Grants for public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations

3,192 public sector, public cooperatives, and veteran organizations received at least $294.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 3,999 grants made from 2,614 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 2,614 foundations, 78% made just a single grant to public policy orgs, and 4% made grants to four or more public policy orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$294,619,851
Total grant dollars given to public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations
3,999
Number of grants made annually to public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations
2,614
Number of grantmakers funding public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations
$1,000
Median grant size to public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations

Foundations that support public sector, public cooperatives, and veteran organizations

Out of all grants made to public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations, 79% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 55% of the dollar-value of grants to public policy orgs. Foundations funding public policy orgs also made grants to religious organizations, international humanitarian organizations, christian organizations, scholarship organizations, and colleges.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
2,079
Medium
 
273
Large
 
260
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
 
68
Private
 
2,180
Corporate
 
117
Other
 
249

Grants made

Grants made to public policy orgs Number of grantmakers
1
 
2,059
2-3
 
442
4-10
 
97
11+
 
16

Top 10 foundations supporting public sector, public cooperatives, and veteran organizations

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to public policy orgs Number of grants made to public policy orgs Median grant size
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.1% 51 $137
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.1% 42 $50
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.3% 41 $625
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) TN Metro 0.1% 35 $774
JP Morgan Chase Foundation NY National 0.0% 34 $327
Baird Foundation WI National 0.3% 28 $148
Synchrony Foundation CT National 0.1% 27 $130
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.1% 26 $1,565
Carmax Foundation VA National 0.2% 26 $500
Westrock Foundation GA National 0.0% 23 $33

Public sector, public cooperatives, and veteran organizations grantees

Public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 86% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 49% of all public policy orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
3,951
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
48

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$1,500
$100k-$500k
 
$1,500
$500k-$1M
 
$2,000
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$575

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
Florida
 
645
District of Columbia
 
645
California
 
333
Virginia
 
257
Other
 
2,119

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
Washington DC
 
917
Jacksonville, FL
 
529
New York City
 
239
Chicago
 
132
Other
 
1,962

Top 25 grants made to public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
Consortium For Elections and Political Process Strengthening $33,737,830 Democracy Assistance Consortium For Elections and Political Process Strengthening
Center for International Private Enterprise $18,557,946 Pluralism National Endowment for Democracy
Tides Advocacy $18,355,262 Project Support Tides Foundation
New Venture Fund $9,817,396 General Nonprofit Support Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Code for America $9,500,000 To Provide Covid-19 Support Blue Meridian Partners
Tides Advocacy $8,723,000 Further Mission Wikimedia Foundation (WMF)
New Venture Fund $8,345,000 Delivery of Solutions To Improve Global Health; Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases; Family Planning; Financial Services for the Poor; Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis; Inform and Engage Communities; Malaria; Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health; Pneumonia; Research and Learning Opportunities; Tobacco Control; Vaccine Delivery; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bob Woodruff Foundation $7,885,258 Salute To Service Grant NFL Foundation
Self-Help Credit Union $7,839,803 Highest Balance in 2019 Center for Community Self-Help
New Venture Fund $7,500,000 For Use By Co-Impact, A Global Collaborative for Systems Change, Toward the Costs of Funding Systems Change Efforts in Health, Education and Economic Opportunity Focusing on Underserved Populations With the Greatest Need Rockefeller Foundation
New Venture Fund $7,336,715 Family Interest Grantmaking Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
New Venture Fund $7,329,402 To Implement the Seafood Collaboration for the Oceans and Seafood Markets Initiative. Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation
New Venture Fund $7,300,000 To Support Scaling Plan Blue Meridian Partners
Public Citizen $6,922,002 Actual Expenses Reimbursed Public Citizen Foundation
New Venture Fund $6,484,192 To Support A Finance Hub That Will Support Implementation of the Conservation and Markets Initiative's Goal of Increasing Awareness of Natural Resource Risk Among Financial Institutions. Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation
Nevadans for Secure Elections $6,250,000 Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy Sixteen Thirty Fund
Priorities USA $6,000,156 Digital Communications and Voter Access Litigation Priorities USA Foundation
City of New Haven in Municipal Building Corporation $5,817,722 Communty Benefit Dev Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH)
Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County Florida $5,352,650 Mental Health Substance Abuse South Florida Behavioral Health Network
New Venture Fund $5,000,000 2020 Census Project The JPB Foundation
New Venture Fund $4,603,100 Conservation and Science David and Lucile Packard Foundation
American Action Network (AAN) $4,500,000 General Contribution Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Progress North Carolina $4,500,000 Citizen Engagement Progressnow Now Education
Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) $4,470,000 Propelnext 2.0 The Edna Mcconnell Clark Foundation
Public Citizen $4,321,714 Allocation Based on Timesheets Public Citizen 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 "Public sector, public co-ops, and veteran organizations" category for this page is determined by the "W00: Public Policy, Public Services Institutions: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.