Ramtell Inc.

Ramtell Inc. operates as a relationship-driven, invitation-only family foundation rooted in the Catholic faith of the Ramsey family of Tell City, Indiana. The foundation's stated mission is "providing engaged, intentional and committed stewardship to organizations and needs rooted in Christian principles," with an explicit emphasis on Catholic causes. Its published vision language is remarkable for its long-term orientation — the foundation references supporting institutions that will remain "true to original beliefs over the next 1,000 years," signaling a preference for enduring Catholic institutions over programmatic trend-chasers.

No open application portal, published deadline cycle, or submission form exists anywhere in the public record. Every major foundation database confirms application instructions of "none," and Ramtell is classified as a preselection-only funder. Cold applications will not be reviewed. The path to funding runs entirely through authentic relationships with the Ramsey family and their network.

The grantee list reveals the foundation's clear preferences: Catholic parishes and diocesan entities in the Evansville Diocese and Perry County, Indiana; Catholic educational institutions from parish schools through university level (Notre Dame appears five times across the grantee record); pro-life and pregnancy resource organizations; and Christian community service organizations in Indiana and Kentucky. Virtually every grantee has received support across multiple fiscal years, confirming a sustained relationship model rather than one-time project grants.

The board composition illuminates entry pathways: President Guy Neil Ramsey and Treasurer Neil P. Ramsey are unpaid family descendants; Father Daniel J. Staublin serves as a clergy-connected director; and Daniel Conway functions as the paid Executive Director at $60,000/year. Catholic organizations with active diocesan relationships — particularly within the Diocese of Evansville — hold a structural advantage. Notre Dame-affiliated organizations carry demonstrated credibility with this foundation. First-time applicants should approach Conway as the professional gateway, presenting a concise one-page organizational alignment brief rather than a full proposal, and demonstrating deep Catholic mission specificity and Indiana or Kentucky geographic roots.

Ramtell Inc. maintains a tiered grantmaking structure spanning from $150 community gifts to a $23M institutional transfer, with three recognizable operating bands based on relationship depth and organizational scale.

Tier 1 — Institutional anchors ($100K–$1.23M): A small number of major Catholic institutions receive the bulk of operational dollars. Saint Paul's Church heads the external grantee list at $1.226M across 2 grants; the University of Notre Dame received $600K across 3 grants; the Archdiocese of Louisville received $500K across 3 grants; and the Catholic Education Foundation received $238K across 3 grants. These reflect the foundation's longest and most trusted institutional relationships.

Tier 2 — Regional program organizations ($10K–$100K): Diocesan appeals, Catholic community organizations, pro-life centers, and YMCA affiliates populate the mid-range. Notable examples: Archdiocese of Indianapolis ($220K, 3 grants — United Catholic Appeal); Little Way Pregnancy Resource Center ($170K, 3 grants); Tri-County YMCA ($97.6K, 2 grants); Life in Abundance International ($90K, 3 grants — Catholic international relief); Sacred Heart Schools ($80K, 3 grants).

Tier 3 — Community and parish gifts ($500–$10K): Parish-level giving is widespread, with recurring gifts to local churches in the Tell City area. Even NAMI Indiana and NAMI Evansville appear at $12K each, showing occasional crossover into mental health services — likely through personal connection rather than formal program strategy.

Annual giving trends (excluding intra-family transfers): FY2019: $931K; FY2020: $1.21M; FY2022: $1.74M; FY2023: $1.76M. The database-reported median grant is $10,000; the listed average of $256,501 is heavily distorted by the $23M Ramsey Evergreen Foundation transfer in FY2021 and the $1.226M Saint Paul's Church grant. For typical external grantees, first awards fall in the $5,000–$25,000 range, growing toward $50,000–$100,000 with multi-year relationship development. Geographic distribution: Indiana accounts for 69 grants (47%), Kentucky 52 (36%), with Michigan (5), Florida (4), Louisiana (3), Tennessee (3), and scattered others accounting for the balance.

Ramtell Inc. shares an approximate $290M asset tier with four peer family foundations in the philanthropy and grantmaking category, all holding assets between $289M and $292M as of the most recently available filings. The comparison below uses database financial data.

Ramtell stands apart from its asset-cohort peers in two critical ways. First, its mission is unusually narrow — an explicit Catholic identity and pro-life orientation that limits the eligible applicant universe to a small, specialized set of organizations, unlike the generalist or loosely-defined missions typical of similarly-sized family foundations. Second, Ramtell's historic annual giving of $1.3–1.8M represented a payout rate well below 1% of its current $290M asset base — a ratio that signals significant untapped grantmaking capacity. If the Ramsey family elects to increase distributions in response to the 2024 capitalization event, this foundation could emerge as a major Catholic philanthropy player in the Midwest with little public warning.

The dominant development at Ramtell Inc. in 2024–2025 is a transformational capitalization event. FY2024 filings report $273.8M in total revenue — almost entirely from contributions ($274.6M per ProPublica data) — growing the foundation's total assets from $24.4M to $290M in a single fiscal year. This 12-fold asset increase is the most significant event in the foundation's documented history and positions Ramtell as a substantially larger philanthropic vehicle than its public profile had previously suggested. No press release, public statement, or media coverage explaining this transfer has been identified as of March 2026.

This follows a significant 2021 precedent: in FY2021, the foundation disbursed $13.23M in total giving, with a $23M transfer to the Ramsey Evergreen Foundation — a related family entity — representing the bulk of that exceptional giving year. The pattern suggests the Ramsey family uses Ramtell as a capitalization and pass-through vehicle while coordinating with the Ramsey Evergreen Foundation for programmatic deployment in specific domains.

No leadership changes were identified in available public sources for 2025–2026. Daniel Conway remains Executive Director at $60,000/year — a modest figure relative to $290M in current assets that underscores the foundation's lean, low-profile operating posture. The board including Guy Neil Ramsey (President), Neil P. Ramsey (Treasurer), and Father Daniel J. Staublin (clergy director) appears stable from prior years. The foundation maintains a deliberately minimal public footprint consistent with its invitation-only, family-driven grantmaking philosophy.

The single most important fact about applying to Ramtell Inc. is that there is no formal application process. Every public database confirms application instructions of "none" — this is a preselection-only funder where cold submissions go nowhere. The following strategies reflect how relationship-driven family foundations of this type are actually accessed.

• Build diocesan clergy relationships first: Father Daniel J. Staublin sits on the Ramtell board. Organizations with active endorsement from Diocese of Evansville leadership — or from Catholic priests connected to Saint Paul's Church in Tell City (the foundation's home parish and top external grantee at $1.226M) — carry significant credibility. A warm introduction through a known diocesan official is worth more than any proposal document.

• Leverage University of Notre Dame networks: Notre Dame, the Notre Dame Sorin Society, and Alliance for Catholic Education (a Notre Dame-affiliated program) collectively appear in the grantee record with $620,000 in support. If your organization has Notre Dame alumni on the board, program partnerships with Notre Dame academic units, or institutional connections to Notre Dame's development office, these are active pathways to introduction.

• Contact Daniel Conway directly and professionally: Call (812) 548-2204 or write to 804 7th St, Tell City, IN 47586. A brief, one-page letter introducing your organization, stating your Catholic mission, geographic roots in Indiana or Kentucky, any shared connections with the board, and requesting an introductory conversation — not a grant — is the appropriate first move. Do not send a full proposal unsolicited.

• Lead with Catholic identity specifics: Name your diocesan affiliation, your pastor or bishop, your Catholic governance structure, and your specific alignment with the foundation's stated priorities: Catholic formation, protection of human life from conception to natural death, care for seniors, traditional family values, and Christian education. Generic faith references do not differentiate organizations for this funder.

• Calibrate first-ask expectations to the grantee record: Based on documented history, first-time external organizations typically receive $5,000–$25,000. Proven multi-year grantees grow toward $50,000–$100,000 annually. Frame the initial contact as a relationship introduction, not a transaction. The foundation's 1,000-year vision language is not rhetorical; they expect to fund organizations for decades, not seasons.