How do I find funders for a large social science nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on large social science organizations, currently Glenn Foundation for Medical, The Urban Land Institute, Hevolution Foundation US. 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 social science organizations?

$1.2B reached 45 large social science organizations from 1,163 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 · Social science · large

Who funds large social science organizations

The funders that back large social science organizations are specialists, not generalists: Glenn Foundation for Medical gives them 189.3× the national rate, with 91% of its grants going here. Large social science institutions draw a deep funder base, 26 on average, so the competition for their attention is intense.

$1.2B

granted

organizations

1,163

funders

The short version

1,163 funders gave $1.2B to 45 large social science organizations (large ($10M and up)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Glenn Foundation for Medical, giving 189.3× the national rate to large social science organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is The Pew Charitable Trusts, at $123M.
The large social science organization drawing the most is The Aspen Institute Inc, at $251M.

Funders most focused on large social 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.

Glenn Foundation for Medical189.3×$11M · 91% of its giving The Urban Land Institute166.8×$5M · 99% of its giving Hevolution Foundation US151.8×$4M · 100% of its giving Accenture Foundation Inc123×$3M · 90% of its giving Pleroma Inc122.4×$3M · 100% of its giving The Lewis Foundation105.1×$5M · 54% of its giving Memorial Hermann Health System91.6×$24M · 37% of its giving The Carmel Hill Fund86.3×$4M · 44% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1The Pew Charitable Trusts$123M 2Gates Foundation$70M 3Laura and John Arnold Foundation$30M 4Memorial Hermann Health System$24M 5Mastercard Impact Fund$22M 6John D and Catherine T Macarthur$18M 7The Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc$16M 8Carnegie Corporation of New York$15M

Large social science organizations that draw the most

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

35 other large social science organizations$339M

The Aspen Institute Inc$251M The Urban Institute$138M Pew Research Center$122M The Brookings Institution$95M Rsf Social Finance Inc$47M American Institutes for Research in The$34M Social Science Research Council$33M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a large social science nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on large social science organizations, currently Glenn Foundation for Medical, The Urban Land Institute, Hevolution Foundation US. 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 social science organizations?: $1.2B reached 45 large social science organizations from 1,163 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.