation's profile) after a $453,500 contribution inflow drove FY2024 revenue to $609,236. Net investment income has been remarkably steady, ranging from about $78,000 to $153,000 annually between 2011 and 2023, functioning as the foundation's baseline funding source in years without a major donor contribution.

Actual grants paid to outside organizations are small and irregular: $11,665 (FY2023), $29,090 (FY2022), $0 (FY2021, FY2020, FY2019), $500 (FY2015, FY2014), $0 (FY2013), and $36,000 (FY2012). "Total giving" reported on the 990 (ranging $59,860-$138,372/year) runs well above grants paid in most years, indicating that most of that figure covers the foundation's own arboretum operations — trail maintenance, the information kiosk, and site upkeep — rather than checks to outside nonprofits.

Of the $69,845 in tracked outside grants (10 grants to 5 recipients), 100% went to Ohio organizations, and 100% of those sit within the Mount Vernon/Knox County footprint. By recipient share: 72% (Foundation for Knox Community Hospital, health), 17% (Joy of Living Ministries, faith/youth camps), 7% (Loudonville FFA Alumni, agricultural education), 3.6% (Main Market and Beyond, downtown beautification), and 0.5% (Experience Mount Vernon, civic). The median individual gift is roughly $3,000-$5,000, with a wide range from $125 (one of three small Experience Mount Vernon gifts) up to a $25,000 single check to the hospital foundation — the largest gift on record.

Ramser Arboretum sits in a tight cluster of small Environment-focused private foundations with roughly $9.5-10 million in assets, but it is unusual among them in also being a fully self-operated facility (it runs its own arboretum) rather than a pure grantmaking vehicle.

The peer set's asset bases cluster within about 5% of one another, suggesting these are comparably sized family or single-purpose environmental foundations rather than large institutional funders. Ramser stands out for having zero outbound grants in multiple recent fiscal years, which is consistent with a foundation that spends most of its charitable budget on its own site rather than external giving; Point Pleasant Foundation is the only peer with a public web presence, making it the most approachable comparison point for further research.

The most concrete recent signal in the record is financial rather than programmatic: the FY2024 Form 990 (via Cause IQ) shows a $453,500 spike in contributions received, lifting total revenue to $609,236 and net assets to approximately $9.86 million, up from $8.35 million at the close of FY2023. This looks like a single large gift or bequest to the foundation's corpus rather than a new grants initiative, and no corresponding increase in outbound grantmaking has been reported in the sources reviewed.

No press releases, leadership changes, or new program announcements for 2025-2026 turned up in web search or on the foundation's own site — ramserarboretum.org's available content is limited to visitor/location information (address, hours, seasonal deer-season closures) with no news section. Leadership has been stable for years: Susan E. Ramser (President) and Mark R. Ramser (Secretary/Treasurer) appear consistently across filings, both uncompensated, with Mary E. Ramser (Vice President) in earlier years.

The one non-financial data point worth noting is that citizen-science birders have now documented 92 species at the arboretum as of 2025, per BirdingHotspots.org — a sign the property continues to be actively used and monitored as a nature site, even though it generates no grantmaking news of its own.

Because Ramser Arboretum publishes no grant application, portal, deadline, or LOI process, the standard grant-writing playbook does not apply here — this is relationship-based, hyper-local giving, and applicants should adjust accordingly.

Start with a direct introduction rather than a written proposal: call 740-392-2941 or email ramserarboretum@gmail.com to explain who you are and what you're asking for before sending anything formal. Keep any follow-up written material to one or two pages — this is a foundation with no paid staff to process a lengthy packet.

Geography is close to a hard requirement: every dollar in the tracked grant history went to a Mount Vernon/Knox County, Ohio organization (Danville, Loudonville, Brinkhaven, Jelloway also appear in its footprint). Applicants outside this immediate area should not expect a response.

Calibrate the dollar ask to what has actually been given: small recurring gifts (under $5,000) have gone to youth/faith programming (Joy of Living Ministries' summer camps), agricultural education (Loudonville FFA Alumni's greenhouse fund), and civic beautification (Main Market and Beyond's street lighting, Experience Mount Vernon). The one outsized gift on record — $50,000 across two payments to the Foundation for Knox Community Hospital — suggests health care access is the cause most likely to unlock a larger commitment, but likely reflects a long personal relationship rather than a repeatable program.

Expect inconsistent annual capacity: outside grants were $0 in FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021, then $29,090 and $11,665 in FY2022-FY2023. A non-response or a 'not this year' answer should not be read as a permanent no — reapproach in a future cycle, especially given the large FY2024 contribution inflow that may expand future giving capacity. Common mistakes to avoid: sending a generic multi-funder appeal letter, requesting general operating support instead of a specific project or piece of equipment, and pitching to any city or cause outside their established Knox County footprint.