Who funds public benefit
$21.9B reached 20,958 public benefit organizations across the 2022 and 2023 filings. The money concentrates: the few largest organizations draw a heavy share of it.
The short version
- $21.9B in tracked US grants reached 20,958 public benefit organizations across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings.
- The single largest recipient, The Barack Obama Foundation, drew $594M, 3% of all tracked public benefit funding.
- The most committed funder is Center for Technology and Civic Life, which gives 59.8× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going to public benefit.
- Most public benefit money lands on organizations in Washington, D.C., 28% of the tracked total.
Funders most focused on public benefit
Not the biggest checks, the most committed. Each funder's share of giving to public benefit, against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank. The multiple is how many times the national rate it gives.
Organizations that draw the most
The public benefit organizations receiving the most grant money, sized by dollars. Pick one to see who funds it.
Where the money lands
The states whose organizations draw the most public benefit money.
Largest funders of public benefit
Funders by organization size
Who funds public benefit organizations at each size, with the funders most focused on them. Useful if you are small and the big-institution funders are not a fit.
Questions and answers
- What counts as public benefit in this data?
- Each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission; where that is unclear we fall back to the recipient's IRS activity category. Public benefit covers every grant placed there, counted by where the money lands.
- What is the difference between the largest and the most committed funders of public benefit?
- The largest by dollars are Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund and Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc, but they spread money across many causes. The most committed concentrate on public benefit: Center for Technology and Civic Life gives 59.8× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going there.
- How can a public benefit nonprofit find funders?
- Look beyond the biggest names to the specialists, the funders giving public benefit an outsized share of their budget, and to the states where public benefit money concentrates, led by Washington, D.C.. Both are listed on this page.
- How recent is this public benefit funding data?
- It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the two years with complete coverage. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.
More from the funding graph
Each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission; where that is unclear we fall back to the recipient's IRS activity category. Grant figures are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.