How do I find funders for a grassroots education nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots education organizations, currently St Petersburg College Foundation, Shelton Landmark Foundation, 661 Foundation. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

What counts as a grassroots organization here?

Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.

How much grant money goes to grassroots education organizations?

$2.9B reached 21,000 grassroots education organizations from 18,622 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Education · grassroots

Who funds grassroots education organizations

The funders that back grassroots education organizations are specialists, not generalists: St Petersburg College Foundation gives them 86.8× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here. These are the small organizations the big-institution funders usually miss, so the funders that show up here are the ones worth a small education nonprofit's time.

$2.9B

granted

21,000

organizations

18,622

funders

The short version

18,622 funders gave $2.9B to 21,000 grassroots education organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is St Petersburg College Foundation, giving 86.8× the national rate to grassroots education organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is South Carolina First Steps To, at $20M.
The grassroots education organization drawing the most is University of California Los Angeles, at $38M.

Funders most focused on grassroots education organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

St Petersburg College Foundation86.8×$14M · 100% of its giving Shelton Landmark Foundation82.6×$11M · 100% of its giving 661 Foundation82.4×$13M · 96% of its giving Southwest Transplant Alliance Inc72.7×$7M · 100% of its giving Pathways in Education Illinois70.3×$6M · 100% of its giving Steven Gordon Family Foundation60×$4M · 98% of its giving UNMC Physicians59.4×$4M · 98% of its giving South Carolina First Steps To57.2×$20M · 59% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to grassroots education organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1South Carolina First Steps To$20M 2New Schools Fund$16M 3The Moody Foundation$15M 4St Petersburg College Foundation$14M 5North Carolina Partnership For$14M 6Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral$13M 7661 Foundation$13M 8WK Kellogg Foundation$12M

Grassroots education organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

20,990 other grassroots education organizations$2.8B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots education nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots education organizations, currently St Petersburg College Foundation, Shelton Landmark Foundation, 661 Foundation. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a grassroots organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.
How much grant money goes to grassroots education organizations?: $2.9B reached 21,000 grassroots education organizations from 18,622 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

Strange bedfellows

the named clusters of US funding

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; cause is the recipient's NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.