Grants for social science research centers

Name: Top 25 grants made to social science research organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

873 social science research organizations received at least $246.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,524 grants made from 1,077 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 1,077 foundations, 82% made just a single grant to social science orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more social science orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$246,610,619

Total grant dollars given to social science research centers

1,524

Number of grants made annually to social science research centers

1,077

Number of grantmakers funding social science research centers

$1,500

Median grant size to social science research centers

Foundations that support social science research organizations

Out of all grants made to social science research centers, 71% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 76% of the dollar-value of grants to social science orgs. Foundations funding social science orgs also made grants to social science institutes, civil liberties organizations, universities, public sector improvement organizations, and legal aid societies.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	769
Medium	147
Large	161

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	32
Private	926
Corporate	46
Other	73

Grants made

Grants made to social science orgs	Number of grantmakers
1	893
2-3	141
4-10	37
11+	6

Top 10 foundations supporting social science research organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to social science orgs	Number of grants made to social science orgs	Median grant size
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.1%	37	$2,381
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.1%	25	$200
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	18	$225
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.1%	17	$500
Arkansas Community Foundation	AR	State	0.0%	12	$750
Land O'Lakes Foundation	MN	National	0.2%	11	$750
Woodford Foundation	CO	National	3.6%	10	$500
Annie E Casey Foundation (AECF)	MD	National	0.0%	9	$2,500
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust	AZ	Metro	0.2%	8	$5,000
Community Foundation of North Texas (NTXCF)	TX	State	0.1%	8	$300

See all grantmaking to social science research centers

Social science research organizations grantees

Social science research centers with more than $5 million in total revenues received 89% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 47% of all social science orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	1,485
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	39

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,950
$500k-$1M	$1,755
$1M-$5M	$1,500
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
District of Columbia	426
New York	160
California	153
Massachusetts	100
Other	685

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Washington DC	498
New York City	151
Boston	93
Chicago	87
Other	650

Top 25 grants made to social science research centers

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Pew Research Center	$42,100,000	Fair Value	The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew)
Pew Research Center	$39,000,000	Information	The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew)
The Education Finance Institute	$15,000,000	To Provide Covid-19 Support	Blue Meridian Partners
The Holdsworth Center	$13,000,000	Training Center Construction	The Charles Butt Foundation
Trustees for Harvard University	$11,177,807	Cost	Harvard University
Freedom Forum Institute	$7,615,137	General Support	Freedom Forum
Center for American Progress (CAP)	$6,000,000	General Support	Sandler Foundation
Results for America	$6,000,000	To Support Strategic Planning	Blue Meridian Partners
Charles Koch Institute (CKI)	$5,500,000	Support	Zero Zero One
University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF)	$5,010,019	Pediatric Cancer Research	Children's Cancer Research Fund
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)	$4,885,278	Agricultural Development	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
RSF Social Finance (RSF)	$4,256,266	General Support	New Field Foundation
University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF)	$3,877,088	College of Biological Sciences: Edith Walters Jones + Robert Jones Fellowship	The Minneapolis Foundation
Center for Global Development (CGD)	$3,691,987	International Education Research	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)	$3,550,348	Agricultural Development	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Economic Innovation Group (EIG)	$3,533,285	Employment	New Venture Fund
Economic Innovation Group (EIG)	$3,533,285	Employment	New Venture Fund
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)	$3,515,211	Agricultural Development	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Rim Foundation	$3,451,231	Distribution of Charitable Assets in Accordance With Vanguard Sale Agreement	Legacy DMC
American Bar Foundation	$3,443,994	Unrestricted Supports Law Related Research	American Bar Endowment
The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew)	$3,400,000	76818 Broadening the Community Opioid Response and	Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Center for Global Development (CGD)	$3,348,550	International Development	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Urban Institute	$3,324,102	Us Poverty and Mobility Analysis	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Pew Research Center	$3,152,588	Fair Value	The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew)
Pew Research Center	$3,100,000	Information	The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew)

See all grants to social science research centers

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 "Social science research centers" category for this page is determined by the "V00: Social Science Research: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.