Grants for public foundations

4,595 grantmaking public charity foundations received at least $2.3 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 7,214 grants made from 4,303 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 4,303 foundations, 79% made just a single grant to public foundations, and 4% made grants to four or more public foundations. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$2,327,344,199
Total grant dollars given to public foundations
7,214
Number of grants made annually to public foundations
4,303
Number of grantmakers funding public foundations
$1,500
Median grant size to public foundations

Foundations that support grantmaking public charity foundations

Out of all grants made to public foundations, 79% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 55% of the dollar-value of grants to public foundations. Foundations funding public foundations also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, scholarship organizations, educational service providers, food banks, and boys and girls clubs.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
3,423
Medium
 
461
Large
 
415
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
 
106
Private
 
3,619
Corporate
 
191
Other
 
387

Grants made

Grants made to public foundationsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
3,401
2-3
 
722
4-10
 
134
11+
 
46

Top 10 foundations supporting grantmaking public charity foundations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to public foundationsNumber of grants made to public foundationsMedian grant size
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.3%119$300
Baird FoundationWINational1.9%93$500
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.2%92$150
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.2%75$1,000
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.5%69$103
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.4%67$518
Seattle FoundationWAState3.6%55$2,500
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational1.4%52$500
Rasmuson FoundationAKState0.3%52$370
Arkansas Community FoundationARState0.2%51$1,500

Grantmaking public charity foundations grantees

Public foundations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 93% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 41% of all public foundations.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
7,009
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
205

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,000
$500k-$1M
 
$1,225
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,700

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
California
 
893
New York
 
868
Florida
 
433
Texas
 
376
Other
 
4,644

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
845
Los Angeles
 
262
Chicago
 
242
San Francisco
 
206
Other
 
4,878

Top 25 grants made to public foundations

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF)$230,000,000Grants/donationKaiser Foundation Health Plan (KFHP)
Harvard Private Capital Realty$204,301,195CashHarvard University
East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF)$197,500,000Project SupportKaiser Permanente
The Chicago Community Trust$100,705,810General Nonprofit SupportSilicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Mississippi State University$55,756,772See Part IvMississippi State University Foundation
California Community Foundation$50,000,000Project SupportKaiser Permanente
Casalena Foundation$43,435,394FMVGreater Kansas City Community Foundation
Casalena Foundation$43,435,394General OperationsGreater Kansas City Community Foundation
National Philanthropic Trust$35,000,000SupportZero Zero One
Memorial Foundation$32,995,846BJC HealthCare
ClimateWorks Foundation$32,895,050Conservation and ScienceDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation
Schwab Charitable Fund$31,162,615For the Barger Family Fund at Schwab Charitable, for Won/holden Family Fund, To the Hammarskjold Family Fund at the San Francisco Foundation of the Schwab Charitable Fund, for Nancy G. Schaub Donor Advised Fund. for the Hammarskjold Family Fund at Schwab Charitable Fund, for General Operating Support.San Francisco Foundation (TSFF)
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program$30,050,000General UseThe Davis Family Foundation
National Philanthropic Trust$29,309,952Grants From Donor Advised Funds - Operating SupportJewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF)
The City Fund$26,340,169General Nonprofit SupportSilicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation$24,694,536Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking FoundationGreater Horizons
Central Kansas Community Foundation$23,975,151Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking FoundationGreater Horizons
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund$21,667,631Transfer To DafThe Boston Foundation (TBF)
Impact Investing Charitable Trust$19,905,950Further Charitable Purpose of the OrganizationImpact Foundation / Impact Investing Charitable Foundation Inc
South Central Community Foundation$17,316,125Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking FoundationGreater Horizons
National Philanthropic Trust$16,949,026Cash / ServicesNPT Charitable Asset Trust (NPTCAT)
National Philanthropic Trust$16,949,026Public Societal BenefitNPT Charitable Asset Trust (NPTCAT)
Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico$15,167,994Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking FoundationGreater Horizons
The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta$15,000,042For the Joseph B. Whitehead Fund To Support Achieve Atlanta, An Initiative To Improve the Postsecondary Success of Students in Atlanta Public Schools.Joseph B Whitehead Foundation
Episcopal Collegiate School Foundation$15,000,000Education Institutions and Related ActivitiesJackson T Stephens Charitable Trust for Art
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 "Public foundations" category for this page is determined by the "T30: Public Foundations" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.