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Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc

Draper's engineers design, develop and deploy advanced technology solutions for the world's most difficult and important problems.

$4.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$1.7M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

55% of Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 12 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

7
’17
6
’18
4
’19
11
’21
15
’22
12
’23
11
’24
12
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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$25MHealth$1.9MArts & Culture$738kScience & Tech$133k
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $15k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $832k
  • $250k+6 grants · $3.8M
$146,054
Median grant
7
States reached
$901M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$1,740,772
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO$621,820
BOSTON UNIVERSITY$502,198
HARVARD UNIVERSITY$310,944
TUFTS UNIVERSITY$302,839
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE$292,506
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY$168,998
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$146,054
BROWN UNIVERSITY$121,448
PURDUE UNIVERSITY$105,803
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL$88,109
TEXAS A&M ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT STATION$77,990
PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY$68,625
GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION$55,374
BOSTON CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$15,308
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 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 35% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: $293k → 11%BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $502k → 16%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $339k → 14%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $622k → 12%THE GENEVA FOUNDATION: $276k → 9%THE GENEVA FOUNDATION: $192k → 8%BOSTON CHILDRENS HOSPITAL: $231k → 16%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $309k → 14%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $507k → 12%THE GENEVA FOUNDATION: $174k → 9%NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $171k → 16%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $292k → 14%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $410k → 12%SEATTLE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $459k → 9%TUFTS UNIVERSITY: $202k → 8%NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $169k → 16%University of South Florida: $250k → 13%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $252k → 14%Regents of the University of Colorado: $367k → 12%TUFTS UNIVERSITY: $198k → 8%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $325k → 12%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $1.8M → 8%REGENTS OF THE UNIV OF COLORADO: $199k → 12%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1.7M → 8%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1.7M → 8%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $1.6M → 8%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1.6M → 8%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1.6M → 8%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $1.5M → 8%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECH: $1.4M → 8%TUFTS UNIVERSITY: $303k → 8%Boston University: $363k → 16%Tufts University: $203k → 8%Boston University: $362k → 16%TUFTS UNIVERSITY: $198k → 8%BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $234k → 16%Tufts University: $164k → 8%BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $231k → 16%BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $224k → 16%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $311k → 8%Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary: $232k → 16%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $294k → 8%Boston University: $216k → 16%Harvard University: $250k → 8%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $216k → 8%BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $198k → 16%Harvard University: $194k → 8%Harvard University: $194k → 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
MA
OR
IN
RI
UT
CO
MD
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$10M · 17 repeat orgs$922k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +51% since the first grant, against +41% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
3

Total granted

$10M
$350k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+41%

Still filing today

65%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $572k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $2.1M · revenue +45%
  • Trustees of Tufts College
    7× · 2017–2025 · $1.3M · revenue +50%
  • SC
    SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
    4× · 2021–2024 · $927k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • ME
    MASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY
    one grant, 2017 · $232k
  • MF
    METIS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $109k · revenue +41%
  • Southern Methodist Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $9k · revenue +57%
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
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
2
University of Miami

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

Education
3
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
4
Boston Architectural College

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

—
5
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
6
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
7
Trustees of Boston College

Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…

Education
8
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
9
Cornell University

Education, research, medical services and other public services.

Education
10
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
11
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
12
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northeastern University; the most unlike its peers is Geneva Foundation for the Arts. 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

19 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. 19 of the 27 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
14/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $13,058,106 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,683,503 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeTrustees of Tufts College: $1,348,417 · EducationTrustees of Tufts CollegeNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $654,567 · Education+5 more: $435,648 · EducationREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $2,429,266 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY…TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $2,056,774 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVER…TRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $430,661 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVER…UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: $358,730 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORI…WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: $292,506 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS: $287,044 · Other+5 more: $518,650 · Other+5 moreBROWN UNIVERSITY: $1,999,698 · Community ImprovementSEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $926,691 · HealthChildren's Hospital Corporation: $474,597 · HealthMASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY: $231,964 · HealthMETIS FOUNDATION: $109,225 · Health+1 more: $55,374 · HealthGENEVA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: $738,001 · Arts & Culture
Education$17,180,241Other$6,373,631Community Improvement$1,999,698Health$1,797,851Arts & Culture$738,001

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 budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $13,058,106 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $2,056,774 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $1,999,698 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,683,503 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College: $1,348,417 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $926,691 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $654,567 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation: $474,597 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: $292,506 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY: $231,964 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $187,833 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMETIS FOUNDATION: $109,225 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetPORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $102,690 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $90,450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL NURSES ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS INC: $84,025 over 2y, 58% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION INC: $64,340 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION: $55,374 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSouthern Methodist University: $9,000 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.

  • Who funds Massachusetts Institute of Technology ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BROWN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds Trustees of Tufts College ↗
  • Who funds SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL ↗
  • Who funds GENEVA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Children's Hospital Corporation ↗
  • Who funds WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds MASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY ↗
  • Who funds William Marsh Rice University ↗
  • Who funds METIS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL NURSES ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds Southern Methodist University ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation: 10% of income from government
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute: 8% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Portland State University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report 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 27 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 Charles Stark Draper Laboratory’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