Grants for international humanitarian organizations

1,879 humanitarian organizations received at least $682.1 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 5,038 grants made from 2,975 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 2,975 foundations, 75% made just a single grant to humanitarian orgs, and 4% made grants to four or more humanitarian orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$682,087,739
Total grant dollars given to international humanitarian organizations
5,038
Number of grants made annually to international humanitarian organizations
2,975
Number of grantmakers funding international humanitarian organizations
$1,000
Median grant size to international humanitarian organizations

Foundations that support humanitarian organizations

Out of all grants made to international humanitarian organizations, 86% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 90% of the dollar-value of grants to humanitarian orgs. Foundations funding humanitarian orgs also made grants to international development organizations, multiservice human service organizations, animal shelters, food banks, and religious organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
2,576
Medium
 
228
Large
 
170
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
 
63
Private
 
2,663
Corporate
 
122
Other
 
127

Grants made

Grants made to humanitarian orgs Number of grantmakers
1
 
2,260
2-3
 
589
4-10
 
97
11+
 
29

Top 10 foundations supporting humanitarian organizations

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to humanitarian orgs Number of grants made to humanitarian orgs Median grant size
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.5% 101 $100
Baxter IL National 0.6% 91 $150
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.3% 89 $285
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.6% 74 $1,000
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.1% 66 $1,000
JP Morgan Chase Foundation NY National 0.0% 63 $501
Salesforce Com Foundation CA National 0.1% 47 $100
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) NJ National 0.0% 44 $500
Baird Foundation WI National 0.6% 39 $400
Carmax Foundation VA National 0.4% 37 $500

Humanitarian organizations grantees

International humanitarian organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 98% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 69% of all humanitarian orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
4,993
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
45

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$1,200
$100k-$500k
 
$1,131
$500k-$1M
 
$1,000
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
New York
 
1,884
California
 
328
Massachusetts
 
252
Florida
 
239
Other
 
2,335

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
1,934
Boston
 
243
Bridgeport
 
214
Miami
 
189
Other
 
2,358

Top 25 grants made to international humanitarian 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
United States Fund for Unicef $17,070,086 Polio Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
United States Fund for Unicef $13,058,659 Polio 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
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
Doctors without Borders USA $7,885,667 Project Support Tides Foundation
Robin Hood Foundation / Tudor Charitable TR $5,600,000 General Operating Support for RHF'S Grantmaking Programs MJS Foundation
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta $5,231,004 General Support Lettie Pate Evans Foundation
Save the Children Federation $5,193,517 Sub-Award Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Pact $5,030,089 Fhi 360
Robin Hood Foundation / Tudor Charitable TR $5,000,000 Gift To Support the Robin Hood Relief Fund in Response To Covid-19 MJS Foundation
Mercy Corps $4,936,600 Project Support Tides Foundation
Mercy Corps $4,718,525 International Development Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Robin Hood Foundation / Tudor Charitable TR $4,334,000 Fight Poverty in Nyc. Robbins Family Foundation
United States Fund for Unicef $4,100,396 Nutrition Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Path Vaccine Solutions (PVS) $4,000,000 Pneumonia Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Capital for Good USA $4,000,000 Project Support: Community Fund To End Child Marriage Novo 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 humanitarian organizations" category for this page is determined by the "Q33: International Relief" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.