How do I find funders for a grassroots employment nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots employment organizations, currently International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund, Educational Results Partnership, Local 44 JATC Educational Development Trust. 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 employment organizations?

$1.1B reached 4,770 grassroots employment organizations from 6,912 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: International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund gives them 600.5× 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.

$1.1B

granted

4,770

organizations

6,912

funders

The short version

6,912 funders gave $1.1B to 4,770 grassroots employment organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund, giving 600.5× the national rate to grassroots employment organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Fresno Area Workforce Investment Corporation, at $22M.
The grassroots employment organization drawing the most is American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Org, at $20M.

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.

International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund600.5×$8M · 100% of its giving Educational Results Partnership502.6×$5M · 100% of its giving Local 44 JATC Educational Development Trust483.8×$4M · 100% of its giving Fresno Area Workforce Investment Corporation420.1×$22M · 55% of its giving Human Resources Center Inc410.2×$3M · 100% of its giving NORTHERN AREA LOCAL WORK FORCE Development Board390.8×$11M · 55% of its giving Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio Inc387.5×$3M · 100% of its giving Tomche Shabbos of Rockland County Inc365×$3M · 89% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Fresno Area Workforce Investment Corporation$22M 2NORTHERN AREA LOCAL WORK FORCE Development Board$11M 3International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund$8M 4Gates Foundation$7M 5Goodwill Industries of San Diego County$7M 6Lowes Foundation$6M 7The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation$6M 8Robin Hood Foundation$5M

Grassroots employment organizations that draw the most

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

4,760 other grassroots employment organizations$1.1B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots employment nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots employment organizations, currently International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund, Educational Results Partnership, Local 44 JATC Educational Development Trust. 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 employment organizations?: $1.1B reached 4,770 grassroots employment organizations from 6,912 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.