How do I find funders for a grassroots education nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots education organizations, currently Moraga Education Foundation, Mid-American Athletic Conference Inc, Noble Network of Charter Schools. 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 where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.

How much grant money goes to grassroots education organizations?

$9.7B reached 41,718 grassroots education organizations from 33,183 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: Moraga Education Foundation gives them 84.1× 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.

$9.7B

granted

41,718

organizations

33,183

funders

The short version

33,183 funders gave $9.7B to 41,718 grassroots education organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Moraga Education Foundation, giving 84.1× the national rate to grassroots education organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Lilly Endowment Inc, at $422M.
The grassroots education organization drawing the most is Indiana Lifelong Learning Projects Inc, at $400M.

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.

Moraga Education Foundation84.1×$20M · 100% of its giving Mid-American Athletic Conference Inc83.8×$19M · 100% of its giving Noble Network of Charter Schools83.7×$19M · 100% of its giving Schuler Education Foundation83.6×$43M · 92% of its giving Animas High School83.5×$19M · 100% of its giving The Links Foundation Incorporated83.4×$32M · 94% of its giving Grove Park Foundation Inc78.9×$15M · 97% of its giving Holyoke Public Library Corp78.3×$13M · 100% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Lilly Endowment Inc$422M 2South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees$112M 3Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association$95M 4North Carolina Partnership for Children Inc$80M 5Robin Hood Foundation$64M 6Walton Family Foundation Inc$48M 7Schuler Education Foundation$43M 8Gates Foundation$39M

Grassroots education organizations that draw the most

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

41,708 other grassroots education organizations$8.9B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots education nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots education organizations, currently Moraga Education Foundation, Mid-American Athletic Conference Inc, Noble Network of Charter Schools. 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 where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.
How much grant money goes to grassroots education organizations?: $9.7B reached 41,718 grassroots education organizations from 33,183 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 unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

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; each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear. 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.