Grants for domestic violence shelters

1,316 women and family violence shelters received at least $15.4 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 2,598 grants made from 1,677 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 1,677 foundations, 84% made just a single grant to domestic abuse orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more domestic abuse orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$15,360,656
Total grant dollars given to domestic violence shelters
2,598
Number of grants made annually to domestic violence shelters
1,677
Number of grantmakers funding domestic violence shelters
$1,500
Median grant size to domestic violence shelters

Foundations that support women and family violence shelters

Out of all grants made to domestic violence shelters, 79% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 67% of the dollar-value of grants to domestic abuse orgs. Foundations funding domestic abuse orgs also made grants to food banks, multiservice human service organizations, youth development programs, food distribution programs, and homeless shelters.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
1,341
Medium
 
186
Large
 
150
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
 
53
Private
 
1,381
Corporate
 
100
Other
 
143

Grants made

Grants made to domestic abuse orgsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
1,425
2-3
 
186
4-10
 
44
11+
 
22

Top 10 foundations supporting women and family violence shelters

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to domestic abuse orgsNumber of grants made to domestic abuse orgsMedian grant size
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.2%95$800
Community Foundation of Collier CountyFLNational0.5%58$2,000
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%47$350
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.1%37$500
Westrock FoundationGANational0.1%33$18
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%29$100
Charity Partners FoundationMANational1.1%27$32
The MakeSense FoundationOKNational7.2%17$2,500
Community Foundation of North Central WiWIMetro0.7%17$1,000
Carmax FoundationVANational0.2%17$1,000

Women and family violence shelters grantees

Domestic violence shelters with more than $5 million in total revenues received 69% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 29% of all domestic abuse orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
2,595
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
3

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$2,727
$100k-$500k
 
$1,500
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,500

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
California
 
196
Florida
 
167
Texas
 
166
New York
 
158
Other
 
1,911

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
137
Chicago
 
106
Des Moines
 
101
Naples
 
84
Other
 
1,863

Top 25 grants made to domestic violence shelters

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland Ohio$4,497,777Annual Allocation, Youthabilities, Holocaust Survivors, Home Delivered Meals, Forward Focus, Coronavirus Relief, Response To Dementia, Scholarships, Capital Campaign, Annual Campaign, General SupportJewish Federation of Cleveland
Women in Distress of Broward County$2,779,400Payment for Support of General Function of Domestic Abuse Shelters and Related EntitiesFlorida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV)
Center for Child and Family Advocacy at Nationwide Childrens Hospital$2,693,262To Support Child Advocacy ProgramsNationwide Children's Hospital
Underground Railroad$5,000General SupportOrville and Helaine Lutz Memorial Trust
Shelter for Help in Emergency$5,000CharitableGayla S Harris and Kenneth M Bielak
Peace at Home Family Shelter$5,000CharitableDon S Harris and Debra D Harris Family Charitable Trust
Young Women's Christian Association of Memphis Tennessee$5,000Common GroundThe Turley Foundation
Turning Point$5,000General Operating SupportL and H Foundation
Community Crisis Services$5,000HealthThe Columbus Foundation
New Horizons Shelter and Outreach Centers$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Africentric Personal Development Shop (APDS)$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Concerned Citizens Against Violence Against Women$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Concerned Citizens Against Violence Against Women$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Safe Harbor$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Haven House of Pickaway County$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
The James House Intervention / Prevention Services$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Ywca of San Diego County$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Choices for Victims of Domestic Violence$5,000Social ServicesThe Columbus Foundation
Coburn Place Safehaven Ii$5,000To Fund OperationsMCR Foundation
The Julian Center$5,000To Fund OperationsMCR Foundation
Samaritan House$5,000Domestic ViolenceKelly and Linda Thorp Foundation
Wisconsin Rapids Family Center$5,000OperationsRobert W Clark Charitable Foundation
Women Aware$5,000Matching GiftsRobert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Alexandra House$5,000Human ServicesThe Richard M Schulze Family Foundation
Family Shelter Service$5,000EntreprenuershipThe Richard M Schulze 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 "Domestic violence shelters" category for this page is determined by the "P43: Family Violence Shelters and Services" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.