Grants for emergency assistance programs

1,895 emergency assistance organizations received at least $48.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 2,899 grants made from 1,892 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 1,892 foundations, 84% made just a single grant to crisis programs, and 3% made grants to four or more crisis programs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$48,599,016
Total grant dollars given to emergency assistance programs
2,899
Number of grants made annually to emergency assistance programs
1,892
Number of grantmakers funding emergency assistance programs
$1,000
Median grant size to emergency assistance programs

Foundations that support emergency assistance organizations

Out of all grants made to emergency assistance programs, 80% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 89% of the dollar-value of grants to crisis programs. Foundations funding crisis programs also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, religious organizations, christian organizations, food distribution programs, and food banks.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
1,525
Medium
 
200
Large
 
164
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
 
58
Private
 
1,558
Corporate
 
105
Other
 
171

Grants made

Grants made to crisis programs Number of grantmakers
1
 
1,596
2-3
 
227
4-10
 
43
11+
 
26

Top 10 foundations supporting emergency assistance organizations

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to crisis programs Number of grants made to crisis programs Median grant size
Westrock Foundation GA National 0.1% 55 $41
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) TN Metro 0.1% 47 $500
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.1% 44 $134
JP Morgan Chase Foundation NY National 0.0% 37 $270
Baird Foundation WI National 0.4% 37 $113
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.2% 32 $500
Arkansas Community Foundation AR State 0.1% 28 $1,000
Carmax Foundation VA National 0.2% 27 $500
Alliant Energy Foundation WI State 0.8% 20 $1,025

Emergency assistance organizations grantees

Emergency assistance programs with more than $5 million in total revenues received 91% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 18% of all crisis programs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
2,893
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
6

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$1,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,021
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
Texas
 
249
New York
 
233
California
 
226
Florida
 
143
Other
 
2,048

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
229
Chicago
 
109
Seattle
 
86
Dallas
 
77
Other
 
2,131

Top 25 grants made to emergency assistance programs

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
GiveDirectly $22,500,000 To Provide Covid-19 Support Blue Meridian Partners
National Center for Victims of Crime $5,717,031 Victims of 8/3/19 Shooting Paso Del Norte Community Foundation
Musicares Foundation $4,304,730 Contributions and Program Service Support RECORDING Academy
Single Stop USA $4,085,000 General Robin Hood Foundation / Tudor Charitable TR
Thorn $3,505,000 Human Services Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Friendly House $2,988,041 Housing and Stabilization Assistance Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance (CMHA)
Bluffton Self Help $5,000 General Operating Support Kathryn Davis Grado Foundation
Helping Hand of Hope $5,000 P60 Emergency Assistance (Food Clothing Cash) Community Foundation of Louisville
Christians Purpose $5,000 The Funeral Relief Fund Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Clothes for Kids $5,000 Clothing for Children in Hubbard Family Foundation
Person to Person (P2P) $5,000 To Provide Emergency Assistance for Basic Needs Plus Other Support To Individuals and Families As They Move Toward Financial Stability. The Orchard Farm Foundation
Baby2Baby $5,000 Public Support of Organization Mission The Stanley and Joyce Black Family FOUNDATION
Lake Travis Crisis Ministries $5,000 General Fund Go
KC Mothers in Charge $5,000 Administrative and Program Capacity Building H and R Block Foundation
Northeast Community Fund $5,000 Charitable Contribution To Assist Needy Families Edward Whinnery Trust
Cradles To Crayons $5,000 2020 Montco Pa Covid-19 Repsonse Montgomery County Foundation
G Fred DiBona Jr Memorial Foundation $5,000 General Support Debenedictis Family Foundation
The Ark $5,000 General Harry and Bessye Rosenberg Charitable Trust
Cafe of Life $5,000 Entreprenuership The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation
Ava's Heart $5,000 General Support David Geffen Foundation
Edja Foundation $5,000 Charitable Purpose Segal Family Foundation (SFF)
Cross-Lines Community Outreach $5,000 Given in Memory of Cathy Goodger Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation Corporation
Morningday Community Solutions $5,000 Warehouse Shopping Program The Jim Moran Foundation
We Care $5,000 General Support Berrien Community Foundation
Immerse Arkansas $5,000 General Operating Support Arkansas Community Foundation
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 "Emergency assistance programs" category for this page is determined by the "P60: Emergency Assistance" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.