Grants for high schools

Name: Top 25 grants made to high schools and secondary schools
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

1,440 high schools and secondary schools received at least $170.2 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 4,534 grants made from 2,661 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 2,661 foundations, 76% made just a single grant to high schools, and 4% made grants to four or more high schools. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$170,235,545

Total grant dollars given to high schools

4,534

Number of grants made annually to high schools

2,661

Number of grantmakers funding high schools

$1,500

Median grant size to high schools

Foundations that support high schools and secondary schools

Out of all grants made to high schools, 81% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 65% of the dollar-value of grants to high schools. Foundations funding high schools also made grants to elementary schools, colleges, universities, elementary and secondary schools, and food banks.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	2,181
Medium	294
Large	186

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	50
Private	2,402
Corporate	119
Other	90

Grants made

Grants made to high schools	Number of grantmakers
1	2,026
2-3	503
4-10	106
11+	26

Top 10 foundations supporting high schools and secondary schools

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to high schools	Number of grants made to high schools	Median grant size
Fidelity Foundation	MA	National	0.4%	99	$1,500
Baird Foundation	WI	National	1.7%	87	$375
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	9.9%	70	$1,475
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.3%	70	$1,000
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.2%	59	$500
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.3%	45	$1,000
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	0.5%	44	$500
Community Foundation of North Texas (NTXCF)	TX	State	0.5%	42	$2,500
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.1%	37	$2,000
Tulsa Community Foundation	OK	National	0.1%	34	$5,000

See all grantmaking to high schools

High schools and secondary schools grantees

High schools with more than $5 million in total revenues received 91% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 83% of all high schools.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	4,501
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	33

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$890
$100k-$500k	$1,750
$500k-$1M	$1,450
$1M-$5M	$1,500
>$5M	$1,500

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
Massachusetts	578
California	413
Connecticut	392
New York	305
Other	2,846

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Boston	402
New York City	329
Washington DC	212
Philadelphia	203
Other	3,025

Top 25 grants made to high schools

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
The Trustees of the Cushing Academy	$11,426,220	Education	EG Watkins Family Foundation
Tallulah Falls School (TFS)	$10,462,008	General Support	Lettie Pate Evans Foundation
Town School for Boys Alumni Association	$10,010,000	Education	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Thaden School	$9,949,000	Construction	Arkansas Community Foundation
School Smart KC	$8,628,288	Education	Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
The Episcopal School of Los Angeles (ESLA)	$6,620,007	Education	California Community Foundation
The Dr Miriam and Sheldon G Adelson Educational Campus	$6,606,487	General Charitable Purposes	Adelson Family Foundation
KIPP Houston Public Schools (KIPP)	$6,000,000	Construction, Program, Salaries	PHILO Finance Corporation
Episcopal High School (EHS)	$5,231,004	General Support	Lettie Pate Evans Foundation
Thaden School	$5,011,684	Operating Grant	Arkansas Community Foundation
Garrison Forest School (GFS)	$5,000,000	($50,000 for the Annual Fund and $4,950,000 Undesignated)	Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)
Summit Public Schools (SPS)	$5,000,000	General Operating Support	Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation
Thaden School	$4,783,000	Construction Support	Arkansas Community Foundation
Collegiate School of Memphis	$4,547,100	Program Support	Christian Community Foundation of Memphis and the Mid-South
Thaden School	$4,100,000	Supplemental Grant	Arkansas Community Foundation
Episcopal High School (EHS)	$4,000,000	Education	Ainslie Foundation
Idea Public Schools	$3,900,000	Charter School Growth	Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF)
KIPP Houston Public Schools (KIPP)	$3,829,849	School Start-Up, Regional Merger, Principal Pipeline & Development, High School Development, Computer Science, Kipp Through College, Stem, Covid-19 Emergency Relief	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)
Flintridge Preparatory School	$3,817,155	Intersection Initiative Care for the Poor	St Joseph Health Community Partnership Fund
Nazareth Prep	$3,552,964	Cash Payments	Holy Family Foundation
Acton School of Business	$3,510,000	Organizations Operations	Austin Ed Fund
KIPP Texas	$3,500,000	Charter School Growth	Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF)
Cate School	$3,268,500	For the Endowment for Cate Forever Campaign. for the Special Fund Raising Campaign in April 2020. for the Motivation Match of the Board Fund. for the Cate Fund. for Annual Needs.	San Francisco Foundation (TSFF)
Doane Academy	$3,000,000	General Support	Henry M. Rowan Family Foundation
KIPP Texas	$3,000,000	Charter School Growth	Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF)

See all grants to high schools

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 "High schools" category for this page is determined by the "B25: High School" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.