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Novo Nordisk Fonden at a glance

· Public charity

Novo Nordisk Fonden

NOVO NORDISK FONDEN (nnf) contributes significantly to research and development that improves the lives of people and the sustainability of society through grantmaking.

$1.2B
Granted FY2024still arriving
17
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$2.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Education$30MScience & Tech$5.6MInternational$4.9MHealth$2.2MFood & Nutrition$1.3M
02FY2024 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 17 grants below total $16,432,176, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,171,517,714 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,155,085,538 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

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $151k
  • $250k+16 grants · $16M
$691,468
Median grant
10
States reached
$8.6B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$2,233,117
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE$2,175,332
NREL FOUNDATION$1,953,680
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS CAMPUS$1,898,517
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$1,457,038
WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH$1,015,155
CORNELL UNIVERSITY$725,991
PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE$715,788
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS$691,468
COMMUNITY PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL$665,991
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)$646,946
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH AT GALVESTON$630,494
US NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES$513,995
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON$375,778
AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION$329,892
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 (FY24–24, $666k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% 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 PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL: $666k → 10%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
CA
CO
VA
MD
DC
TX

Grants abroad, by region: $1.2B on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 5 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$1.1B · 97% · 513 grants

Stated purpose: E&O · BIOTECH · INNOVATION

North America (Canada and Mexico)$21M · 2% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: E&O · BIOTECH

Sub-Saharan Africa$4.4M · 0% · 6 grants

Stated purpose: SOCHUM · NAT-TECH

East Asia and the Pacific$3.0M · 0% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: NAT-TECH · INFDIS

South Asia$1.1M · 0% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: SOCHUM

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 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
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

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
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
5
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
6
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
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
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
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
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
11
University of Miami

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

Education
12
MRIGlobal

To improve the lives of people through innovative scientific and engineering research.

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Trustees of Boston University; the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. 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

17 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. 17 of the 22 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
11/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $25,205,437 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS: $1,898,517 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS+4 more: $1,727,249 · Other+4 moreJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $2,233,117 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS…University of Chicago: $1,457,038 · EducationUniversity of…Cornell University: $725,991 · EducationCornell Unive…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $715,788 · EducationPresident and…+1 more: $150,816 · EducationInternational Rescue Committee INC: $2,914,069 · InternationalInternati…INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $691,468 · InternationalINTERNATI…NREL Foundation: $1,953,680 · EnvironmentWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $1,015,155 · HealthAmerican Diabetes Association: $329,892 · HealthJOSLIN DIABETES CENTER INC: $148,063 · HealthChildren's Hospital Corporation: $128,415 · HealthFOUNDATION FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE RESEARCH: $1,006,737 · Food & NutritionAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION FOUNDATION INC: $252,178 · Food & NutritionNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $1,254,308 · Science & TechCOMMUNITY PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL: $665,991 · Human Services
Other$28,831,203Education$5,282,750International$3,605,537Environment$1,953,680Health$1,621,525Food & Nutrition$1,258,915Science & Tech$1,254,308Human Services$665,991

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 budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $25,205,437 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $2,914,069 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $2,233,117 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNREL Foundation: $1,953,680 over 1y, 94% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $1,457,038 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $1,254,308 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $1,015,155 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE RESEARCH: $1,006,737 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCornell University: $725,991 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $715,788 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $691,468 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL: $665,991 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association: $329,892 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION FOUNDATION INC: $252,178 over 1y, 70% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $150,816 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJOSLIN DIABETES CENTER INC: $148,063 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation: $128,415 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.

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Fidelity Investments …
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Novo Nordisk Fonden funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Novo Nordisk Fonden. 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%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Joslin Diabetes Center Inc: 35% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% 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
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Novo Nordisk Fonden?

Find your warmest path to Novo Nordisk Fonden through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 22 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 Novo Nordisk Fonden’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