Ruthmere Foundation Inc.

Ruthmere Foundation Inc. is fundamentally different from most private foundations grant seekers research: it is a self-operating museum foundation, not primarily an external grantmaker. Per its own IRS filing, its mission is "Ruthmere Museum and Havilah Beardsley House," and its single reported program consumed $612,623 in program expenses. Of the foundation's 990-PF "total giving" ($931,047 in FY2023, $1,023,372 in FY2022), the overwhelming majority funds Ruthmere's own house-museum operations in Elkhart, Indiana — not grants to outside nonprofits. "Grants paid" to external organizations, the figure that matters most to grant seekers, has stayed in the $2,400-$11,415/year range every year on record back to 2012.

That reframes the strategic picture. Ruthmere is best understood as a family-legacy institution tied to the Beardsley family (board President Edward A. Beardsley, Director Joan Beardsley Norris) with a small, informal, relationship-driven giving pattern rather than an open competitive grants program. There is no grants page, no application portal, and no published deadline — application_form_url, grants_page_url, and application_deadline are all blank in the foundation's IRS/enrichment data, and application_instructions is empty. Aggregator data flags the foundation as "accepting applications," but nothing on its own site supports a formal intake process.

First-time applicants should not expect an LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline. Instead, treat this as a warm-introduction target: the recorded external grantees — First Presbyterian Church of Elkhart ($11,600 across three gifts), Junior Achievement ($5,000), World Monuments Fund ($1,380), Loveway ($1,000), Birmingham Museum of Art ($250), and the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce ($105 across three gifts) — read like a board-connected, Elkhart-centric giving list rather than a competitive grant portfolio. Executive Director William Firstenberger (compensated $85,000 in the most recent filing with disclosed pay) runs day-to-day operations; Secretary Todd Zeiger's apparent ties to Indiana's statewide preservation community suggest historic-preservation framing resonates with this board. Realistic asks should be modest — hundreds to low thousands of dollars — and framed around shared local, arts-and-preservation, or youth-education interests rather than large capital requests.

Ruthmere's IRS filings show two very different "giving" numbers, and grant seekers must use the right one. Total assets: $11,849,900 (FY2024), up from $10,060,793 (FY2022) and just $1,815,838 (FY2019) — a roughly 6.5x jump concentrated in FY2020, when net investment income alone hit $6,058,802 against contributions received of only $230,329, pointing to a one-time investment gain rather than steady fundraising growth. Total revenue followed the same spike: $6,374,410 in FY2020 versus $385,846 in FY2019.

"Total giving" on the 990-PF — $931,047 (FY2023), $1,023,372 (FY2022), $994,877 (FY2021), $647,893 (FY2020) — looks like a mid-six-figure grants program, but the vast majority of that spend is the foundation's own museum program: $612,623 in program expenses for "Ruthmere Museum and Havilah Beardsley House" in the most recent year reported. The figure that matters for external grant seekers is "grants paid," which has never topped $11,415 in a single year: $4,285 (FY2023), $11,415 (FY2022), $4,285 (FY2021), $3,635 (FY2020), $3,900 (FY2019), down to $2,400-$2,500 in the 2012-2015 filings.

Within the tracked grant history (10 grants, $19,335 total, avg $1,934), the median single grant was just $250 (range $35-$4,000 per the foundation's own typical-grant-size data), with occasional larger cumulative relationships — First Presbyterian Church of Elkhart received three separate gifts totaling $11,600, the largest identified recipient relationship. Geographically, giving is heavily Indiana-concentrated: 8 of 10 tracked grants went to Indiana organizations, one to Alabama (Birmingham Museum of Art), and one to New York (World Monuments Fund) — both likely reflecting individual board or donor connections rather than an open geographic mandate. Executive Director compensation rose from $57,596 (FY2019) to $85,000 (most recent disclosed), while total officer compensation reached $101,600 in FY2023 — consistent with a small, single-executive operating shop rather than a program staff built for external grantmaking.

All five peers cluster tightly in the $11.6M-$12.1M asset range, placing Ruthmere squarely in a common tier for small, single-institution Arts & Culture private foundations — most of which, like Ruthmere, are likely artist- or family-legacy vehicles (the Richard Petty Museum and Leon Polk Smith Foundation both carry named-individual legacy structures similar to Ruthmere's Beardsley-family roots) rather than open competitive grantmakers. Only Leon Polk Smith Foundation publishes a standalone website in this peer set, and even foundations with public web presences at this asset tier typically run narrow, estate- or institution-focused giving rather than broad open RFPs. Grant seekers should treat all six organizations, Ruthmere included, as low-volume, relationship-driven prospects rather than a source of large or repeatable grant income — realistic total addressable external giving across this entire peer group is likely in the tens of thousands of dollars annually, not hundreds of thousands.

Public activity in 2025-2026 centers on Ruthmere's own campus rather than any expansion of external grantmaking. WSBT reported on restoration work to a historic porch at the Havilah Beardsley House, part of ongoing preservation of the campus's two historic structures. More significantly, an unforeseen utilities failure forced Ruthmere Mansion to close for tours and programs; the closure ran into 2026, with the mansion reopening for tours on Saturday, April 18, 2026. During the closure, the Havilah Beardsley House and the Beardsley Discovery Center remained open, and the foundation continued its established first-Sunday-of-the-month free tour program (April-November) rotating between the two historic houses.

Looking ahead, Ruthmere has announced its 2026 arts programming slate, including the 2026 Ruthmere Solo Strings Competition and the 2026 Beardsley Piano Prize Competition — recurring classical-music competitions that represent the foundation's primary form of public-facing "grantmaking" (prizes and programming rather than nonprofit operating grants).

No leadership changes, new external grant programs, or notable large outbound grants were identified in current web coverage. The foundation's most documented outside grant relationship — a $2,500 Indiana Landmarks award for architectural/engineering analysis of a fire-damaged building the foundation had purchased — dates to December 2020 and positions Ruthmere as a grant recipient in the preservation space as much as a grant maker, a dynamic that appears unchanged through 2026.

Because Ruthmere has no public grants program, "application tips" here are really relationship-building tips. First, calibrate expectations: the foundation's own filings show it has never paid more than $11,415 in external grants in a single year, and the tracked grant history shows a median gift of just $250 — this is not a five- or six-figure funder for outside organizations, whatever its $11.85M asset base or $931,047 "total giving" line might suggest at first glance (that figure is mostly the foundation's own museum program spending).

Second, lead with geography and sector fit. Eight of the ten tracked grants went to Indiana recipients, with a strong concentration in Elkhart (First Presbyterian Church of Elkhart, Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce). Organizations based in Elkhart County or northern Indiana, or working in historic preservation, classical music/arts education, youth development (Junior Achievement is a past recipient), or disability services (Loveway is a past recipient), are the closest match to the board's demonstrated interests.

Third, skip the cold LOI. There is no grants page, no application form, and no published deadline anywhere in the foundation's IRS enrichment data or its public website — application_instructions is blank. The realistic path in is a phone call or contact-form message (ruthmere.org/Contact1, (574) 264-0330) that opens a conversation with Executive Director William Firstenberger's office, ideally referencing a specific, current Ruthmere program by name (the Beardsley Piano Prize Competition, the Solo Strings Competition, or the Havilah Beardsley House restoration work) to demonstrate genuine familiarity rather than a mass-mailed ask.

Fourth, use board composition to inform your pitch. Board Secretary Todd Zeiger's apparent ties to Indiana's statewide preservation community (the foundation itself received a $2,500 Indiana Landmarks grant for building analysis in 2020) suggest historic-preservation framing will land well with this board; family-legacy language (the Beardsley name recurs among directors) also fits the institution's self-identity.

Finally, keep the ask small and specific — a defined project or sponsorship in the $250-$5,000 range mirrors every dollar figure this foundation has actually reported paying externally, and is far more likely to succeed than a general operating request.