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

Start with the funders most focused on large medical research organizations, currently Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc, Stanley Family Foundation, Van Andel Institute. 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 its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.

How much grant money goes to large medical research organizations?

$4.0B reached 140 large medical research organizations from 3,684 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 · large

Who funds large medical research organizations

The funders that back large medical research organizations are specialists, not generalists: Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc gives them 75.1× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here. Large medical research institutions draw a deep funder base, 26 on average, so the competition for their attention is intense.

$4.0B

granted

140

organizations

3,684

funders

The short version

3,684 funders gave $4.0B to 140 large medical research organizations (large ($10M and up)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc, giving 75.1× the national rate to large medical research organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Van Andel Institute, at $440M.
The large medical research organization drawing the most is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc, at $574M.

Funders most focused on large 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.

Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc75.1×$141M · 100% of its giving Stanley Family Foundation74.5×$178M · 99% of its giving Van Andel Institute73.7×$440M · 97% of its giving Don'T Ever Give Up Inc72.8×$56M · 100% of its giving The Translational Genomics Research Institute Foundation70.8×$36M · 100% of its giving Gladstone Foundation69.5×$29M · 100% of its giving Richard and Susan Smith 1990 Charitable67×$20M · 100% of its giving Virginia Mason Medical Center65.6×$18M · 99% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Van Andel Institute$440M 2Stanley Family Foundation$178M 3Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$153M 4City of Hope$142M 5Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc$141M 6Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation$138M 7American Cancer Society Inc$130M 8Gates Foundation$115M

Large medical research organizations that draw the most

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

130 other large medical research organizations$1.6B

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc$574M The Broad Institute Inc$492M Van Andel Research Institute$447M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a large medical research nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on large medical research organizations, currently Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc, Stanley Family Foundation, Van Andel Institute. 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 its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.
How much grant money goes to large medical research organizations?: $4.0B reached 140 large medical research organizations from 3,684 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.