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Howard Hughes Medical Institute at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The mission of the institute has remained constant since its founding in 1953.

$63M
Granted FY2025still arriving
31
Grants FY2025still arriving
15
States reached
$3.1M
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$280MHealth$91MScience & Tech$21MEnvironment$1.7MHousing & Shelter$217kInternational$61kCommunity Improvement$40k
02FY2025 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 31 grants below total $8,823,841, the rows itemized in this filing. The $63,319,232 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $54,495,391 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

  • $10k–50k24 grants · $415k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $74k
  • $250k+6 grants · $8.3M
$20,000
Median grant
15
States reached
$29.5B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO$3,062,953
HARVARD UNIVERSITY$2,113,215
YALE UNIVERSITY$1,286,366
LOUDOUN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS$1,000,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$502,742
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY$370,465
HELEN HAY WHITNEY FOUNDATION$73,500
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA$39,600
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY$25,000
NORTH CAROLINA A & T STATE UNIVERSITY$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MERCED$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION$25,000
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY$25,000
FAYETTEVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY$20,000
BENNETT COLLEGE$20,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY21–21, $150k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Henrietta Lacks Foundation: $150k → 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

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$319M · 213 repeat orgs$22M to everyone else

213 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2025, 196 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

213
66

Total granted

$319M
$22M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+37%

Still filing today

60%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $145k 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
EducationHealthScience & TechEnvironmentPhilanthropyRecreation & 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

  • UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
    2× · 2020–2024 · $6.3M · revenue +26%
  • LE
    LOUDOUN EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2018–2025 · $6.0M · revenue +227% · 92% of their budget
  • Vanderbilt University
    5× · 2018–2024 · $5.6M · revenue +65%

Funded once

  • SC
    SCIENCE COMMUNICATION LAB INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $3.3M · revenue +110%
  • LC
    LOUDOUN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2017 · $2.0M
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $1.6M · revenue +42%
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
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
3
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
4
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
5
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
6
Boston Architectural College

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

—
7
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
8
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
9
Roger Williams University

At Roger Williams University, students are prepared to be thinkers and doers ready to solve challenging problems with innovative solutions. RWU offers robust offerings of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across eight…

Education
10
Seton Hall University

Seton hall university is a catholic institution of higher education

—
11
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fordham University; the most unlike its peers is Helen Hay Whitney 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

183 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. 183 of the 302 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
182/183
Grantees still filing
146/183
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO: $12,898,825 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCOREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY: $11,043,506 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEYREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIA: $10,142,415 · OtherREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIAUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $7,550,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $7,414,452 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO: $6,823,656 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $6,604,767 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS: $6,478,420 · Other+76 more: $110,319,251 · Other+76 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $16,644,835 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JU…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $14,116,595 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeYale University: $8,362,884 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $6,325,000 · EducationVanderbilt University: $5,572,904 · Education+88 more: $107,876,834 · Education+88 moreThe Salk Institute for Biological Studies: $4,501,455 · Science & TechCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $3,466,690 · Science & TechSCIENCE COMMUNICATION LAB INC: $3,300,000 · Science & TechIUP RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $1,695,000 · Science & TechNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $1,228,000 · Science & TechUniversity of Kansas Center for Research Inc: $589,500 · Science & TechGEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND SERVICE FOUNDATIONINC: $523,065 · Science & TechALLEN INSTITUTE: $2,910,000 · HealthTHE JACKSON LABORATORY: $1,842,000 · HealthThe Broad Institute Inc: $1,701,714 · HealthWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $1,648,377 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $1,152,139 · HealthDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $1,071,671 · HealthMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $923,621 · HealthGEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION: $535,000 · HealthChildren's Hospital Corporation: $520,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER: $510,000 · HealthLOUDOUN EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $6,000,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500,000 · PhilanthropyNorthwestern University: $2,194,907 · Recreation & SportsCHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION INC: $690,000 · EnvironmentNature Forward: $638,750 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE FUND: $600,000 · Environment
Other$179,275,292Education$158,899,052Science & Tech$15,303,710Health$12,814,522Philanthropy$6,500,000Recreation & Sports$2,194,907Environment$1,928,750

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $16,644,835 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $14,116,595 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetYale University: $8,362,884 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $6,325,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLOUDOUN EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $6,000,000 over 4y, 92% of budgetVanderbilt University: $5,572,904 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $5,078,025 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetThe Research Foundation for The State University of New York: $4,672,266 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $4,578,897 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetThe Salk Institute for Biological Studies: $4,501,455 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $4,381,623 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER: $4,380,474 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $4,109,392 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMontgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation Inc: $4,090,000 over 3y, 74% of budgetCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $3,466,690 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $3,283,431 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetALLEN INSTITUTE: $2,910,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $2,885,989 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $2,580,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $2,560,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $2,483,317 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $2,330,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNorthwestern University: $2,194,907 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JACKSON LABORATORY: $1,842,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $1,799,181 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Broad Institute Inc: $1,701,714 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetIUP RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $1,695,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $1,669,012 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $1,648,377 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,648,305 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetOREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,645,681 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $1,493,004 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $1,375,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $1,365,878 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $1,315,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1,290,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $1,228,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE: $1,213,065 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $1,194,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: $1,165,812 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $1,152,139 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $1,071,671 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $1,071,458 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $1,060,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWHEATON COLLEGE: $1,060,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS CORPORATION: $1,060,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetVIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY FOUNDAT: $1,060,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetRoosevelt University: $1,060,000 over 2y, 0.7% 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 THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds Yale University ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ↗
  • Who funds LOUDOUN EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
  • Who funds The Trustees of Princeton University ↗
  • Who funds The Research Foundation for The State University of New York ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds The Salk Institute for Biological Studies ↗
  • Who funds Massachusetts Institute of Technology ↗
  • Who funds FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds Montgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY ↗
  • Who funds SCIENCE COMMUNICATION LAB INC ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds ALLEN INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds William Marsh Rice University ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY ↗

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.

American Chemical Soc…National Collegiate A…Folds of Honor Founda…The Trustees of Colum…American Council of L…Tulsa Community Found…American Heart Associ…Yale UniversityCornell UniversityNational Collegiate I…Johns Hopkins Univers…Association of Public…
American Chemical SocietyDC66.9× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Chemical Society · National Collegiate Athletic Association · Folds of Honor Foundation · The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York · American Council of Learned Societies · Tulsa Community Foundation · American Heart Association Inc · Yale University · Cornell University · National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc · Johns Hopkins University · Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities

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 Howard Hughes Medical Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Nature Forward: 32% of income from government
  • The Broad Institute Inc: 19% of income from government
  • Delaware State University: 18% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation: 10% of income from government
  • Brandeis University: 9% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: 7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • The American Society for Cell Biology: 4% of income from government
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Willamette University: 1% of income from government
  • University of Portland: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
  • Simmons University: 1% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Mount Holyoke College: 1% of income from government
  • Fairfield University: 1% of income from government
  • Oregon Health & Science University Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Rollins College: 0% of income from government
  • Emmanuel College: 0% of income from government
  • Wheaton College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
5report 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 302 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 Howard Hughes Medical Institute’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