Grants for scholarship organizations

1,755 scholarship and financial aid organizations received at least $136.2 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,575 grants made from 1,109 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 1,109 foundations, 87% made just a single grant to scholarship orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more scholarship orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$136,239,710
Total grant dollars given to scholarship organizations
1,575
Number of grants made annually to scholarship organizations
1,109
Number of grantmakers funding scholarship organizations
$1,000
Median grant size to scholarship organizations

Foundations that support scholarship and financial aid organizations

Out of all grants made to scholarship organizations, 77% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 97% of the dollar-value of grants to scholarship orgs. Foundations funding scholarship orgs also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, educational service providers, youth development programs, emergency assistance programs, and boys and girls clubs.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
859
Medium
 
130
Large
 
120
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
 
31
Private
 
907
Corporate
 
71
Other
 
100

Grants made

Grants made to scholarship orgsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
970
2-3
 
101
4-10
 
28
11+
 
10

Top 10 foundations supporting scholarship and financial aid organizations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to scholarship orgsNumber of grants made to scholarship orgsMedian grant size
Arkansas Community FoundationARState0.1%33$1,000
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%33$200
Baird FoundationWINational0.6%30$500
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.2%25$500
Westrock FoundationGANational0.1%23$21
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.3%22$200
Albemarle FoundationNCNational0.7%16$2,500
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%14$487
Alliant Energy FoundationWIState0.4%12$536
Land O'Lakes FoundationMNNational0.1%11$507

Scholarship and financial aid organizations grantees

Scholarship organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 91% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 22% of all scholarship orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
1,563
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
12

Grant amount by grantee size

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

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
New York
 
211
California
 
110
Florida
 
83
Texas
 
79
Other
 
1,092

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
228
Washington DC
 
83
Chicago
 
63
Minneapolis
 
52
Other
 
1,001

Top 25 grants made to scholarship organizations

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Say Yes Cleveland Scholarship$51,136,872Endowment DistributionThe Cleveland Foundation
Hispanic Scholarship Fund$22,475,758Grants & ScholarshipsUnited Negro College Fund
University of Mo Rolla Engineering MGMT$12,756,885Funding for Endowed Scholarships/chairs/progr Fellows and Scholars Program.UMKC Foundation
Purdue Foundation of Elkhart County$11,200,000Final Payment of Intercollegiate Athletics GrantSpartan Trail Foundation
Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF)$9,235,853Grants & ScholarshipsUnited Negro College Fund
University of Mo Rolla Engineering MGMT$5,269,442Develop Educational Resources and TrainingAmerican Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP)
Together Education$4,506,520For Relay Lab Schools ExpensesSan Antonio Area Foundation
Archdiocese of Cincinnati Foundation for Catholic Education$3,858,737AllocationsCatholic Community Foundation for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Delta Dental of Wisconsin Foundation$3,500,000Contribution of Delta Dental of Wisconsin Foundation To Support and Improve Oral Health of Wisconsin ResidentsDelta Dental of Wisconsin
Delta Dental of Wisconsin Foundation$3,500,000Cash ValueDelta Dental of Wisconsin
Children Scholarship Fund Philadelphia (CSFP)$3,000,000General FundSusquehanna Foundation
Scholarship Foundation of St Louis$2,803,200Annual Fund - SupportThe Crawford Taylor Foundation
The Scholarship Foundation of the Union League of Philadelphia$5,000Assistance for Charitable PurposeFoundation for Individual Liberty
Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation$5,000Scholarships for Low-Moderate Income StudentsBuell Foundation
Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation$5,000Supporting First RespondersThe Elias Genevieve and Georgianna Atol Charitable Trust
Hualalai Ohana Foundation$5,000Education/medical AssistanceTim and Mary Boyle Charitable Trust
uAspire$5,000Financial LiteracyTFC Financial Charitable Foundation
Fighting Back Scholarship Program$5,000CharitableThe Beeman Family Foundation
Page Education Foundation$5,000Support of Charitable ActivitiesBieber Family Foundation
The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria$5,000General Operating SupportBruhn-Morris Family Foundation
Quaker Ridge Employee Charity Fund$5,000CharitableTargoff Family Foundation
Harrison Ruritan Foundation$5,0002018 HWB Outstanding Community Service AwardsH and R Block Foundation
Malibu Womans Club$5,000Financial SupportRobert and Joan Blackman Family Foundation
The Unit Foundation$5,000General SupportLive Oak Foundation
University Academy Foundation$5,000MHBFF Board of Directors Matching Gift ProgramMarion and Henry Bloch 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 "Scholarship organizations" category for this page is determined by the "B82: Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.