How much grant money goes to large international organizations?

$40.1B reached 1,322 large international organizations from 25,907 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 · International · large

Who funds large international organizations

The funders that back large international organizations are specialists, not generalists: Plan International USA Inc gives them 23× the national rate, with 99% of its grants going here. Large international institutions draw a deep funder base, 20 on average, so the competition for their attention is intense.

$40.1B

granted

1,322

organizations

25,907

funders

The short version

25,907 funders gave $40.1B to 1,322 large international organizations (large ($10M and up)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Plan International USA Inc, giving 23× the national rate to large international organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Gates Foundation, at $6.1B.
The large international organization drawing the most is United States Fund for Unicef, at $2.3B.

Funders most focused on large international 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.

Plan International USA Inc23×$309M · 99% of its giving Mercy Ships International22.8×$121M · 100% of its giving Redhill Foundation - Rothberg Family Charity Trust22.6×$79M · 100% of its giving Family Health International Foundation22.4×$67M · 100% of its giving The Jewish Federations of North America Inc22.3×$2.3B · 96% of its giving American Israel Education Foundation Inc22.1×$51M · 100% of its giving Direct Relief Foundation22×$47M · 100% of its giving Thomas Lyle Williams Trust Bessemer Trust Company Na21.9×$43M · 100% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Gates Foundation$6.1B 2The Jewish Federations of North America Inc$2.3B 3The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation$849M 4The Rockefeller Foundation$486M 5Gavi Alliance$419M 6The Clear Fund$387M 7National Endowment for Democracy$364M 8Consortium for Elections & Political Process Strengthening$356M

Large international organizations that draw the most

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

1,312 other large international organizations$28B

United States Fund for Unicef$2.3B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a large international nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on large international organizations, currently Plan International USA Inc, Mercy Ships International, Redhill Foundation - Rothberg Family Charity 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 large organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: large ($10M and up). 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 large international organizations?: $40.1B reached 1,322 large international organizations from 25,907 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.