Grants for educational institutions

28,651 schools and educational institutions received at least $11.3 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 47,850 grants made from 14,870 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 14,870 foundations, 51% made just a single grant to schools, and 17% made grants to four or more schools. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$11,265,546,555
Total grant dollars given to educational institutions
47,850
Number of grants made annually to educational institutions
14,870
Number of grantmakers funding educational institutions
$1,500
Median grant size to educational institutions

Foundations that support schools and educational institutions

Out of all grants made to educational institutions, 84% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 46% of the dollar-value of grants to schools. Foundations funding schools also made grants to educational service providers, multiservice human service organizations, universities, and youth development programs.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
12,525
Medium
 
1,419
Large
 
913
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
 
204
Private
 
12,736
Corporate
 
463
Other
 
1,467

Grants made

Grants made to schools Number of grantmakers
1
 
7,651
2-3
 
4,650
4-10
 
2,188
11+
 
381

Top 10 foundations supporting schools and educational institutions

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to schools Number of grants made to schools Median grant size
Abbvie Foundation IL National 2.5% 936 $250
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 4.8% 672 $750
Baird Foundation WI National 12.0% 643 $500
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 6.5% 605 $250
Fidelity Foundation MA National 21.9% 568 $1,000
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines IA State 1.5% 471 $1,000
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.8% 428 $1,500
Dollar General Literacy Foundation TN National 6.6% 356 $2,000
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) TN Metro 10.7% 353 $1,000
The Rhode Island Foundation RI Metro 1.3% 334 $1,000

Schools and educational institutions grantees

Educational institutions with more than $5 million in total revenues received 95% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 60% of all schools.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
47,111
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
739

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$1,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,000
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,500

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
New York
 
4,933
California
 
4,931
Massachusetts
 
3,012
Pennsylvania
 
2,652
Other
 
32,322

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
4,336
Boston
 
2,071
Chicago
 
2,046
Los Angeles
 
1,722
Other
 
33,150

Top 25 grants made to educational institutions

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
New York University (NYU) $882,312,690 Support Clinical, Educational, and Research Activities of Nyu School of Medicine. Nyu Langone Hospitals
Gothic Corporation $872,006,506 FMV Duke University
Flintridge Preparatory School $452,895,679 Accrual Saint Joseph Health (SJH)
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai $317,049,180 Cost Mount Sinai Hospital
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai $317,049,180 Cost Mount Sinai Hospital
Gothic HSP Corporation $314,079,830 FMV Duke University Health System
Regents of the University of Colorado $180,789,283 See Part Iv University of Colorado Foundation
University of Oregon Foundation $178,018,647 Activities of University of Oregon U of O Foundation Supporting Organization
University of Oregon Foundation $178,018,647 FMV U of O Foundation Supporting Organization
CoxHealth $167,025,613 Cost Lester E Cox Medical Centers
Apwa-Asp University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy $166,120,154 University Support University of Nebraska Foundation
Stanford University $121,264,579 Book Stanford Health Care
Stanford University $113,641,277 Children's Health Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health
Harvard University $100,000,000 Support for Education and Research Blavatnik Family Foundation
Altierus Career College Altierus Career Education and WyoTech $92,228,000 Non-Cancelable Operating Leases Guaranteed ECMC Group
Strada Education Network $87,120,164 Support Their Philanthropic Efforts Pursuant To the December 6, 2016 Transfer of Ownership of United Student Aid Funds and Northwest Education Loan Association From Usa Funds (Now Strada) To Ascendium. Ascendium Education Solutions
Stanford University $77,672,477 Access To Care and Research Support Stanford Health Care
University of Washington Foundation $75,000,000 Family Interest Grantmaking Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Apwa-Asp University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy $73,638,961 General Support Nebraska Medicine
Georgia Institute of Technology $70,965,702 Scholarships, Fellowships, Awards & Other Georgia Tech Foundation
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley $69,837,002 Cost/pledge Partnership for Haas Preeminence
Albert Einstein College of Medicine $60,000,000 Cost Montefiore Medical Center
Albert Einstein College of Medicine $60,000,000 Cost Montefiore Medical Center
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai $58,458,000 Cost Mount Sinai Hospital
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai $58,458,000 Cost Mount Sinai Hospital
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 "Educational institutions" category for this page is determined by the "B00: Education: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.