What counts as social science in this data?

Each organization is grouped by its NTEE code in the IRS Business Master File, the recipient's own cause classification. Social 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 social science?

The largest by dollars are The Pew Charitable Trusts and Gates Foundation, but they spread money across many causes. The most committed concentrate on social science: The Pew Charitable Trusts gives 54.1× the national rate, with 33% of its grants going there.

How can a social science nonprofit find funders?

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

How recent is this social 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 social science

$3.2B reached 583 social science organizations across the 2022 and 2023 filings. The money concentrates: the few largest organizations draw a heavy share of it.

$3.2B

granted

583

organizations

The short version

$3.2B in tracked US grants reached 583 social science organizations across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings.
The single largest recipient, The Aspen Institute Inc, drew $449M, 14% of all tracked social science funding.
The most committed funder is The Pew Charitable Trusts, which gives 54.1× the national rate, with 33% of its grants going to social science.
Most social science money lands on organizations in Washington, D.C., 56% of the tracked total.

Funders most focused on social science

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

The Pew Charitable Trusts54.1×$286M · 33% of its giving Mastercard Impact Fund39.1×$38M · 25% of its giving Peter G Peterson Foundation31.8×$12M · 21% of its giving Open Society Institute26.9×$68M · 17% of its giving American Institutes for Research in The23.8×$2M · 18% of its giving Smith Richardson Foundation Inc23.6×$9M · 15% of its giving Center on Budget and Policy Priorities20.1×$8M · 13% of its giving The Urban Institute18.7×$3M · 13% of its giving

Organizations that draw the most

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

573 other social science organizations$1.5B

The Aspen Institute Inc$449M The Urban Institute$285M Pew Research Center$282M The Brookings Institution$196M

Where the money lands

The states whose organizations draw the most social science money.

Washington, D.C.$1.8B · 56%

New York$509M · 16%

Virginia$205M · 6%

California$197M · 6%

Massachusetts$118M · 4%

Illinois$78M · 2%

Largest funders of social science

The Pew Charitable Trusts$286M Gates Foundation$192M Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund$132M The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation$125M The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation$71M Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc$68M Open Society Institute$68M Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program$66M

Funders by organization size

Who funds social 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 social science$68M mid-size social science$352M large social science$1.2B

Questions and answers

What counts as social science in this data?: Each organization is grouped by its NTEE code in the IRS Business Master File, the recipient's own cause classification. Social 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 social science?: The largest by dollars are The Pew Charitable Trusts and Gates Foundation, but they spread money across many causes. The most committed concentrate on social science: The Pew Charitable Trusts gives 54.1× the national rate, with 33% of its grants going there.
How can a social science nonprofit find funders?: Look beyond the biggest names to the specialists, the funders giving social science an outsized share of their budget, and to the states where social science money concentrates, led by Washington, D.C.. Both are listed on this page.
How recent is this social 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.