Oregon · Private foundation
The Lemelson Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $20M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 71
- Grants FY2024
- 51
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 47%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $115,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $2,959,932
- Organizations funded a year
- 34 to 54
- FY2018 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 18
- Total assets, FY2024
- $414M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 47% of the organizations The Lemelson Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 33% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.5M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 52 | $16M | 19% |
| FY2023 | 51 | $14M | 47% |
| FY2022 | 34 | $10M | 24% |
| FY2021 | 54 | $9.8M | 41% |
| FY2020 | 43 | $9.8M | 35% |
| FY2019 | 45 | $10M | 33% |
| FY2018 | 39 | $11M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc | $21,793,866 | 7 | 23% |
| Portland State University Foundation | $4,721,946 | 7 | 3% |
| Rocky Mountain Institute | $3,000,000 | 4 | 1% |
| William Marsh Rice University | $2,899,732 | 7 | 0% |
| Impact Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation | $2,414,548 | 7 | 81% |
| Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated | $2,000,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association Inc | $1,847,468 | 7 | 0% |
| National Public Radio Inc | $1,840,000 | 6 | 0% |
| The Edison Institute Inc | $1,804,590 | 6 | 1% |
| Climate Breakthrough Inc | $1,500,000 | 2 | 2% |
Show all 100 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 33 recipients with no EIN on record ($19M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Lemelson Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 9 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 88 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Meyer Memorial Trust · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · Climateworks Foundation · National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc · New Venture Fund · Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · The Collins Foundation · Tides Foundation · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Lemelson Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Lemelson Foundation 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.
About The Lemelson Foundation
- How much does The Lemelson Foundation give?
- The Lemelson Foundation reported 71 grants totaling $19,714,696 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 34 and 54 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2023.
- What does The Lemelson Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (32%), Science & Tech (27%), Environment (16%).
- Who are The Lemelson Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2018 to FY2024: National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc ($22M), Portland State University Foundation ($4.7M), Rocky Mountain Institute ($3.0M).
- Does The Lemelson Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 47% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Lemelson Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Lemelson Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Oregon Community Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust.
- Where is The Lemelson Foundation based?
- The Lemelson Foundation is based in OR.
Play a game based on Lemelson’s filings →