How do I find funders for a large science nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on large science organizations, currently Hudsonalpha Foundation, Atcc Global, American Type Culture Collection. 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 science organizations?

$3.3B reached 146 large science organizations from 1,254 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 · Science · large

Who funds large science organizations

The funders that back large science organizations are specialists, not generalists: Hudsonalpha Foundation gives them 82.5× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here. Large science institutions draw a deep funder base, 9 on average, so the competition for their attention is intense.

$3.3B

granted

146

organizations

1,254

funders

The short version

1,254 funders gave $3.3B to 146 large science organizations (large ($10M and up)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Hudsonalpha Foundation, giving 82.5× the national rate to large science organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Future of Life Institute, at $82M.
The large science organization drawing the most is Navigation Charitable Fund, at $1.3B.

Funders most focused on large science 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.

Hudsonalpha Foundation82.5×$27M · 100% of its giving Atcc Global82×$26M · 100% of its giving American Type Culture Collection82×$26M · 100% of its giving Eaa Aviation Foundation Inc81.2×$24M · 100% of its giving Future of Life Institute77.9×$82M · 88% of its giving Triumph Gulf Coast Inc73.9×$14M · 98% of its giving Robertson Research Fund Inc72.6×$11M · 100% of its giving National Academy of Engineering Fund71.6×$14M · 93% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Future of Life Institute$82M 2The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation$68M 3The Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc$68M 4Johns Hopkins University$66M 5Internet Society Foundation$60M 6Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation$56M 7Gates Foundation$46M 8The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund For$43M

Large science organizations that draw the most

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

Navigation Charitable Fund$1.3B

136 other large science organizations$955M

Climateworks Foundation$450M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a large science nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on large science organizations, currently Hudsonalpha Foundation, Atcc Global, American Type Culture Collection. 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 science organizations?: $3.3B reached 146 large science organizations from 1,254 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.