Grants for scholarship organizations

1,755 scholarship and financial aid organizations received at least $136.2 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,575 grants made from 1,109 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 1,109 foundations, 87% made just a single grant to scholarship orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more scholarship orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$136,239,710
Total grant dollars given to scholarship organizations
1,575
Number of grants made annually to scholarship organizations
1,109
Number of grantmakers funding scholarship organizations
$1,000
Median grant size to scholarship organizations

Foundations that support scholarship and financial aid organizations

Out of all grants made to scholarship organizations, 77% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 97% of the dollar-value of grants to scholarship orgs. Foundations funding scholarship orgs also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, educational service providers, youth development programs, emergency assistance programs, and boys and girls clubs.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
859
Medium
 
130
Large
 
120
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
 
31
Private
 
907
Corporate
 
71
Other
 
100

Grants made

Grants made to scholarship orgs Number of grantmakers
1
 
970
2-3
 
101
4-10
 
28
11+
 
10

Top 10 foundations supporting scholarship and financial aid organizations

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to scholarship orgs Number of grants made to scholarship orgs Median grant size
Arkansas Community Foundation AR State 0.1% 33 $1,000
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.0% 33 $200
Baird Foundation WI National 0.6% 30 $500
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.2% 25 $500
Westrock Foundation GA National 0.1% 23 $21
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.3% 22 $200
Albemarle Foundation NC National 0.7% 16 $2,500
JP Morgan Chase Foundation NY National 0.0% 14 $487
Alliant Energy Foundation WI State 0.4% 12 $536
Land O'Lakes Foundation MN National 0.1% 11 $507

Scholarship and financial aid organizations grantees

Scholarship organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 91% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 22% of all scholarship orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
1,563
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
12

Grant amount by grantee size

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

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
New York
 
211
California
 
110
Florida
 
83
Texas
 
79
Other
 
1,092

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
228
Washington DC
 
83
Chicago
 
63
Minneapolis
 
52
Other
 
1,001

Top 25 grants made to scholarship organizations

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
Say Yes Cleveland Scholarship $51,136,872 Endowment Distribution The Cleveland Foundation
Hispanic Scholarship Fund $22,475,758 Grants & Scholarships United Negro College Fund
University of Mo Rolla Engineering MGMT $12,756,885 Funding for Endowed Scholarships/chairs/progr Fellows and Scholars Program. UMKC Foundation
Purdue Foundation of Elkhart County $11,200,000 Final Payment of Intercollegiate Athletics Grant Spartan Trail Foundation
Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) $9,235,853 Grants & Scholarships United Negro College Fund
University of Mo Rolla Engineering MGMT $5,269,442 Develop Educational Resources and Training American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP)
Together Education $4,506,520 For Relay Lab Schools Expenses San Antonio Area Foundation
Archdiocese of Cincinnati Foundation for Catholic Education $3,858,737 Allocations Catholic Community Foundation for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Delta Dental of Wisconsin Foundation $3,500,000 Contribution of Delta Dental of Wisconsin Foundation To Support and Improve Oral Health of Wisconsin Residents Delta Dental of Wisconsin
Delta Dental of Wisconsin Foundation $3,500,000 Cash Value Delta Dental of Wisconsin
Children Scholarship Fund Philadelphia (CSFP) $3,000,000 General Fund Susquehanna Foundation
Scholarship Foundation of St Louis $2,803,200 Annual Fund - Support The Crawford Taylor Foundation
The Scholarship Foundation of the Union League of Philadelphia $5,000 Assistance for Charitable Purpose Foundation for Individual Liberty
Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation $5,000 Scholarships for Low-Moderate Income Students Buell Foundation
Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation $5,000 Supporting First Responders The Elias Genevieve and Georgianna Atol Charitable Trust
Hualalai Ohana Foundation $5,000 Education/medical Assistance Tim and Mary Boyle Charitable Trust
uAspire $5,000 Financial Literacy TFC Financial Charitable Foundation
Fighting Back Scholarship Program $5,000 Charitable The Beeman Family Foundation
Page Education Foundation $5,000 Support of Charitable Activities Bieber Family Foundation
The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria $5,000 General Operating Support Bruhn-Morris Family Foundation
Quaker Ridge Employee Charity Fund $5,000 Charitable Targoff Family Foundation
Harrison Ruritan Foundation $5,000 2018 HWB Outstanding Community Service Awards H and R Block Foundation
Malibu Womans Club $5,000 Financial Support Robert and Joan Blackman Family Foundation
The Unit Foundation $5,000 General Support Live Oak Foundation
University Academy Foundation $5,000 MHBFF Board of Directors Matching Gift Program Marion and Henry Bloch Family 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 "Scholarship organizations" category for this page is determined by the "B82: Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.