How do I find funders for a grassroots public benefit nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots public benefit organizations, currently Western Native Voice Education Project, Linda Hall Library Trusts, League of Women Voters Education Fund. 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 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 grassroots public benefit organizations?

$1.5B reached 5,642 grassroots public benefit organizations from 8,191 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 · Public benefit · grassroots

Who funds grassroots public benefit organizations

The funders that back grassroots public benefit organizations are specialists, not generalists: Western Native Voice Education Project gives them 358.5× 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 public benefit nonprofit's time.

$1.5B

granted

5,642

organizations

8,191

funders

The short version

8,191 funders gave $1.5B to 5,642 grassroots public benefit organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Western Native Voice Education Project, giving 358.5× the national rate to grassroots public benefit organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Donors Trust Inc, at $36M.
The grassroots public benefit organization drawing the most is Georgia Alliance Education Fund Inc, at $16M.

Funders most focused on grassroots public benefit 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.

Western Native Voice Education Project358.5×$4M · 96% of its giving Linda Hall Library Trusts315.6×$3M · 100% of its giving League of Women Voters Education Fund304.1×$3M · 100% of its giving Progress Now Education303.3×$14M · 54% of its giving Otefe Foundation Inc253.9×$2M · 99% of its giving Unite America Institute Inc247.5×$11M · 44% of its giving National Lawyers Guild Foundation Inc240.7×$3M · 59% of its giving The Bayer Family Fund225.5×$2M · 83% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Donors Trust Inc$36M 2The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation$26M 3Voter Registration Project$16M 4Progress Now Education$14M 5Unite America Institute Inc$11M 6NEO Philanthropy Inc$11M 7Democracy Fund Inc$10M 8Alliance for Youth Organizing$9M

Grassroots public benefit organizations that draw the most

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

5,632 other grassroots public benefit organizations$1.4B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots public benefit nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots public benefit organizations, currently Western Native Voice Education Project, Linda Hall Library Trusts, League of Women Voters Education Fund. 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 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 grassroots public benefit organizations?: $1.5B reached 5,642 grassroots public benefit organizations from 8,191 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.