Grants for foreign exchanges

492 international cultural and student exchange programs received at least $72.0 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 619 grants made from 501 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 501 foundations, 90% made just a single grant to foreign exchanges, and 1% made grants to four or more foreign exchanges. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$71,954,213
Total grant dollars given to foreign exchanges
619
Number of grants made annually to foreign exchanges
501
Number of grantmakers funding foreign exchanges
$1,500
Median grant size to foreign exchanges

Foundations that support international cultural and student exchange programs

Out of all grants made to foreign exchanges, 74% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 98% of the dollar-value of grants to foreign exchanges. Foundations funding foreign exchanges also made grants to colleges, universities, international humanitarian organizations, international development organizations, and theaters.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
373
Medium
 
61
Large
 
67
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation typeNumber of grantmakers
Community
 
19
Private
 
416
Corporate
 
31
Other
 
35

Grants made

Grants made to foreign exchangesNumber of grantmakers
1
 
452
2-3
 
39
4-10
 
8
11+
 
2

Top 10 foundations supporting international cultural and student exchange programs

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to foreign exchangesNumber of grants made to foreign exchangesMedian grant size
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%15$900
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.1%12$2,500
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.2%8$250
Salesforce Com FoundationCANational0.0%8$50
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%7$500
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.0%7$998
Seattle FoundationWAState0.0%6$5,000
Synchrony FoundationCTNational0.0%6$150
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.0%5$618
W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)MINational0.0%4$1,250

International cultural and student exchange programs grantees

Foreign exchanges with more than $5 million in total revenues received 71% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 34% of all foreign exchanges.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
610
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
9

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,050
$100k-$500k
 
$1,500
$500k-$1M
 
$2,000
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
New York
 
145
California
 
123
District of Columbia
 
56
Colorado
 
28
Other
 
267

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
153
Washington DC
 
68
San Francisco
 
57
Los Angeles
 
38
Other
 
279

Top 25 grants made to foreign exchanges

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations US$20,000,000Vaccine DevelopmentBill & Melinda Gates Foundation
American Center for International Labor Solidarity$17,972,804PluralismNational Endowment for Democracy
American Friends of the Israel Democracy Institute$6,580,000DonationsJewish Federation of Greater Atlanta
International Medical Corps (IMC)$5,246,400Disaster ResponseCalifornia Community Foundation
Tsinghua Education Foundation North America (TEFNA)$5,000,000Schwarzman Scholars ProgramStarr Foundation
Institute of International Education$5,000,000For the Global Travel and Learning Fund To Administer Travel Awards Small Grants To Organizations and Other Program Related Learning ActivitiesThe Ford Foundation
American Councils for International Education$4,618,149Foreign Language TrainingBryn Mawr College
Pyxera Global$3,180,607International DevelopmentSilicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Onward Israel USA$3,137,083Program SupportJewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
Denver Sister Cities International$5,000CharitableKohn Family Corporation
AFS Intercultural Programs$5,000General Operating SupportRobert W and Gladys S Meserve Char Trust Hemenway and Barnes LLP
World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh$5,000Global LeadershipJames Frances Mccandless Trust
Valueusa$5,000Adult Literacy PartnerDollar General Literacy Foundation
Cleveland Council on World Affairs$5,000Global Impact Award SupportThe Haslam 3 Foundation
Greenheart International$5,000Urban AffairsThe Columbus Foundation
Pacific & Asian Affairs Council$5,000High School Global Education Outreach ProgramsThe Kosasa Foundation
Japan-America Society of Hawaii$5,000Japan Wizards ProgramThe Kosasa Foundation
Rotary Youth Exchange Yesscanex$5,000Educational GrantRotary Club of Fort Lauderdale N Beach Scholarship Fund
USA Homestays$5,000General Support for Work in St Paul and MinneapolisInFaith Community Foundation (ICF)
International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)$5,000Provide Funds To Sponsor A Charitable Event, the 2020 Impact Fellowships Summit, That Will Focus on Equitable Leadership for A Changing World Through Intentionally Fostering Diverse Networks and Understanding of Geographic/sectoral Approaches That Contribute To Lasting Systemic ChangeW.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)
Jerusalem Peacebuilders$5,000Matching Gift for Unrestricted Operating SupportHouston Endowment
Creative Connections$5,000To Support Transition Funding for the Us/japan Artlink ProgramUnited States Japan Foundation
Engageasia$5,000To Support Funding for the Selection of the 2020 and 2021 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Awards.United States Japan Foundation
Center for Furniture Craftsmanship$5,000Program SupportThe Zoe Foundation
Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham$5,000Driveway RepairsFoundation for World Education
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Foreign exchanges" category for this page is determined by the "Q20: International Exchanges, Cultural Understanding" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.