The Rapides Foundation
Alexandria, LA · EIN 72-0423603. Reported 166 grants totalling $52.8M to 51 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- What kind of organization it is. For The Rapides Foundation, the IRS classifies it under health care rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE E210) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 51 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.
- How much its list changes. 56% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $100,000. Half of what it reported fell between $30,000 and $300,000; the smallest was $6,500 and the largest $5,343,750. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rapides Parish School Board | Alexandria, LA | $9,564,663 | 16 | 4 | 2024 |
| Orchard Foundation | Alexandria, LA | $6,665,436 | 6 | 3 | 2024 |
| Cmap Express | Alexandria, LA | $5,987,846 | 11 | 3 | 2024 |
| Natchitoches Parish School Board | Natchitoches, LA | $4,508,802 | 14 | 4 | 2024 |
| Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance | Alexandria, LA | $3,985,000 | 4 | 2 | 2024 |
| Central Louisiana Technical Community | Alexandria, LA | $2,966,080 | 5 | 3 | 2023 |
| Northwestern State University | Natchitoches, LA | $2,657,725 | 4 | 1 | 2022 |
| Louisiana State University at Alexandria | Alexandria, LA | $1,625,622 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Career Compass of Louisiana | Baton Rouge, LA | $1,450,730 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| La Salle Community Action Association Inc | Harrisonburg, LA | $1,300,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Central Louisiana Ahec | Alexandria, LA | $1,120,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Vernon Parish School Board | Leesville, LA | $1,116,086 | 11 | 4 | 2024 |
| Catahoula Parish School Board | Harrisonburg, LA | $793,500 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| LSU Health Sciences Center- Shreveport | Shreveport, LA | $595,573 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Avoyelles Parish School Board | Marksville, LA | $584,111 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Allen Parish School Board | Oberlin, LA | $566,226 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Food Bank of Central Louisiana Inc | Alexandria, LA | $475,690 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Grant Parish School Board | Colfax, LA | $464,963 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Louisiana College | Pineville, LA | $451,753 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Volunteers of America Inc | Baton Rouge, LA | $402,316 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Grant Parish School Board | Colfax, LA | $393,142 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Winn Parish School Board | Winnfield, LA | $372,500 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lasalle Economic Development District (ledd) | Jena, LA | $360,288 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Louisiana State University at Eunice Foundation | Eunice, LA | $348,998 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Eckerd Youth Alternatives Inc | Clearwater, FL | $320,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United States Catholic Conference | Washington, DC | $317,543 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Access Health Louisiana | Kenner, LA | $310,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Iberia Comprehensive Community Health Center | New Iberia, LA | $310,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Rapides Parish Police Jury | Alexandria, LA | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Ben D Johnson Educational Center | Natchitoches, LA | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Lasalle Parish School Board | Jena, LA | $221,249 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Town of Bunkie | Bunkie, LA | $221,046 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cotton Port Mayor Commission for Women | Cottonport, LA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Louisiana Mental Health Association | Baton Rouge, LA | $198,110 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Campti Community Development Center | Campti, LA | $198,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Young Women's Christian Association | Alexandria, LA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Reinvesting in Simmesport Expansion | Simmesport, LA | $125,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Dollywood Foundation | Sevierville, TN | $120,336 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fox Outreach Foundation | Alexandria, LA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Living Hope Outreach | Bunkie, LA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| On Point Broadcasting Community Outreach | Alexandria, LA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Way of Central Louisiana Inc | Alexandria, LA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana Inc | Lafayette, LA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Winn Community Health Center Inc | Winnfield, LA | $70,730 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| City of Winnfield | Winnfield, LA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Grant Parish School Board | Colfax, LA | $48,626 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| City of Alexandria | Alexandria, LA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Pilot Club International | Leesville, LA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Town of Cheneyville | Cheneyville, LA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Town of Tullos | Tullos, LA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Rapides Parish Library | Alexandria, LA | $11,058 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
29 of 51 (57%) 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.
- Rapides Parish School Board
2025-2028 RAPIDES EARLY CHILDHOOD NETWORK ECE FUNDING ACCESS PROGRAM - The Orchard Foundation
INCREASE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT & ACHIEVEMENT - Natchitoches Parish School Board
2025-2028 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUNDS - Central Louisiana Technical Community
TO PROVIDE CONTINUED SUPPORT OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES - Louisiana State University at Alexandria
FOR EXPANDING AND REVITALIZING COMMUNITY RECREATIONAL RESOURCES ON CAMPUS - Cmap Express
2022 PHARMACY AND PATIENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 15 of 51 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43 | $4,889,251 | $38,183 |
| 2022 | 39 | $19.1M | $225,000 |
| 2023 | 43 | $12.3M | $100,625 |
| 2024 | 41 | $16.5M | $120,336 |
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
99% of its giving went to organizations in Louisiana. 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.
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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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- 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.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $100,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Louisiana.
- 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.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Rapides Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 1101 Fourth Street 300, Alexandria, LA, 71301.
EIN 72-0423603 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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