Grants for religious organizations

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

23,701 religious organizations and churches received at least $4.3 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 27,989 grants made from 9,617 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 9,617 foundations, 57% made just a single grant to churches, and 14% made grants to four or more churches. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$4,301,394,702

Total grant dollars given to religious organizations

27,989

Number of grants made annually to religious organizations

9,617

Number of grantmakers funding religious organizations

$1,000

Median grant size to religious organizations

Foundations that support religious organizations and churches

Out of all grants made to religious organizations, 86% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 59% of the dollar-value of grants to churches. Foundations funding churches also made grants to christian organizations, jewish organizations, multiservice human service organizations, and educational institutions.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	8,346
Medium	745
Large	518

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	138
Private	8,410
Corporate	310
Other	759

Grants made

Grants made to churches	Number of grantmakers
1	5,520
2-3	2,656
4-10	1,160
11+	281

Top 10 foundations supporting religious organizations and churches

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to churches	Number of grants made to churches	Median grant size
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	1.8%	458	$390
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.8%	338	$1,000
Greater Chicago Food Depository	IL	Metro	48.3%	273	$1,500
Baird Foundation	WI	National	4.9%	271	$500
Ani Mamin Foundation	NY	Metro	12.2%	268	$120
Arthur J Gallagher Foundation	IL	National	17.6%	248	$1,000
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	2.0%	201	$250
Church Mutual Insurance Company Foundation	WI	National	11.3%	196	$725
Ralph J Harary Foundation	NY	Metro	15.0%	187	$1,000
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	1.4%	171	$1,000

See all grantmaking to religious organizations

Religious organizations and churches grantees

Religious organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 89% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 40% of all churches.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	27,769
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	220

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,000
$500k-$1M	$1,137
$1M-$5M	$1,000
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	7,484
California	2,782
Texas	1,567
Florida	1,369
Other	14,787

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	7,798
Los Angeles	1,482
Chicago	1,200
Dallas	712
Other	15,050

Top 25 grants made to religious organizations

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Mercy Health Oklahoma Communities (MHOC)	$359,442,962	FMV	MHM Support Services
Mercy Health	$337,175,454	FMV	MHM Support Services
Ascension Health	$275,358,235	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	Ascension Michigan at Work (PPPH)
Ascension Health	$171,533,171	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	St Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center
United Israel Appeal	$168,577,117	See Part Iv	The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)
United Israel Appeal	$168,577,117	Grant	The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)
Ascension Health	$165,274,039	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	Sacred Heart Health System
Ascension Health	$122,282,504	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	Ascension Michigan at Work (PPPH)
Adventist Health Simi Valley	$121,386,680	Notes Payable	Adventist Health
JFMC Facilities Corporation	$111,245,000	Outstanding Debt & Loan Guarantee	Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF)
Ascension Health	$73,703,309	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	St Vincent
Adventist Health	$69,057,727	Operating Exp	Glendale Adventist Medical Center (GAMC)
Adventist Health	$59,901,346	Operating Exp	Adventist Health Bakersfield
Ascension Health	$59,087,785	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Ascension Saint Thomas West
Ascension Health	$57,524,080	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital
Ascension Health	$57,084,274	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	St Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center
Ascension Health	$54,171,652	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	St Mary's Medical Center of Saginaw
Ascension Health	$53,814,385	Actual Amount Paid/transferred	St Vincent's Birmingham - 036
St Vincent's East	$43,521,247	Fair Market Value	St Vincent's Health System
St Vincent's East	$43,521,247	Fair Market Value	St Vincent's Health System
Adventist Health	$41,327,982	Operating Exp	Adventist Health Sonora
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF)	$41,280,354	To Support A Range of Nonprofit Organizations Which Address Humanitarian, Health and Welfare Needs.	Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago
Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana	$40,423,098	General Support	Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN)
Youngstown Area Jewish Foundation	$37,594,193	Fair Market Value	Youngstown Area Jewish Federation
Youngstown Area Jewish Foundation	$37,594,193	Investments	Youngstown Area Jewish Federation

See all grants to religious organizations

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 "Religious organizations" category for this page is determined by the "X00: Religion: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.