About Ryan Foundation
The Ryan Foundation makes very large, infrequent grants rather than many small awards. Its giving appears to be channeled through a handful of large disbursements — one named payment and a second aggregate distribution to multiple qualified charities — suggesting the foundation operates as a source of major one-time or lump-sum funding and/or donor-advised/pass-through distributions to other nonprofits. Geographic or issue-level priorities are not visible from the available records because recipients are broadly aggregated or unnamed.
Focus Areas
Large lump‑sum / capital or endowment-style grants to other charitiesDonor‑advised or pass‑through distributions to multiple qualified charitiesUnrestricted program or general operating support (aggregate recipients listed rather than program‑specific grants)
Who They Fund
not specified
Giving Approach
Highly concentrated: very few grants (2) totaling nearly $62M, favoring large single payments and an aggregate distribution to multiple charities rather than numerous small or targeted awards.
Funding Style
unrestricted support
About Ryan Foundation
The Ryan Foundation’s recent giving is defined by a single very large 2025 filing grant of $45,900,000, followed by a mix of direct support to Catholic institutions, healthcare organizations, and community charities. That pattern points to a foundation that makes major, often general-support awards rather than small program-specific gifts. The largest named recipients in the recent record include Catholic Bishop of Lincoln Inc. at $1,500,000 and the Catholic Archbishop of Omaha Inc. at $715,000, both listed for general support. The grant list also shows substantial awards to education and health-related beneficiaries, including VJ and Angela Skutt Catholic High School, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Foundation, and Boys Town National Research Hospital. The Ryan Foundation’s active grant programs describe invitation-only giving across medical research, healthcare providers, Catholic education, churches and missions, primary and secondary education, and selected community organizations. Recent records also include designated or named funds, including scholarship support tied to the Archdiocese of Omaha. Together, those details show a foundation that favors large, directed grants to established organizations, especially in Nebraska-centered Catholic and healthcare networks.
What Ryan Foundation Funds
In Catholic education and church support, the foundation gave $600,000 to VJ and Angela Skutt Catholic High School for general support and $75,000 to the Archdiocese of Omaha DBA Music in Catholic Schools. It also directed $370,000 to Lourdes Central Catholic School and $209,363 to Conception Abbey Inc., showing sustained support for schools, seminaries, and religious institutions. In healthcare, it granted $400,000 to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Foundation and $320,573 to Father Flanagan’ Boys Home dba Boys Town National Research Hospital, both for general support. Community-facing grants also appear in the record: $224,000 went to Essential Pregnancy Services and $50,000 to New Visions Homeless Services. The foundation’s active programs align with those recipients, covering medical research, healthcare delivery, Catholic education, and community organizations.
How Ryan Foundation Gives
The Ryan Foundation’s typical grant size is uneven: the 25th percentile is $43, the median is $27,854, and the 75th percentile is $88,045. That spread reflects a mix of very small pass-through entries and much larger awards. The recent record includes recurring charitable pass-through distributions in 2023 alongside major 2025 general-support gifts, so the foundation appears to use both lump-sum giving and broader charitable distributions. Its active grant programs are invitation-only, and unsolicited applications are not accepted. The foundation is a private grantmaker rather than an individual-funding vehicle, and it does not make program-related investments.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$54M
Total Assets
$1.5B
Total Revenue
$77.6M
Total Expenses
$59.1M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $43 and $88K, with a median of $28K.
25th Percentile
$43
Median
$28K
75th Percentile
$88K
Geographic Reach
National5 states funded
About 5% of grants go to recipients in NE.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Steve Ryan
President
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