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Northwestern University at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Northwestern University

Northwestern is committed to excellent teaching, innovative research and the personal and intellectual growth of its students in a diverse academic community.

$749M
Granted FY2024still arriving
375
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$8.6M
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$313MHealth$224MEducation$184MPhilanthropy$9.2MSocial Science$4.1MYouth Development$3.9MHuman Services$3.6MEnvironment$3.3MOther$0
02FY2024 · 375 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 375 grants below total $122,398,617, the rows itemized in this filing. The $749,377,157 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $626,978,540 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

  • Under $10k35 grants · $256k
  • $10k–50k129 grants · $3.0M
  • $50k–250k110 grants · $12M
  • $250k+101 grants · $107M
$63,068
Median grant
3
States reached
$19.2B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Chicago$8,566,923
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$5,714,053
Stanford University$4,738,598
University of Illinois at Chicago$4,558,221
Erie Family Health Center$3,418,163
University of California Berkeley$2,524,924
Johns Hopkins University$2,446,657
Washington University in St Louis$2,240,426
University of Minnesota$2,044,985
University of California San Francisco$2,039,122
Cornell University$1,983,290
Columbia University$1,978,886
Rice University$1,951,763
University of Pittsburgh$1,840,423
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago$1,756,567
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 (FY17–23, $3.3M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 90% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Community Action Project of Tulsa County Inc: $89k → 15%Juvenile Protective Association: $67k → 14%Community Action Project of Tulsa County Inc: $85k → 15%MMSLN: $52k → 21%Metropolitan Asian Family Services: $118k → 7%Metropolitan Asian Family Services: $98k → 7%Metropolitan Asian Family Services: $56k → 7%Center on Halsted: $71k → 14%Cradles to Crayons: $897k → 16%Metropolitan Asian Family Services: $48k → 7%Start Small Think Big: $53k → 17%Total Resource Community Development Organization: $142k → 14%Total Resource Community Development Organization: $111k → 14%Total Resource Community Development Organization: $90k → 14%CHILDRENS HOME & AID: $661k → 14%Illinois Science and Technology Institute: $71k → 14%McGaw YMCA: $259k → 14%McGaw YMCA: $181k → 14%McGaw YMCA: $137k → 14%McGaw YMCA: $56k → 14%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

ME
VT
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$681M · 470 repeat orgs$22M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

470 repeat relationships: 253 still active in FY2024, 217 since wound down; 110 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

470
160

Total granted

$681M
$11M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+23%

Still filing today

60%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11M 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
HealthEducationHuman ServicesScience & TechArts & CultureCivil RightsOther
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 Chicago
    8× · 2017–2024 · $83M · revenue +56%
  • Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
    8× · 2017–2024 · $36M · revenue +60%
  • EF
    Erie Family Health Center Inc
    8× · 2017–2024 · $13M · revenue +114%

Funded once

  • GP
    GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $958k · revenue +117% · 27% of their budget
  • CI
    COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO
    one grant, 2019 · $912k · revenue -35%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO
    one grant, 2019 · $723k
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
University Family Physicians Inc

Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…

—
2
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
3
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
4
Indiana University Health Care Associates Inc

To deliver preeminent medical care and service to our patients and communities through outstanding and innovative medical leadership and practice, while participating in and supporting excellence in education and research. We achieve this…

Health
5
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
6
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
Rush University Medical Center

The mission of Rush is to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities we serve through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research and community partnerships.

Health
8
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
9
Arc Research Institute

Our mission is to accelerate scientific progress, understand the root causes of disease, and narrow the gap between discoveries and impact on patients.

Health
10
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
University Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology University Faculty Pract ice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
12
University Health Inc

Primary functions are the coordination and delivery of health care resources and services, health care education for the hospital service area, long range analysis of health care needs and development of programs, and arranging for…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Health and Medicine Policy Research Group; the most unlike its peers is Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Research 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

499 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 499 of the 757 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.

10
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
62
Early backer (in before they grew)
484/499
Grantees still filing
366/499
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $49,170,024 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLI…UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL: $10,244,080 · Other+98 more: $234,335,409 · Other+98 moreUniversity of Chicago: $83,012,501 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $13,452,451 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STA…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $12,890,981 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $10,624,115 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $10,070,293 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITY: $9,325,733 · EducationTeachers College Columbia University: $8,886,480 · EducationVanderbilt University: $8,513,783 · Education+35 more: $87,285,897 · Education+35 moreAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $36,383,487 · HealthAnn & Robert H Lurie C…Erie Family Health Center Inc: $13,157,225 · HealthErie Family Health Cen…Rush University Medical Center: $11,253,025 · HealthRush University Medica…THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $8,252,812 · HealthTHE SCRIPPS RESEARCH I…Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $5,609,804 · HealthBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION: $5,533,972 · Health+41 more: $60,294,983 · Health+41 moreJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $6,978,901 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,018,675 · PhilanthropyEvanston Community Foundation: $673,880 · PhilanthropySAGE BIONETWORKS: $5,496,851 · Science & TechThe Salk Institute for Biological Studies: $1,317,626 · Science & TechJ CRAIG VENTER INSTITUTE: $555,053 · Science & TechSANTA FE INSTITUTE: $466,489 · Science & TechCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $1,825,000 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD TECHNOLOGY: $1,062,761 · EnvironmentNATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER: $2,694,727 · Social Science
Other$293,749,513Education$244,062,234Health$140,485,308Philanthropy$8,671,456Science & Tech$7,836,019Environment$2,887,761Social Science$2,694,727

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 budgetUniversity of Chicago: $83,012,501 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $36,383,487 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $13,452,451 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc: $13,157,225 over 8y, 2.8% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $12,890,981 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetRush University Medical Center: $11,253,025 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $10,624,115 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $10,070,293 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $9,325,733 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetTeachers College Columbia University: $8,886,480 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetVanderbilt University: $8,513,783 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $8,252,812 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $8,058,696 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $6,978,901 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $6,490,684 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $5,799,201 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $5,773,791 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $5,639,063 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $5,609,804 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION: $5,533,972 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetSAGE BIONETWORKS: $5,496,851 over 6y, 6.6% of budgetCornell University: $4,831,494 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $4,668,762 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $4,530,587 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University: $4,457,151 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION: $3,861,177 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetTHE HEKTOEN INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE: $3,854,834 over 8y, 1.9% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $3,743,884 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetEmory University: $3,368,939 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $3,350,979 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $3,333,464 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE J DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES: $3,251,126 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetThe Broad Institute Inc: $3,212,262 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetYale University: $2,814,456 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: $2,814,186 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION: $2,785,863 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetBaylor College of Medicine: $2,773,088 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetACCESS COMMUNITY HEALTH NETWORK: $2,713,053 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER: $2,694,727 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetResearch Foundation of the City University of New York: $2,691,479 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetGEISINGER HEALTH: $2,619,648 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $2,183,388 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Miami: $2,158,035 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER: $2,142,709 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $2,074,858 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMAGEE-WOMENS RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND FOUNDATION: $2,071,734 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: $1,968,756 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetKAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS: $1,895,847 over 8y, 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 University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Erie Family Health Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Rush University Medical Center ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ↗
  • Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Teachers College Columbia University ↗
  • Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
  • Who funds THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND ↗
  • Who funds William Marsh Rice University ↗
  • Who funds ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI ↗
  • Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds SAGE BIONETWORKS ↗
  • Who funds Cornell 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.

University of ChicagoThe Trustees of Colum…Evanston Community Fo…University of Pittsbu…Washington UniversityTrustees of Boston Un…Emory UniversityVanderbilt University…Yale UniversityUnited Way of Metropo…Johns Hopkins Univers…University of Miami
University of ChicagoIL73.4× affinity39 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: University of Chicago · The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York · Evanston Community Foundation · University of Pittsburgh · Washington University · Trustees of Boston University · Emory University · Vanderbilt University Medical Center · Yale University · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Johns Hopkins University · University of Miami

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 Northwestern University funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Northwestern University. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • University of Delaware: 30% of income from government
  • Max Planck Florida Corporation: 23% of income from government
  • Boston Medical Center Corporation: 23% of income from government
  • The Broad Institute Inc: 19% 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
  • Baystate Medical Center Inc: 9% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Inc: 6% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
15report 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 757 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

Play a game based on Northwestern University’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