How do I find funders for a large recreation and sports nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on large recreation and sports organizations, currently Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, United States Olympic and Paralympic, The Big Ten Conference Inc. 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 recreation and sports organizations?

$3.3B reached 198 large recreation and sports organizations from 4,359 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 · Recreation and sports · large

Who funds large recreation and sports organizations

The funders that back large recreation and sports organizations are specialists, not generalists: Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association gives them 91.7× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here. Large recreation and sports institutions draw a deep funder base, 22 on average, so the competition for their attention is intense.

$3.3B

granted

198

organizations

4,359

funders

The short version

4,359 funders gave $3.3B to 198 large recreation and sports organizations (large ($10M and up)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, giving 91.7× the national rate to large recreation and sports organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is National Collegiate Athletic Association, at $699M.
The large recreation and sports organization drawing the most is Northwestern University, at $639M.

Funders most focused on large recreation and sports 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.

Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association91.7×$247M · 100% of its giving United States Olympic and Paralympic91×$133M · 100% of its giving The Big Ten Conference Inc90.7×$119M · 100% of its giving Gator Boosters Inc90.5×$108M · 100% of its giving Northwestern Memorial HealthCare89.7×$126M · 99% of its giving Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Inc86.6×$40M · 100% of its giving The United States Olympic and Paralympic Endowment82.6×$24M · 100% of its giving USA Hockey Foundation81.6×$28M · 97% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1National Collegiate Athletic Association$699M 2Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association$247M 3United States Olympic and Paralympic$135M 4United States Olympic and Paralympic$133M 5Northwestern Memorial HealthCare$126M 6The Big Ten Conference Inc$119M 7Gator Boosters Inc$108M 8The Rob Walton Foundation$59M

Large recreation and sports organizations that draw the most

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

188 other large recreation and sports organizations$1.3B

Northwestern University$639M Atlantic Coast Conference$212M Central Park Conservancy Inc$180M Southeastern Conference$176M United States Olympic and Paralympic$125M Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association$120M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a large recreation and sports nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on large recreation and sports organizations, currently Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, United States Olympic and Paralympic, The Big Ten Conference Inc. 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 recreation and sports organizations?: $3.3B reached 198 large recreation and sports organizations from 4,359 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.