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 67.2× the national rate, with 31% 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

$6.0B reached 1,432 social science organizations across the 2022 and 2023 filings. The money concentrates: the few largest organizations draw a heavy share of it.

$6.0B

granted

1,432

organizations

The short version

$6.0B in tracked US grants reached 1,432 social science organizations across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings.
The single largest recipient, The Aspen Institute Inc, drew $627M, 10% of all tracked social science funding.
The most committed funder is The Pew Charitable Trusts, which gives 67.2× the national rate, with 31% of its grants going to social science.
Most social science money lands on organizations in Washington, D.C., 40% 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 Trusts67.2×$368M · 31% of its giving JP Humphreys Foundation46.1×$2M · 28% of its giving Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation42.8×$41M · 20% of its giving Atlas Economic Research Foundation39.2×$3M · 22% of its giving Smith Richardson Foundation Inc33.3×$18M · 16% of its giving Peter G Peterson Foundation33.1×$19M · 15% of its giving Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated32.5×$32M · 15% of its giving State Policy Network29.3×$4M · 15% 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.

1,422 other social science organizations$3.3B

The Aspen Institute Inc$627M The Urban Institute$377M Pew Research Center$363M The Rand Corporation$303M

Where the money lands

The states whose organizations draw the most social science money.

Washington, D.C.$2.4B · 40%

California$951M · 16%

New York$338M · 6%

Virginia$207M · 4%

Massachusetts$135M · 2%

Illinois$96M · 2%

Largest funders of social science

The Pew Charitable Trusts$368M Gates Foundation$308M Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund$246M The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation$215M Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc$159M National Philanthropic Trust$141M The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation$138M The Ford Foundation$132M

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$161M mid-size social science$820M large social science$3.6B

Questions and answers

What counts as social 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. Social 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 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 67.2× the national rate, with 31% 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 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 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

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.