Who funds science
$33.6B reached 12,507 science organizations across the 2022 and 2023 filings. The money concentrates: the few largest organizations draw a heavy share of it.
The short version
- $33.6B in tracked US grants reached 12,507 science organizations across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings.
- The single largest recipient, Navigation Charitable Fund, drew $1.3B, 4% of all tracked science funding.
- The most committed funder is Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc, which gives 39× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going to science.
- Most science money lands on organizations in California, 14% 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.
Organizations that draw the most
The science 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 science money.
Largest funders of science
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.
Questions and answers
- What counts as science 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. Science covers every grant placed there, 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 Gates Foundation, but they spread money across many causes. The most committed concentrate on science: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc gives 39× the national rate, with 100% 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
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.