How do I find funders for a grassroots human services nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots human services organizations, currently Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC, Cornerstone Family Healthcare, Third Space 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 human services organizations?

$3.2B reached 21,571 grassroots human services organizations from 22,640 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 · Human services · grassroots

Who funds grassroots human services organizations

The funders that back grassroots human services organizations are specialists, not generalists: Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC gives them 84.6× the national rate, with 96% 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 human services nonprofit's time.

$3.2B

granted

21,571

organizations

22,640

funders

The short version

22,640 funders gave $3.2B to 21,571 grassroots human services organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC, giving 84.6× the national rate to grassroots human services organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC, at $41M.
The grassroots human services organization drawing the most is Pines of Sarasota Inc, at $42M.

Funders most focused on grassroots human services 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.

Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC84.6×$41M · 96% of its giving Cornerstone Family Healthcare79.3×$16M · 100% of its giving Third Space Foundation75.7×$12M · 100% of its giving Young Men's Christian Association of the East Bay65.4×$7M · 100% of its giving The Dell Loy Hansen Foundation58×$6M · 89% of its giving Legacy Treatment Services Inc54.5×$4M · 100% of its giving Arts Business Collaborative Inc50.6×$3M · 100% of its giving Virginia Henry Charitable Trust48.4×$3M · 100% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC$41M 2Alliance for Housing Oakland County Continuum of Care$20M 3Cornerstone Family Healthcare$16M 4Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral$12M 5Third Space Foundation$12M 6WK Kellogg Foundation$12M 7Friends of the Children$8M 8Lilly Endowment Inc$8M

Grassroots human services organizations that draw the most

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

21,561 other grassroots human services organizations$3.1B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots human services nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots human services organizations, currently Pines of Sarasota Healthcare LLC, Cornerstone Family Healthcare, Third Space 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 human services organizations?: $3.2B reached 21,571 grassroots human services organizations from 22,640 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.