How much does The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education give?

The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education reported 28 itemized grants totaling $1,614,927, out of $2,244,472 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 6 and 21 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

Who are The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Little Rock Zoological Garden ($773k), Aaron E Henry Community Health Services Center Inc ($675k), National Center for Youth Law ($640k).

Does The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 42% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include WK Kellogg Foundation, The Schott Foundation for Public Education, National Education Association of the United States.

Foundation Dossiers Also receives grants: funding profile →

Washington, D.C. · Public charity

The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education

The nea foundation (the foundation), works in partnership with others to advance the absolute best in public education.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 28
Itemized grants FY2025: 12
Organizations funded FY2024: 42%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2025: $1.6M; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025: $30,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $225,000
Organizations funded a year: 6 to 21; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 14
Total assets, FY2025: $56M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 42% of the organizations The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education funded were first-time grantees, receiving 25% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $252k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

EducationCommunity ImprovementHealthPublic BenefitHuman ServicesArts & CultureOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	25	$1.4M	40%
FY2024	12	$997k	42%
FY2023	12	$953k	33%
FY2022	21	$1.3M	67%
FY2021	10	$993k	50%
FY2020	6	$442k	33%
FY2019	18	$841k	72%
FY2018	16	$1.2M	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Education$7.2MPublic Safety & Disaster$425kCrime & Legal$390kPhilanthropy$383kCivil Rights$277kHealth$250kCommunity Improvement$70kFood & Nutrition$67kOther$0

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 FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Little Rock Zoological Garden	$773,000	4	n/a
Aaron E Henry Community Health Services Center Inc	$675,000	4	2%
National Center for Youth Law	$640,000	5	1%
Batesville School District	$617,500	4	n/a
National Network of State Teachers of the Year	$357,878	4	81%
Institute for Educational Leadership	$356,841	3	1%
Weld County School District 6	$295,000	1	n/a
American Federation of Teachers Afl-Cio Parent Organization	$272,250	1	0%
Institute for Democratic Education in America Inc	$260,000	2	57%
Green Bay Area Public School District	$245,874	3	n/a

Show all 61 grantees

All grantees of The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Little Rock Zoological Garden	$773,000	4	n/a
Aaron E Henry Community Health Services Center Inc	$675,000	4	2%
National Center for Youth Law	$640,000	5	1%
Batesville School District	$617,500	4	n/a
National Network of State Teachers of the Year	$357,878	4	81%
Institute for Educational Leadership	$356,841	3	1%
Weld County School District 6	$295,000	1	n/a
American Federation of Teachers Afl-Cio Parent Organization	$272,250	1	0%
Institute for Democratic Education in America Inc	$260,000	2	57%
Green Bay Area Public School District	$245,874	3	n/a
First Book	$243,840	1	0%
Education First Consulting LLC	$215,000	1	n/a
Advocates for Community and Rural Education	$214,000	4	9%
Louisiana Association of Educators	$211,422	4	3%
Forward Arkansas	$200,000	2	5%
Arkansas Education Association	$185,500	4	5%
Kenwood Oakland Community Organization	$172,500	2	5%
Moreno Valley Unified School District School Facilities Corporation	$170,000	2	9%
Texas State Teachers Association	$152,436	1	1%
Chattanoogahamilton County Public Education Fund	$150,000	1	4%
One Voice	$149,000	3	2%
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff	$149,000	2	n/a
Clarksdale Municipal School District	$116,500	2	n/a
National Public Education Support Fund	$110,000	5	1%
The Schott Foundation for Public Education	$80,000	3	1%
Wyoming Education Association	$65,000	2	2%
South Dakota Education Association	$60,000	2	2%
North Dakota United	$60,000	2	1%
North Iberville High School Iberville STEM Academy	$58,000	1	n/a
School Nutrition Foundation	$47,246	1	5%
Network for Public Education Inc	$45,000	1	11%
National Education Association of the United States	$40,000	1	0%
Emmett Till Interpretive Center	$35,000	2	1%
Partnership for the Future	$35,000	1	n/a
National Teachers Hall of Fame Inc	$35,000	2	11%
Learning Policy Institute	$35,000	1	n/a
CommunityShare	$30,000	1	4%
Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation	$30,000	1	0%
NYC Department of Education	$26,525	2	n/a
Quitman County School District	$25,000	1	n/a
CT Stem Academy Inc	$25,000	1	n/a
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards	$25,000	1	0%
Stone Lantern Films Inc	$25,000	1	18%
The Namie Foundation Inc	$25,000	2	n/a
Rockford Public Schools #205	$20,000	1	n/a
Step Up Louisiana Organizing Fund	$20,000	1	n/a
Lindbergh Sr High	$15,000	1	n/a
Stonington High School	$11,000	1	n/a
Milwaukee Public Schools	$10,000	1	n/a
Nova Institute Inc	$10,000	1	15%
Growth Philanthropy Network Inc	$10,000	1	n/a
Gateway Municipalities Community	$10,000	1	1%
Billings Public Schools	$10,000	1	n/a
Education Leaders of Color Inc	$10,000	1	n/a
Ohio Education Association	$9,800	1	0%
Elements of Education Partners	$7,000	1	1%
Quitman County Development Org	$7,000	1	n/a
Californians For Justice Education Fund	$7,000	1	0%
Spokane Public School District #81	$7,000	1	n/a
Edmonds Education Association	$5,948	1	1%
American Indian College Fund	$5,000	1	0%

Plus 8 recipients with no EIN on record ($267k), not named here.

The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 37 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 37.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

WK Kellogg FoundationMI23.8× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: WK Kellogg Foundation · The Schott Foundation for Public Education · National Education Association of the United States · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Gates Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Walton Family Foundation Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · GenYOUTH Incorporated · New Venture Fund · Elbridge Stuart Foundation Dba Stuart Foundation · The Heising-Simons Foundation

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.

Compare The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education with peer funders

About The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education

How much does The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education give?: The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education reported 28 itemized grants totaling $1,614,927, out of $2,244,472 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 6 and 21 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education fund?: By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (78%), Public Safety & Disaster (5%), Crime & Legal (4%).
Who are The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Little Rock Zoological Garden ($773k), Aaron E Henry Community Health Services Center Inc ($675k), National Center for Youth Law ($640k).
Does The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 42% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include WK Kellogg Foundation, The Schott Foundation for Public Education, National Education Association of the United States.
Where is The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education based?: The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education is based in DC.