Grants for charter schools

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

1,116 charter schools received at least $80.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 807 grants made from 478 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 478 foundations, 83% made just a single grant to charter schools, and 6% made grants to four or more charter schools. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$80,554,254

Total grant dollars given to charter schools

807

Number of grants made annually to charter schools

478

Number of grantmakers funding charter schools

$1,500

Median grant size to charter schools

Foundations that support charter schools

Out of all grants made to charter schools, 68% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 98% of the dollar-value of grants to charter schools. Foundations funding charter schools also made grants to high schools, educational service providers, youth development programs, multiservice human service organizations, and student service providers.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	328
Medium	71
Large	79

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	14
Private	366
Corporate	48
Other	50

Grants made

Grants made to charter schools	Number of grantmakers
1	400
2-3	46
4-10	22
11+	10

Top 10 foundations supporting charter schools

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to charter schools	Number of grants made to charter schools	Median grant size
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.1%	29	$482
Dollar General Literacy Foundation	TN	National	0.5%	25	$2,500
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.1%	22	$1,500
New York Life Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	21	$500
Greathearts Arizona	AZ	Metro	32.2%	18	$2,741,471
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.4%	18	$500
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	18	$225
Us Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology	NH	National	0.4%	13	$1,838
Land O'Lakes Foundation	MN	National	0.1%	13	$200
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.1%	11	$500

See all grantmaking to charter schools

Charter schools grantees

Charter schools with more than $5 million in total revenues received 82% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 65% of all charter schools.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	788
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	19

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$2,500
$500k-$1M	$2,600
$1M-$5M	$1,600
>$5M	$1,403

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
California	128
Illinois	55
New York	49
Tennessee	48
Other	527

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Chicago	55
Los Angeles	51
New York City	50
Nashville	42
Other	574

Top 25 grants made to charter schools

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Imagine Schools	$13,827,764	Cost	Imagine Schools
Making Waves Academy	$7,050,000	General Support	Scully Memorial Foundation
Archway Classical Academy Scottsdale	$5,093,846	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Anthem Preparatory Academy	$4,494,966	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Kipp Socal Public Schools	$4,425,417	Education	Karsh Family Foundation
KIPP Public Schools NC	$4,364,000	Education	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Archway Classical Academy Lincoln	$3,841,434	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Archway Classical Academy Veritas	$3,763,089	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Kipp Columbus	$3,530,500	To Create A System of Schools Where Students Develop the Intellectual, Academic, and Social Skills Needed To Understand and Take Action on Issues They Encounter in Everyday Life.	The Wexner Family Charitable Fund
Green Dot Public Schools Washington State	$3,507,922	Education and Human Service Needs	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Arete Preparatory Academy	$3,270,001	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Archway Classical Academy Arete	$2,852,511	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Archway Classical Academy Chandler	$2,821,042	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Cicero Preparatory Academy	$2,757,014	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Equitas Academy Charter School	$2,750,000	Facility and School Growth	Great Public Schools Now
North Phoenix Preparatory Academy	$2,747,035	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Archway Classical Academy Cicero	$2,735,908	FMV	Greathearts Arizona
Washington State Charter Schools Association	$2,714,654	Education and Human Service Needs	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools	$2,500,000	Operating Support in Response To the Covid-19 Pandemic ($1 Million) and Capital Support To Complete Kipp Soul ($1.5 Million).	Joseph B Whitehead Foundation
New America Schools Network (NAS)	$5,000	General	Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego
Kipp Columbus	$5,000	Secondary Education	Columbus Jewish Foundation
Achievement First	$5,000	To Equip Minority Students To Perform at the Same High Levels As Their Peers in Wealthy Communities.	The Orchard Farm Foundation
Lift For Life Academy (LFLA)	$5,000	Support Daily Operations	Stifel Foundation
King Center Charter School (KCCS)	$5,000	Charitable	Igo Family Foundation
E.L. Haynes Public Charter School	$5,000	K-12 Education	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

See all grants to charter schools

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 "Charter schools" category for this page is determined by the "B29: Charter Schools" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.