How do I find funders for a grassroots medical research nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots medical research organizations, currently Kids Connect Charitable Fund, Schwarz Family Foundation Inc, Southwestern Medical 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 medical research organizations?

$179M reached 1,035 grassroots medical research organizations from 2,023 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 · Medical research · grassroots

Who funds grassroots medical research organizations

The funders that back grassroots medical research organizations are specialists, not generalists: Kids Connect Charitable Fund gives them 602.1× the national rate, with 48% 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 medical research nonprofit's time.

$179M

granted

1,035

organizations

2,023

funders

The short version

2,023 funders gave $179M to 1,035 grassroots medical research organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Kids Connect Charitable Fund, giving 602.1× the national rate to grassroots medical research organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, at $6M.
The grassroots medical research organization drawing the most is Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation, at $7M.

Funders most focused on grassroots medical research 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.

Kids Connect Charitable Fund602.1×$4M · 48% of its giving Schwarz Family Foundation Inc601.2×$2M · 75% of its giving Southwestern Medical Foundation578.2×$2M · 76% of its giving Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation547.8×$6M · 39% of its giving The William V Campbell516.5×$2M · 77% of its giving Guillermo J Valenzuela Foundation433.3×$1M · 81% of its giving Rga Foundation374.6×$1M · 59% of its giving The Clayman Foundation277.6×$668k · 60% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation$6M 2Jewish Federation of Greater$6M 3Kids Connect Charitable Fund$4M 4Gates Foundation$2M 5Johns Hopkins University$2M 6Schwarz Family Foundation Inc$2M 7Southwestern Medical Foundation$2M 8The Foundation Fighting Blindness Inc$2M

Grassroots medical research organizations that draw the most

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

1,025 other grassroots medical research organizations$141M

Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation$7M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots medical research nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots medical research organizations, currently Kids Connect Charitable Fund, Schwarz Family Foundation Inc, Southwestern Medical 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 medical research organizations?: $179M reached 1,035 grassroots medical research organizations from 2,023 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.