Grants for universities

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

700 universities received at least $3.6 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 7,679 grants made from 3,785 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $2,000. Of these 3,785 foundations, 70% made just a single grant to universities, and 7% made grants to four or more universities. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$3,596,986,694

Total grant dollars given to universities

7,679

Number of grants made annually to universities

3,785

Number of grantmakers funding universities

$2,000

Median grant size to universities

Foundations that support universities

Out of all grants made to universities, 80% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 60% of the dollar-value of grants to universities. Foundations funding universities also made grants to colleges, educational institutions, christian organizations, and educational service providers.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	3,030
Medium	371
Large	382

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	98
Private	3,186
Corporate	139
Other	362

Grants made

Grants made to universities	Number of grantmakers
1	2,675
2-3	808
4-10	235
11+	67

Top 10 foundations supporting universities

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to universities	Number of grants made to universities	Median grant size
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	1.7%	142	$250
Fidelity Foundation	MA	National	9.5%	131	$1,000
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.4%	116	$1,000
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.8%	100	$850
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.3%	93	$390
Baird Foundation	WI	National	1.8%	88	$500
Tulsa Community Foundation	OK	National	0.3%	69	$5,000
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.2%	63	$1,000
The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation	MN	Metro	0.6%	60	$5,000
Johnson Controls Foundation	WI	National	0.9%	58	$1,025

See all grantmaking to universities

Universities grantees

Universities with more than $5 million in total revenues received 99% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 99% of all universities.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	7,411
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	268

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$880
$100k-$500k	$1,000
$500k-$1M	$1,000
$1M-$5M	$2,250
>$5M	$2,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	893
Pennsylvania	787
Massachusetts	712
Illinois	555
Other	4,732

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Boston	596
Chicago	525
Philadelphia	473
New York City	463
Other	5,117

Top 25 grants made to universities

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
New York University (NYU)	$882,312,690	Support Clinical, Educational, and Research Activities of Nyu School of Medicine.	Nyu Langone Hospitals
Stanford University	$121,264,579	Book	Stanford Health Care
Stanford University	$113,641,277	Children's Health	Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health
Harvard University	$100,000,000	Support for Education and Research	Blavatnik Family Foundation
Stanford University	$77,672,477	Access To Care and Research Support	Stanford Health Care
Washington University in St. Louis (Wash. U)	$54,451,315	Research, Patient Support, Education, MD Recruitment	The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois	$54,285,219	Cash	Big Ten Conference (B1G)
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois	$54,285,219	To Support the Missions of Member Institutions	Big Ten Conference (B1G)
Northwestern University	$54,276,781	Cash	Big Ten Conference (B1G)
Northwestern University	$54,276,781	To Support the Missions of Member Institutions	Big Ten Conference (B1G)
Stanford University	$48,010,136	Book	Stanford Health Care
Baylor University (BU)	$39,942,188	Cash	Big Twelve Conference
Baylor University (BU)	$39,942,188	Annual Distribution	Big Twelve Conference
Texas Christian University (TCU)	$37,093,936	Cash	Big Twelve Conference
Texas Christian University (TCU)	$37,093,936	Annual Distribution	Big Twelve Conference
Stanford University	$33,856,623	Annual Distribution To Support Member Institutions	PAC-12 Conference
University of Southern California (USC)	$33,601,641	Annual Distribution To Support Member Institutions	PAC-12 Conference
Boston College	$32,408,502	Allocation of General Support	Atlantic Coast Conference
University of Miami (UM)	$32,290,818	Allocation of General Support	Atlantic Coast Conference
University of Pittsburgh	$32,221,006	Allocation of General Support	Atlantic Coast Conference
Wake Forest University (WFU)	$32,053,592	Allocation of General Support	Atlantic Coast Conference
Duke University	$31,140,673	Allocation of General Support	Atlantic Coast Conference
Syracuse University (SU)	$31,106,635	Allocation of General Support	Atlantic Coast Conference
Northwestern University	$28,852,048	Academic and Other Support	Northwestern Memorial HealthCare (NMHC)
Emory University	$27,650,000	Discovery and Translational Sciences; Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases; Malaria; Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health; MNCH Discovery and Tools; Neglected Tropical Diseases; Pneumonia; Vaccine Development	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

See all grants to universities

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 "Universities" category for this page is determined by the "B43: University or Technological Institute" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.