How do I find funders for a mid-size science nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on mid-size science organizations, currently Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science, Yc Org, Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

How much grant money goes to mid-size science organizations?

$2.3B reached 898 mid-size science organizations from 3,555 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 · mid-size

Who funds mid-size science organizations

The funders that back mid-size science organizations are specialists, not generalists: Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science gives them 281.3× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here.

$2.3B

granted

898

organizations

3,555

funders

The short version

3,555 funders gave $2.3B to 898 mid-size science organizations (mid-size ($1M to $10M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science, giving 281.3× the national rate to mid-size science organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Good Ventures Foundation, at $76M.
The mid-size science organization drawing the most is OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc, at $94M.

Funders most focused on mid-size 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.

Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science281.3×$27M · 100% of its giving Yc Org274.9×$22M · 100% of its giving Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation252.2×$75M · 83% of its giving Deitch Family Charitable Support Trust231.5×$8M · 100% of its giving Emerging Light Foundation Inc225.3×$8M · 97% of its giving Foothold205.6×$6M · 98% of its giving Nc State University Partnership Corporation204.5×$6M · 100% of its giving Moshiri Family Foundation203.5×$6M · 100% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1Good Ventures Foundation$76M 2Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation$75M 3Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation$56M 4John Templeton Foundation$38M 5Gates Foundation$29M 6American Cancer Society Inc$27M 7Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science$27M 8The Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust$24M

Mid-size science organizations that draw the most

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

888 other mid-size science organizations$1.8B

OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc$94M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a mid-size science nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on mid-size science organizations, currently Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science, Yc Org, Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation. 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 mid-size organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: mid-size ($1M to $10M). 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 mid-size science organizations?: $2.3B reached 898 mid-size science organizations from 3,555 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 endowment market

who holds foundation money, and what just moved

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

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.