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Brown Science Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Brown Science Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$5.2M
Granted FY2023
9
Grants FY2023
7
States reached
$1.0M
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 2023.

Education$7.2MScience & Tech$3.4MPhilanthropy$1.8MRecreation & Sports$50k
02FY2023 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$6.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$1,014,000
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$910,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON$607,616
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY$550,000
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLO$500,000
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$469,591
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$400,000
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY$400,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELE$383,625
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 (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 54% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLO: $500k → 8%SCIENCE PHILANTHROPY ALLIANCE: $75k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY: $550k → 10%CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY: $100k → 12%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $600k → 14%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 17%THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: $400k → 15%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $910k → 19%SCIENCE PHILANTHROPY ALLIANCE: $75k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY: $250k → 10%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $50k → 14%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $400k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $400k → 14%SCIECNE PHILANTHROPY ALLIANCE: $75k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY: $50k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $400k → 14%THE DAVID AND LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION: $1.8M → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $50k → 14%SCIENCE PHILANTHROPY ALLIANCE: $75k → 8%U OF CHICAGO: $450k → 14%LEELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $750k → 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

WA
IL
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CA
MD
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.
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.
$5.3M · 7 repeat orgs$4.5M to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2023, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
6

Total granted

$5.3M
$3.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+0%
+33%

Still filing today

43%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.3M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
EducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
    2× · 2022–2023 · $1.2M
  • The Trustees of Princeton University
    2× · 2022–2023 · $1.2M · revenue -36%
  • University of Chicago
    2× · 2017–2018 · $850k · revenue +56%

Funded once

  • TD
    The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
    one grant, 2019 · $1.8M · revenue -2%
  • LS
    LEELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2019 · $750k
  • UO
    U OF CHICAGO
    one grant, 2021 · $450k
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
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
2
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
3
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
4
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
5
University of Miami

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

Education
6
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
7
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
8
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
9
Illinois Institute of Technology

To provide distinctive and relevant education in an environment of scientific, technological, and professional knowledge creation and innovation.

Education
10
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

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
The Catholic University of America

As the national university of the catholic church in the united states, founded and sponsored by the bishops of the country with the approval of the holy see, the catholic university of america is committed to being a comprehensive…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Trustees of Princeton University; the most unlike its peers is The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

9 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. 9 of the 18 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
7/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,414,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW Y…The Trustees of Princeton University: $1,173,111 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton UniversityJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $910,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYUniversity of Chicago: $850,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $800,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIV…CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $650,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $500,000 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $1,184,850 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY: $850,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEYLEELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $750,000 · OtherLEELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITYU OF CHICAGO: $450,000 · OtherU OF CHICAGOREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIA: $403,625 · OtherREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIATHE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: $400,000 · OtherTHE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITYSCIENCE PHILANTHROPY ALLIANCE: $225,000 · Other+2 more: $175,000 · OtherThe David and Lucile Packard Foundation: $1,750,000 · PhilanthropyThe David and L…Northwestern University: $50,000 · Recreation & Sports
Education$6,297,111Other$4,438,475Philanthropy$1,750,000Recreation & Sports$50,000

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

25%50%75%100%grantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe David and Lucile Packard Foundation: $1,750,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,414,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $1,173,111 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $910,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $850,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $800,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $650,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $500,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $50,000 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 Brown Science Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Brown Science Foundation. 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%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
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 18 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. 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