What counts as science in this data?

Each organization is grouped by its NTEE code in the IRS Business Master File, the recipient's own cause classification. Science covers every organization the IRS places in that major group, and grants are counted by where the money lands.

What is the difference between the largest and the most committed funders of science?

The largest by dollars are Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc, but they spread money across many causes. The most committed concentrate on science: Intel Foundation gives 59.5× the national rate, with 77% of its grants going there.

How can a science nonprofit find funders?

Look beyond the biggest names to the specialists, the funders giving science an outsized share of their budget, and to the states where science money concentrates, led by California. Both are listed on this page.

How recent is this science 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.

Funding by cause

Who funds science

$6.1B reached 1,618 science organizations across the 2022 and 2023 filings. The money concentrates: the few largest organizations draw a heavy share of it.

$6.1B

granted

1,618

organizations

The short version

$6.1B in tracked US grants reached 1,618 science organizations across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings.
The single largest recipient, Navigation Charitable Fund, drew $1.3B, 21% of all tracked science funding.
The most committed funder is Intel Foundation, which gives 59.5× the national rate, with 77% of its grants going to science.
Most science money lands on organizations in California, 53% of the tracked total.

Funders most focused on science

Not the biggest checks, the most committed. Each funder's share of giving to science, 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.

Intel Foundation59.5×$23M · 77% of its giving Broadcom Foundation43.2×$10M · 60% of its giving Association of Universities for Research28.2×$49M · 34% of its giving The Kavli Foundation27.2×$25M · 33% of its giving Aphorism Foundation27.1×$30M · 33% of its giving Founders Pledge Inc24.1×$13M · 30% of its giving The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund For23×$47M · 27% of its giving Richard Lounsbery Foundation Inc18.5×$2M · 33% of its giving

Organizations that draw the most

The science organizations receiving the most grant money, sized by dollars. Pick one to see who funds it.

1,608 other science organizations$2.9B

Navigation Charitable Fund$1.3B Climateworks Foundation$840M Schmidt Ocean Institute$200M The Salk Institute for Biological Studies$192M

Where the money lands

The states whose organizations draw the most science money.

California$3.2B · 53%

Washington, D.C.$456M · 8%

Massachusetts$356M · 6%

New York$238M · 4%

Virginia$165M · 3%

Texas$163M · 3%

Largest funders of science

Silicon Valley Community Foundation$1.5B Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc$336M Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund$206M Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund$190M The David and Lucile Packard Foundation$177M The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation$157M National Philanthropic Trust$148M Johns Hopkins University$139M

Funders by organization size

Who funds science 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.

grassroots science$122M mid-size science$680M large science$3.3B

Questions and answers

What counts as science in this data?: Each organization is grouped by its NTEE code in the IRS Business Master File, the recipient's own cause classification. Science covers every organization the IRS places in that major group, and grants are counted by where the money lands.
What is the difference between the largest and the most committed funders of science?: The largest by dollars are Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc, but they spread money across many causes. The most committed concentrate on science: Intel Foundation gives 59.5× the national rate, with 77% of its grants going there.
How can a science nonprofit find funders?: Look beyond the biggest names to the specialists, the funders giving science an outsized share of their budget, and to the states where science money concentrates, led by California. Both are listed on this page.
How recent is this science 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

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

Cause is the organization's NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File. Grant figures are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, among recipients resolved by EIN. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.