Grants for international development organizations

2,702 international development and relief organizations received at least $1.1 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 7,202 grants made from 3,807 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 3,807 foundations, 71% made just a single grant to global relief orgs, and 5% made grants to four or more global relief orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$1,097,705,688
Total grant dollars given to international development organizations
7,202
Number of grants made annually to international development organizations
3,807
Number of grantmakers funding international development organizations
$1,000
Median grant size to international development organizations

Foundations that support international development and relief organizations

Out of all grants made to international development organizations, 85% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 79% of the dollar-value of grants to global relief orgs. Foundations funding global relief orgs also made grants to international humanitarian organizations, food banks, multiservice human service organizations, religious organizations, and scholarship organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
3,273
Medium
 
307
Large
 
226
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
 
75
Private
 
3,404
Corporate
 
149
Other
 
179

Grants made

Grants made to global relief orgs Number of grantmakers
1
 
2,731
2-3
 
852
4-10
 
188
11+
 
36

Top 10 foundations supporting international development and relief organizations

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to global relief orgs Number of grants made to global relief orgs Median grant size
Baxter IL National 1.1% 278 $100
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.3% 127 $218
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.7% 122 $105
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.8% 99 $1,000
JP Morgan Chase Foundation NY National 0.0% 96 $500
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.2% 95 $1,000
Salesforce Com Foundation CA National 0.1% 65 $100
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) NJ National 0.0% 60 $500
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation WA National 12.5% 52 $3,863,899
Baird Foundation WI National 0.9% 50 $412

International development and relief organizations grantees

International development organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 96% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 69% of all global relief orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
7,082
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
120

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$1,200
$100k-$500k
 
$1,260
$500k-$1M
 
$1,042
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
New York
 
2,360
California
 
559
Virginia
 
486
Massachusetts
 
336
Other
 
3,461

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
2,401
Washington DC
 
392
Boston
 
323
Virginia Beach
 
306
Other
 
3,638

Top 25 grants made to international development organizations

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
Gavi the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) $315,000,000 Vaccine Delivery Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Plan International $32,994,317 Accrual Acctg Plan International USA
Plan International $32,994,317 Prog. Support Plan International USA
Plan International $32,411,365 Pledged Amount Plan International USA
Plan International $23,591,119 Invoiced Amount Plan International USA
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta $20,564,682 Support Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
United States Fund for Unicef $19,999,402 Polio Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Hadassah Medical Relief Association $19,227,500 Hadassah
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) $18,890,000 Conservation and Science David and Lucile Packard Foundation
United States Fund for Unicef $17,070,086 Polio Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere $15,500,000 Delivery of Solutions To Improve Global Health; Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Jhpiego Corporation $15,256,093 Operational Support Jsi Research and Training Institute
United States Fund for Unicef $13,058,659 Polio Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The One Campaign $13,000,000 Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases; Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis; Hiv; Nutrition; Pneumonia; Vaccine Delivery Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The One Campaign $13,000,000 Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases; Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis; Hiv; Pneumonia; Vaccine Delivery Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
International Rescue Committee (IRC) $11,803,347 PRGM. Implementation Sesame Workshop (SW)
United States Fund for Unicef $11,700,000 Polio Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Mass Design Group $11,191,763 Support for Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture - Africa Howard G Buffett Foundation (HGBF)
Vital Strategies $10,000,000 Public Awareness and Knowledge Sharing Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) $10,000,000 Core Support for the Reproductive Health and Womens Rights Collaborative The Ford Foundation
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) $10,000,000 Reproductive Health and Women's Rights Collaborative The JPB Foundation
Against Malaria Foundation Us $8,817,051 Operating Support GiveWell
Pact $8,808,768 Supporting Human Rights, Democratic Initiatives And/or Rule of Law Freedom House
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) $8,000,000 For Use By 100 Resilient Cities Toward the Costs of Winding Down Its Operations Rockefeller Foundation
Doctors without Borders USA $7,885,667 Project Support Tides 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 "International development organizations" category for this page is determined by the "Q30: International Development, Relief Services" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.