GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

Rural Community Assistance

Washington, DC · EIN 23-7367533. Reported 82 grants totalling $87.1M to 30 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

30organizations funded
$104,982median reported grant
$87.1Mgranted, 2020-2023
89%of grantees funded again the next year
18%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 30 distinct organizations, with 18% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 89% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $104,982. Half of what it reported fell between $18,928 and $2,603,134; the smallest was $5,124 and the largest $4,458,249. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
7 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
20 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
9 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
10 grants
$250,000 Or More
32 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Communities Unlimited IncFayetteville, AR$15.8M442023
Rural Community AssistanceW Sacramento, CA$14.6M442023
Midwest Assistance Program IncMaryville, MO$12.9M442023
Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project IncRoanoke, VA$12.7M442023
Rcap Solutions IncWorcester, MA$12.6M442023
Great Lakes Community Action PartnershipFremont, OH$12.1M442023
The Board of Trustees of the University of IllinoisUrbana, IL$2,494,085442023
American Water Works AssociationDenver, CO$1,459,919442023
Water Systems CouncilWashington, DC$656,023442023
Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona IncPhoenix, AZ$485,287442023
National Ground Water Association IncEtna, OH$216,197442023
National Environmental HealthDenver, CO$177,268442023
National League of CitiesWashington, DC$170,753112020
National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association IncWestford, MA$161,782332023
Regents of the University of CaliforniaOakland, CA$161,269332023
Texas A&m UniversityCollege Station, TX$89,194442023
MultiplierSan Francisco, CA$59,450222023
Water Environment FederationAlexandria, VA$58,095332023
Virginia Tech UniversityBlacksburg, VA$32,708332023
University of Rhode IslandKingston, RI$28,868222021
The Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, PA$27,848332023
Willamette PartnershipPortland, OR$27,200112023
Mountain Association for Community Economic Development IncBerea, KY$16,501112020
International Association of Administrative ProfessionalsKansas City, MO$15,925222023
Rural Development Initiatives IncRedmond, OR$15,142112020
Community Action Kentucky IncFrankfort, KY$15,000112023
National Association of Development Organizations Research FoundationWashington, DC$10,836112020
Communities RootsHinesburg, VT$8,306112020
Mississippi State UniversityMs State, MS$5,917112020
The Aspen Institute IncWashington, DC$5,124112020

21 of 30 (70%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 15 of 30 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Community Improvement
5 orgs
Environment
3 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
2 orgs
Human Services
1 org
Education
1 org
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org
Social Science
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202023$18.1M$122,067
202118$22.4M$159,517
202219$22.6M$108,696
202322$24.0M$81,534

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

18% of its giving went to organizations in Arkansas. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Arkansas
$15.8M
California
$14.8M
Missouri
$12.9M
Virginia
$12.8M
Massachusetts
$12.7M
Ohio
$12.3M
Illinois
$2.5M
Colorado
$1.6M

Down to the city

Fayetteville, AR
$15.8M
W Sacramento, CA
$14.6M
Maryville, MO
$12.9M
Roanoke, VA
$12.7M
Worcester, MA
$12.6M
Fremont, OH
$12.1M

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation5 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc5 shared recipientsTruist Foundation Inc4 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust4 shared recipientsTides Foundation4 shared recipientsThe Pew Charitable Trusts4 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $104,982 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Arkansas.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding environment in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Rural Community Assistance's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 1725 I Street Nw 225, Washington, DC, 20006.

EIN 23-7367533 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.