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Discovery Institute at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Discovery Institute

To advance a culture of purpose, creativity, and innovation in a diverse set of fields.

$3.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$160k
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.

Science & Tech$4.4MEducation$416kArts & Culture$225kSocial Science$65kReligion$21k
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 12 grants below total $593,650, the rows itemized in this filing. The $3,940,738 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $3,347,088 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 · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $103k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $485k
$30,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITY$160,000
EDUCATION ACCESS LLC$93,750
STONY BROOK FOUNDATION$93,000
HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE$87,100
MORIO LABS$50,800
TELLUS1 SCIENTIFIC LLC$30,000
CAPITAL RESEARCH CENTER$20,000
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY$17,000
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY$15,000
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY$11,000
HOPE COLLEGE$10,000
ARETE GLOBAL CONSULTING LLC$6,000
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 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 43% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%CHESALON USA: $59k → 15%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $165k → 7%MORIO LABS: $51k → 10%BIOLA UNIVERSITY: $110k → 14%STONY BROOK FOUNDATION: $93k → 7%EDUCATION ACCESS LLC: $125k → 8%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $98k → 16%CHESALON USA: $32k → 16%CONTINENTAL ECONOMICS: $43k → 12%ACUITY TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS: $28k → 13%TELLUS1 SCIENTIFIC LLC: $31k → 11%LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY: $15k → 14%WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $42k → 15%CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $30k → 17%INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: $21k → 9%DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION: $225k → 9%CAPITAL RESEARCH CENTER: $20k → 7%CHESALON USA: $25k → 15%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $80k → 7%MORIO LABS: $48k → 10%BIOLA UNIVERSITY: $80k → 14%STONY BROOK FOUNDATION: $86k → 7%EDUCATION ACCESS LLC: $125k → 8%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $96k → 16%CHESALON USA: $25k → 16%CONTINENTAL ECONOMICS: $22k → 12%TELLUS1 SCIENTIFIC LLC: $30k → 11%BIOLOGIC: $332k → 9%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $30k → 7%MORIO LABS: $24k → 10%BIOLA UNIVERSITY: $75k → 14%EDUCATION ACCESS LLC: $120k → 8%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $95k → 16%CHESALON USA: $22k → 16%TELLUS1 SCIENTIFIC LLC: $30k → 11%BIOLOGIC: $329k → 9%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $26k → 7%EDUCATION ACCESS LLC: $94k → 8%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $32k → 16%BIOLOGIC: $72k → 9%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $15k → 7%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $87k → 14%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $32k → 16%NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $15k → 7%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $50k → 14%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $17k → 16%BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $15k → 16%JUSTICE & MERCY ENERGY SERVICES: $25k → 16%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
MI
NY
OH
PA
CA
MD
AZ
NM
TN
NC
AL
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $2.6M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 3 regions, $2.4M to organizations and $244k 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)$2.5M · 97% · 1 grant · 1 person

Stated purpose: SITE RENOVATION · FELLOWSHIPS

East Asia and the Pacific$50k · 2% · 1 person

Stated purpose: FELLOWSHIPS

South America$34k · 1% · 1 person

Stated purpose: FELLOWSHIPS

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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.0M · 17 repeat orgs$393k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
6

Total granted

$5.0M
$373k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+30%

Still filing today

53%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k 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
EducationEnvironmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • WM
    William Marsh Rice University
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.2M · revenue +104%
  • BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2018–2025 · $385k · revenue +53%
  • BU
    BIOLA UNIVERSITY INC
    4× · 2019–2023 · $278k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • DF
    DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $225k · revenue -94%
  • WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $42k · revenue +30%
  • UO
    University of Miamigraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $32k · revenue +66%
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
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
2
Texas Christian University

Texas christian university is an institution of higher education which includes nine major academic units: liberal arts, science and engineering, business, education, fine arts, communication, honors, nursing and health sciences, and the…

Education
3
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
4
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
5
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
6
Bentley University

Organization's mission bentley university believes good business can impact more than the bottom line - it can change the world. bentley is a community of future business leaders who will deliver value in the marketplace and lasting…

Education
7
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
8
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
9
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
10
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
11
Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & clark is a premier private higher education institution offering an exceptional education in an inclusive environment. by fostering critical thinking, innovation, creativity, civic engagement, and leadership, both inside and…

Education
12
Marquette University

As a Catholic, Jesuit university our mission is to search for truth, discover shareknowledge, foster personal professional excellence, promote a life of faith and developleadership expressed in service to others. See Schedule O.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hope College; the most unlike its peers is Documentary 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

16 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. 16 of the 25 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/16
Grantees still filing
12/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

William Marsh Rice University: $2,221,542 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice UniversityBAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $384,790 · EducationBAYLOR UNIVERSITYBIOLA UNIVERSITY INC: $277,604 · EducationBIOLA UNIVERSITY INCSTONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC: $178,676 · EducationHarvey Mudd College: $137,100 · Education+5 more: $162,801 · EducationBIOLOGIC INSTITUTE: $733,010 · OtherBIOLOGIC INSTITUTEEDUCATION ACCESS LLC: $463,750 · OtherEDUCATION ACCESS LLCDOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION: $225,000 · OtherDOCUMENTARY FOUNDATIONMORIO LABS: $134,800 · OtherMORIO LABSIndividual grant recipient: $93,059 · OtherTELLUS1 SCIENTIFIC LLC: $91,252 · OtherCHESALON USA: $79,800 · Other+5 more: $176,500 · Other+5 moreNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $331,466 · PhilanthropyCAPITAL RESEARCH CENTER: $20,000 · PhilanthropyJUSTICE AND MERCY SERVICES INC: $25,000 · Environment
Education$3,362,513Other$1,997,171Philanthropy$351,466Environment$25,000

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 budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $2,221,542 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetBIOLOGIC INSTITUTE: $733,010 over 3y, 100% of budgetBAYLOR UNIVERSITY: $384,790 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $331,466 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBIOLA UNIVERSITY INC: $277,604 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION: $225,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetSTONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC: $178,676 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHarvey Mudd College: $137,100 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $58,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $41,720 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY: $39,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Miami: $31,994 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE COLLEGE: $15,720 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFREED-HARDEMAN UNIVERSITY: $15,367 over 2y, 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 William Marsh Rice University ↗
  • Who funds BIOLOGIC INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds BAYLOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ↗
  • Who funds BIOLA UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds STONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Harvey Mudd College ↗
  • Who funds CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds University of Miami ↗
  • Who funds JUSTICE AND MERCY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds CAPITAL RESEARCH CENTER ↗
  • Who funds HOPE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds FREED-HARDEMAN UNIVERSITY ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get 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
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 25 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

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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