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American Astronomical Society at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

American Astronomical Society

The AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY (aas), established in 1899, is the major organization of professional astronomers in north america.

$942k
Granted FY2024still arriving
3
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$231k
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 2024.

Recreation & Sports$403kScience & Tech$198kEducation$144kHousing & Shelter$38kSocial Science$22kArts & Culture$5k
02FY2024 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 3 grants below total $266,437, the rows itemized in this filing. The $941,589 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $675,152 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.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $231k
$25,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$26M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$231,437
JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$25,000
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY$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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 85% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION: $5k → 6%SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATION: $24k → 8%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $13k → 10%COMMUNITY INITATIVES: $13k → 10%OHANA WA'A: $5k → 15%CORNELL UNIVERSITY-CIS: $5k → 16%ITHAKA: $5k → 17%THE STORY COLLIDER: $8k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $231k → 14%AMERICAN INSTITUTION OF PHYSICS: $5k → 11%JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $30k → 19%NANTUCKET MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION INC: $5k → 6%SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATION: $23k → 8%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $7k → 10%COMMUNITY INITATIVES: $10k → 10%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $5k → 16%ITHAKA: $5k → 17%SCIENCECOUNTS INC: $5k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $171k → 14%SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICS OBSERVATORY: $23k → 8%COMMUNITY INITATIVES: $8k → 10%SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICS OBSERVATORY: $10k → 8%COMMUNITY INITATIVES: $8k → 10%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $5k → 8%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

IL
NY
MA
CA
MD
DC
HI
GA

Grants abroad, by region: $176k on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 4 regions, $30k to organizations and $146k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$105k · 60% · 1 grant · 5 people

Stated purpose: STIPEND

East Asia and the Pacific$42k · 24% · 3 people

Stated purpose: STIPEND

North America (Canada and Mexico)$15k · 8% · 1 person

Stated purpose: STIPEND

South America$15k · 8% · 1 person

Stated purpose: STIPEND

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
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 69% of American Astronomical Society’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

American Astronomical Societylessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 77% 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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$781k · 10 repeat orgs$24k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
4

Total granted

$781k
$24k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+122%

Still filing today

80%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationScience & TechRecreation & SportsHousing & ShelterSocial ScienceOther
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

  • Northwestern University
    2× · 2023–2024 · $403k · revenue +26%
  • SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
    4× · 2018–2023 · $125k · revenue +30%
  • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2018–2024 · $115k · revenue +51%

Funded once

  • TS
    THE STORY COLLIDER INC
    one grant, 2018 · $8k · revenue -64%
  • SF
    SOCIETY FOR ADVANCEMENT OF CHICANOS AND NATIVE AMERICANS IN SCIENCEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $6k · revenue +122%
  • OW
    OHANA WAAgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +124%
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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
2
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
3
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
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
American Astronomical Society

The american astronomical society (aas), established in 1899, is the major organization of professional astronomers in north america. the basic objective of the aas is to promote the advancement of astronomy and closely related branches of…

Science & Tech
6
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
7
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
8
American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Advancing medicine through excellence in the science, education and professional practice of medical physics. the mission is carried out through driving scientific and clinical innovation in medical physics to improve human health,…

Science & Tech
9
Health and Environmental Sciences Institute

The health and environmental sciences institute (hesi) is a nonprofit institution whose mission is to engage scientists from academia, government, industry, nonprofit, and other research institutions to identify and resolve global health…

Science & Tech
10
National Academy of Sciences

The national academy of sciences was formed under a charter passed as an act of incorporation by the united states congress and signed into law on march 3, 1863. nas operates as a private membership organizationof distinguished scholars…

Science & Tech
11
Boston Architectural College

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

—
12
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ithaka Harbors Inc; the most unlike its peers is Sciencecounts Inc. 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

13 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. 13 of the 15 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
11/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Northwestern University: $402,661 · Recreation & SportsNorthwestern UniversitySMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $124,917 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITU…THE STORY COLLIDER INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureTHE STORY COLLIDER …OHANA WAA: $5,000 · Arts & CultureJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $114,500 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIV…Cornell University: $10,000 · EducationCornell UniversityPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $5,000 · EducationFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY: $23,795 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $20,586 · OtherNANTUCKET MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION IN: $10,000 · OtherSCIENCECOUNTS INC: $5,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES INC: $38,000 · Housing & ShelterITHAKA HARBORS INC: $21,840 · Social ScienceAMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS INC: $15,000 · Science & TechSOCIETY FOR ADVANCEMENT OF CHICANOS AND NATIVE AMERICANS IN SCIENCE: $6,000 · Science & Tech
Recreation & Sports$402,661Arts & Culture$137,417Education$129,500Other$59,381Housing & Shelter$38,000Social Science$21,840Science & Tech$21,000

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 budgetNorthwestern University: $402,661 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $124,917 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $114,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES INC: $38,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetITHAKA HARBORS INC: $21,840 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNANTUCKET MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION IN: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE STORY COLLIDER INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSOCIETY FOR ADVANCEMENT OF CHICANOS AND NATIVE AMERICANS IN SCIENCE: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSCIENCECOUNTS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association in: 9% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • American Institute of Physics Inc: 0% 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
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 15 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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