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Aiaa Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Aiaa Foundation

The purpose of the AIAA FOUNDATION, in conjunction with aiaa, is to promote education and recognize excellence within the aerospace community by inspiring and supporting the next generation of aerospace professionals, practicing aerospace professionals, and the institutions engaged in aerospace education and practice.

$313k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$616kScience & Tech$93kYouth Development$10kEnvironment$8kPublic Benefit$8k
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 10 grants below total $109,250, the rows itemized in this filing. The $313,099 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $203,849 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$10,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$23M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PURDUE UNIVERSITY$15,000
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$13,000
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO$11,000
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE$10,250
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY$10,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$10,000
SPELMAN COLLEGE$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON$10,000
HOWARD UNIVERSITY$10,000
WHEATON COLLEGE$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 77% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $20k → 8%WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: $10k → 11%WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE: $10k → 12%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $10k → 7%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $22k → 8%CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY: $10k → 12%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $10k → 14%RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: $10k → 11%ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $10k → 14%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $10k → 16%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $10k → 17%RICE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: $10k → 14%HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $10k → 10%EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY: $14k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON: $10k → 10%SUMMERTOWN ELEMENTARY: $10k → 14%GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $40k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $11k → 12%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $15k → 19%WASHINGTON FIRST ROBOTICS: $15k → 9%WHEATON COLLEGE: $10k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $10k → 19%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: $10k → 8%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $10k → 11%GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: $10k → 6%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $10k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: $100k → 11%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $13k → 8%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $10k → 7%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $10k → 14%RICE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 16%GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $13k → 13%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $15k → 19%FIRST WASHINGTON: $12k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $10k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: $15k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $11k → 14%GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $8k → 13%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $8k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: $13k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $10k → 14%GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $8k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $10k → 14%SPELMAN COLLEGE: $10k → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
WI
NY
MA
WY
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
AR
TN
DC
AL
GA
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 18% of Aiaa Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Aiaa Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 8.2% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

54%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$329k · 7 repeat orgs$279k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +63% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
23

Total granted

$329k
$218k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+13%

Still filing today

57%
39%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 31% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $61k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationPublic BenefitOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WASHINGTON FIRST ROBOTICS
    2× · 2018–2019 · $27k · revenue +63%
  • EA
    EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC
    2× · 2017–2022 · $24k · revenue +76%
  • WM
    William Marsh Rice University
    2× · 2018–2019 · $20k · revenue +63%

Funded once

  • PU
    PURDUE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $15k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
  • University of Illinois Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +49%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
2
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
3
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
4
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
5
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
6
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
7
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
8
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
9
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

—
10
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
11
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
12
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is an independent, research-oriented university with broadly based strengths in health, including medicine, nursing and dentistry; in engineering; in the arts and sciences; and in law, management and social…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Worcester Polytechnic Institute; the most unlike its peers is Allegheny County Airport Authority Charitable Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

22 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 22 of the 41 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/22
Grantees still filing
15/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $128,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARKGEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $82,000 · OtherGEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $28,250 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITYWASHINGTON FIRST ROBOTICS: $27,000 · OtherWASHINGTON FIRST ROBOTICSPURDUE UNIVERSITY: $15,000 · Other+16 more: $146,400 · Other+16 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $42,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD J…Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $33,000 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $31,100 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAEMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC: $23,500 · EducationEMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INCCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $20,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYWilliam Marsh Rice University: $20,000 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice UniversityThe George Washington University: $10,000 · EducationUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $10,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EducationWASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE: $10,000 · EducationRochester Institute of Technology: $10,000 · EducationTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · EducationWheaton College: $10,000 · EducationRensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $10,000 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton University: $10,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $10,000 · EducationCornell University: $10,000 · EducationFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY INC: $10,000 · EducationSpelman College: $10,000 · EducationAllegheny County Airport Authority Charitable Foundation: $7,500 · Public Benefit
Other$426,650Education$299,600Public Benefit$7,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $42,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $33,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $31,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON FIRST ROBOTICS: $27,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetEMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC: $23,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: $10,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRochester Institute of Technology: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWheaton College: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSpelman College: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAllegheny County Airport Authority Charitable Foundation: $7,500 over 1y, 5.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Tulsa Community Found…Silicon Valley Commun…
Tulsa Community FoundationOK13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tulsa Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Aiaa Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Aiaa Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute: 8% of income from government
  • Florida Institute of Technology Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 41 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Aiaa’s filings →

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