Grants for private foundations

4,251 private foundations received at least $1.6 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 3,195 grants made from 2,532 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 2,532 foundations, 86% made just a single grant to private foundations, and 1% made grants to four or more private foundations. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$1,629,806,269
Total grant dollars given to private foundations
3,195
Number of grants made annually to private foundations
2,532
Number of grantmakers funding private foundations
$1,000
Median grant size to private foundations

Foundations that support private foundations

Out of all grants made to private foundations, 82% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 78% of the dollar-value of grants to private foundations. Foundations funding private foundations also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, christian organizations, scholarship organizations, colleges, and educational service providers.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
2,092
Medium
 
249
Large
 
190
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
 
56
Private
 
2,181
Corporate
 
111
Other
 
184

Grants made

Grants made to private foundationsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
2,198
2-3
 
288
4-10
 
35
11+
 
11

Top 10 foundations supporting private foundations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to private foundationsNumber of grants made to private foundationsMedian grant size
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.1%30$2,250
Synchrony FoundationCTNational0.0%21$150
Charity Partners FoundationMANational0.1%21$9
Baird FoundationWINational0.3%18$387
Dollar General Employee Assistance FoundationTNNational1.9%16$2,000
NFL FoundationNYNational0.1%13$5,000
Community Foundation of North Central WiWIMetro0.4%13$350
Pg&e Psea Emergency Assistance FundCANational3.3%13$500
Carl and Camilla Rietman Charitable FoundationORNational9.5%11$2,500
Arkansas Community FoundationARState0.0%11$1,400

Private foundations grantees

Private foundations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 85% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 8% of all private foundations.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
3,121
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
74

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,000
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$2,000
>$5M
 
$2,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
New York
 
459
California
 
280
Florida
 
230
Pennsylvania
 
199
Other
 
2,027

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
457
Chicago
 
166
Washington DC
 
116
Los Angeles
 
113
Other
 
2,029

Top 25 grants made to private foundations

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Dogwood Health Trust$800,857,060Assistance To Local NonprofitAnc Healthcare
Adelson Family Foundation$116,292,396General Charitable PurposesDr Miriam and Sheldon G Adelson Charitable Trust
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)$45,365,385MbariDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation
Making Waves Foundation (MWF)$35,875,000Real Estate ExpensesScully Memorial Foundation
Dr Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation$29,293,459General Charitable PurposesDr Miriam and Sheldon G Adelson Charitable Trust
Noble Research Institute LLC$26,000,000Operating SupportThe Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Nature Conservation Trust$25,216,340Support for Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture - RwandaHoward G Buffett Foundation (HGBF)
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation$25,000,000Infrastructure - Rehabilitation for Substance Abuse - UsHoward G Buffett Foundation (HGBF)
Making Waves Foundation (MWF)$24,200,000Real Estate AcquisitionScully Memorial Foundation
Chicago CRED$23,565,000Fund Operations and ProgrammingThe Chicago Community Trust
Nature Conservation Trust$23,393,527Support for Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture - AfricaHoward G Buffett Foundation (HGBF)
Center To Combat Human Trafficking$20,110,215Community OutreachASU Foundation
Vogt Family Affiliated Fund of the OKC Community Community Foundation$20,000,015Endowment for Operating Funds of Diversion Hub Included in Maps4 Fbo Justice Involved IndividualsArnall Family Foundation
Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Health Care$20,000,000General SupportFamilyCare
Joy in Blue Foundation$19,841,197Endowment Grant (See Statement 17)Rathmann Family Foundation
Duke Endowment$19,600,000To Support Scaling PlanBlue Meridian Partners
Chick-fil-A Foundation$18,683,762Funding Support for Operations and Grant Making To Organizations That Support Youth Entrepreneurship, Innovative Education and Emerging Leader Development.A Good Name Foundation
Winshape Foundation$17,392,000Funding for OperationsA Good Name Foundation
Delta Dental Community Care Foundation$14,000,000Delta Dental of California
Delta Dental Community Care Foundation$14,000,000Enterprise Contribution To DDCCFDelta Dental of California
The Broad$12,000,000Towards Operating SupportEli and Edythe Broad Foundation
Wexner Foundation$11,000,000Support the Development of Jewish Professional and Volunteer LeadersThe Wexner Family Charitable Fund
Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation (JCNI)$10,942,544General Operating SupportJacobs Family Foundation
Charles Koch Foundation$10,000,000SupportZero Zero One
Grace and Mercy Foundation$9,500,000General SupportThe Fuller 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 "Private foundations" category for this page is determined by the "T20: Private Foundations" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.