Grants for public sector improvement organizations

665 public sector reform and improvement organizations received at least $184.9 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,128 grants made from 816 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 816 foundations, 81% made just a single grant to public sector orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more public sector orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$184,945,492
Total grant dollars given to public sector improvement organizations
1,128
Number of grants made annually to public sector improvement organizations
816
Number of grantmakers funding public sector improvement organizations
$1,000
Median grant size to public sector improvement organizations

Foundations that support public sector reform and improvement organizations

Out of all grants made to public sector improvement organizations, 75% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 75% of the dollar-value of grants to public sector orgs. Foundations funding public sector orgs also made grants to civil liberties organizations, social science institutes, nonprofit publishers, colleges, and religious organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
618
Medium
 
99
Large
 
99
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
 
18
Private
 
709
Corporate
 
34
Other
 
55

Grants made

Grants made to public sector orgsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
664
2-3
 
120
4-10
 
30
11+
 
2

Top 10 foundations supporting public sector reform and improvement organizations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to public sector orgsNumber of grants made to public sector orgsMedian grant size
Seattle FoundationWAState0.0%16$1,565
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.0%13$86
Arthur G Jaros Sr & Dawn L Jaros Charitable TrustILNational3.8%8$3,000
Steiner King FoundationOHNational12.0%8$2,075
The Rhode Island FoundationRIMetro0.0%8$1,100
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.1%8$1,000
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%8$110
The Catherine V and Martin Hofmann FoundationPANational2.6%8$275
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%7$250
The Robertson-Finley FoundationTXNational11.7%6$3,000

Public sector reform and improvement organizations grantees

Public sector improvement organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 87% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 52% of all public sector orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
1,099
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
29

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$2,000
$100k-$500k
 
$2,000
$500k-$1M
 
$2,500
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
District of Columbia
 
401
Virginia
 
164
New York
 
100
California
 
79
Other
 
384

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
Washington DC
 
561
New York City
 
99
Chicago
 
52
Los Angeles
 
34
Other
 
338

Top 25 grants made to public sector improvement organizations

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Consortium For Elections and Political Process Strengthening$33,737,830Democracy AssistanceConsortium For Elections and Political Process Strengthening
Center for International Private Enterprise$18,557,946PluralismNational Endowment for Democracy
New Venture Fund$9,817,396General Nonprofit SupportSilicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Code for America$9,500,000To Provide Covid-19 SupportBlue Meridian Partners
New Venture Fund$8,345,000Delivery of Solutions To Improve Global Health; Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases; Family Planning; Financial Services for the Poor; Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis; Inform and Engage Communities; Malaria; Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health; Pneumonia; Research and Learning Opportunities; Tobacco Control; Vaccine Delivery; Water, Sanitation and HygieneBill & Melinda Gates Foundation
New Venture Fund$7,500,000For Use By Co-Impact, A Global Collaborative for Systems Change, Toward the Costs of Funding Systems Change Efforts in Health, Education and Economic Opportunity Focusing on Underserved Populations With the Greatest NeedRockefeller Foundation
New Venture Fund$7,336,715Family Interest GrantmakingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation
New Venture Fund$7,329,402To Implement the Seafood Collaboration for the Oceans and Seafood Markets Initiative.Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation
New Venture Fund$7,300,000To Support Scaling PlanBlue Meridian Partners
New Venture Fund$6,484,192To Support A Finance Hub That Will Support Implementation of the Conservation and Markets Initiative's Goal of Increasing Awareness of Natural Resource Risk Among Financial Institutions.Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation
Nevadans for Secure Elections$6,250,000Civil Rights, Social Action, AdvocacySixteen Thirty Fund
New Venture Fund$5,000,0002020 Census ProjectThe JPB Foundation
New Venture Fund$4,603,100Conservation and ScienceDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation
American Action Network (AAN)$4,500,000General ContributionPharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Progress North Carolina$4,500,000Citizen EngagementProgressnow Now Education
2040 Foundation$3,725,000Support for Clean Energy Innovation Initiatives2040 Foundation
New Venture Fund$3,570,000Promote Revitalization of Distressed CommunitiesSean N. Parker Foundation
Fwdus Education Fund$3,537,563ActualChan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation
Fwdus Education Fund$3,537,563General Operating SupportChan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation
New Venture Fund$3,362,428Charitable Purposes of the OrganizationRodan Family Foundation
Center for Responsible Lending$3,000,000General SupportSandler Foundation
FreedomWorks$2,910,278Actual ExpensesFreedomWorks Foundation
FreedomWorks$2,893,337Allocated Based on Employee TimeFreedomWorks Foundation
New Venture Fund$2,758,354Research, Analysis, Investigation and Advocacy - in Support of the Enough Project and the SentryThesentryorg
Grow Boating$2,596,946CashNational Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA)
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 sector improvement organizations" category for this page is determined by the "W20: Government and Public Administration" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.