How do I find funders for a grassroots employment nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots employment organizations, currently Grays Harbor College Foundation, Ann Louise Foundation, Dress for Success Worldwide. 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 employment organizations?

$202M reached 1,057 grassroots employment organizations from 2,279 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 · Employment · grassroots

Who funds grassroots employment organizations

The funders that back grassroots employment organizations are specialists, not generalists: Grays Harbor College Foundation gives them 677.6× 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 employment nonprofit's time.

$202M

granted

1,057

organizations

2,279

funders

The short version

2,279 funders gave $202M to 1,057 grassroots employment organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Grays Harbor College Foundation, giving 677.6× the national rate to grassroots employment organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Robin Hood Foundation, at $4M.
The grassroots employment organization drawing the most is Kindwork Inc, at $5M.

Funders most focused on grassroots employment 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.

Grays Harbor College Foundation677.6×$2M · 100% of its giving Ann Louise Foundation459.5×$1M · 100% of its giving Dress for Success Worldwide261.5×$1M · 30% of its giving Potoff Private Philanthropy253.1×$700k · 59% of its giving Reed Next Inc209.5×$636k · 40% of its giving Oneprojectorg193.3×$580k · 37% of its giving Give2asia181.6×$900k · 20% of its giving Global Fund for Women Inc178.4×$640k · 26% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Robin Hood Foundation$4M 2Grays Harbor College Foundation$2M 3WK Kellogg Foundation$2M 4Lilly Endowment Inc$2M 5The Colorado Health Foundation$2M 6Longwood Foundation Inc$2M 7Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation$2M 8High Meadows Foundation$2M

Grassroots employment organizations that draw the most

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

1,047 other grassroots employment organizations$179M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots employment nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots employment organizations, currently Grays Harbor College Foundation, Ann Louise Foundation, Dress for Success Worldwide. 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 employment organizations?: $202M reached 1,057 grassroots employment organizations from 2,279 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.