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Vanderbilt University at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

$569M
Granted FY2025still arriving
205
Grants FY2025still arriving
39
States reached
$54M
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.

Health$362MScience & Tech$111MEducation$37MRecreation & Sports$7.8MSocial Science$2.1MArts & Culture$1.9MYouth Development$1.8MCommunity Improvement$1.7MOther$0
02FY2025 · 205 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 205 grants below total $91,216,531, the rows itemized in this filing. The $569,225,782 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $478,009,251 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

  • Under $10k22 grants · $165k
  • $10k–50k78 grants · $1.7M
  • $50k–250k55 grants · $7.0M
  • $250k+50 grants · $82M
$55,069
Median grant
39
States reached
$14.8B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Vanderbilt University Medical Center$54,301,809
The Scripps Research Institute$2,519,368
The Learning Agency LLC$1,583,879
Yale University$1,442,586
Johns Hopkins University$1,098,504
University of Texas at Austin$1,092,668
Northwestern University$1,010,744
Leidos Inc$943,580
Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia$928,097
University of Utah$855,779
The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania$830,945
University of California San Francisco$742,095
George Mason University$644,023
University of South Alabama$641,275
Fisk University$617,297
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 (FY17–25, $877k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, 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%Friendship Educational Foundation: $25k → 14%Youth Villages Inc: $8k → 17%People Loving Nashville: $17k → 14%Conexion Americas: $10k → 14%The Store: $10k → 14%Conexion Americas: $10k → 14%Conexion Americas: $10k → 14%Conexion Americas: $10k → 14%Tennessee Justice For Our Neighbors: $8k → 14%Friends Life Community: $7k → 14%Conexion Americas: $6k → 14%Tennessee Disability Coalition: $333k → 14%Tennessee Disability Coalition: $138k → 14%Mary Parrish Center: $73k → 14%Tennessee Disability Coalition: $46k → 14%Mary Parrish Center: $33k → 14%Mary Parrish Center: $26k → 14%Brain Links (Tennessee Disability Coalition): $10k → 14%Council on Aging of Greater Nashville: $65k → 14%Samaritan Ministries of Temple Church: $15k → 14%Urban League of Middle Tennessee: $10k → 14%Urban League of Middle Tennessee: $7k → 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
NH
WA
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$510M · 271 repeat orgs$7.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

271 repeat relationships: 154 still active in FY2025, 117 since wound down; 40 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

271
103

Total granted

$510M
$3.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+8%

Still filing today

54%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.6M 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
EducationHealthArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementScience & TechHuman ServicesOther
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

  • VU
    Vanderbilt University Medical Center
    9× · 2017–2025 · $331M · revenue +120%
  • Northwestern University
    9× · 2017–2025 · $6.1M · revenue +41%
  • UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
    9× · 2017–2025 · $5.0M · revenue +44%

Funded once

  • SF
    Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine
    one grant, 2021 · $373k · revenue +2%
  • MN
    METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION INC
    one grant, 2021 · $344k · revenue -38% · 69% of their budget
  • MG
    MEDTRONIC GLOBAL HEALTH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $313k · 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
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
3
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
4
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
5
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
6
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
7
Manhattanville University

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

Education
8
National Association of College and University Attorneys

To advance the practice of higher education attorneys for the benefit of the institutions they serve.

—
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
11
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
12
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Education Training and Research Associates; the most unlike its peers is Mannheimer 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

264 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. 264 of the 426 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
32
Early backer (in before they grew)
260/264
Grantees still filing
177/264
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Vanderbilt University Medical Center: $330,842,675 · HealthVanderbilt University Medical Center+15 more: $10,813,528 · HealthUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $6,508,876 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXASTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: $4,800,106 · OtherRECTOR & VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $4,241,039 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $4,081,209 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: $3,977,667 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $3,922,520 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $3,834,061 · Other+115 more: $83,618,848 · Other+115 moreUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $5,019,458 · EducationUNIVERSITY…THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $3,266,456 · EducationTHE BOARD …Yale University: $2,764,031 · EducationYale Unive…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $2,587,854 · EducationFISK UNIVERSITY: $2,573,227 · EducationSouthern Methodist University: $2,475,578 · EducationWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES: $1,963,022 · EducationOREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,878,125 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $1,695,744 · Education+38 more: $26,166,760 · Education+38 moreNorthwestern University: $6,083,049 · Recreation & SportsTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC: $1,210,000 · Arts & CultureCENTENNIAL PARK CONSERVANCY: $883,300 · Arts & CultureTENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (TPAC) MANAGEMENT CORPORATION: $240,000 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $130,000 · Arts & CultureNASHVILLE OPERA ASSOCIATION: $129,000 · Arts & CultureDONALD DANFORTH PLANT SCIENCE CENTER: $1,145,764 · Science & TechSRI INTERNATIONAL: $632,804 · Science & TechINSTITUTE FOR BROADENING PARTICIPATION: $492,388 · Science & TechThe Aerospace Corporation: $162,032 · Science & TechOASIS CENTER INC: $454,880 · Community ImprovementCIVIC DESIGN CENTER: $343,000 · Community ImprovementTENNESSEE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $180,000 · Community ImprovementCENTER FOR NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT INC: $153,000 · Community ImprovementNASHVILLE DOWNTOWN PARTNERSHIP: $127,975 · Community Improvement
Health$341,656,203Other$114,984,326Education$50,390,255Recreation & Sports$6,083,049Arts & Culture$2,592,300Science & Tech$2,432,988Community Improvement$1,258,855

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%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetVanderbilt University Medical Center: $330,842,675 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetNorthwestern University: $6,083,049 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $5,019,458 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $3,525,752 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $3,266,456 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetYale University: $2,764,031 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $2,587,854 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFISK UNIVERSITY: $2,573,227 over 9y, 1.3% of budgetTHE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $2,570,371 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University: $2,485,231 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetSouthern Methodist University: $2,475,578 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $2,040,452 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES: $1,963,022 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,878,125 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $1,695,744 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAUGUSTA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $1,671,691 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetEmory University: $1,492,319 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1,473,955 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $1,472,965 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,452,871 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBaylor College of Medicine: $1,437,978 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetThe Learning Agency Lab: $1,214,681 over 2y, 82% of budgetTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC: $1,210,000 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $1,177,622 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHEASTERN REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE CENTER INC: $1,171,344 over 4y, 11% of budgetDONALD DANFORTH PLANT SCIENCE CENTER: $1,145,764 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetThe Rand Corporation: $1,111,556 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetKESTREL INSTITUTE: $1,097,023 over 2y, 26% of budgetClaremont Graduate University: $1,008,163 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $1,006,614 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION: $975,613 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetH LEE MOFFITT CANCER CENTER AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $906,149 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $891,674 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCENTENNIAL PARK CONSERVANCY: $883,300 over 7y, 10.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $860,358 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $853,845 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE: $835,430 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $820,302 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTougaloo College: $720,005 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $666,516 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetSRI INTERNATIONAL: $632,804 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation: $608,884 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $606,446 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $595,174 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBEREA COLLEGE: $549,891 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTENNESSEE DISABILITY COALITION: $527,558 over 3y, 11% of budgetMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $506,007 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of South Florida Foundation Inc: $502,048 over 3y, 0.2% 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 Vanderbilt University Medical Center ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ↗
  • Who funds OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Yale University ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds FISK UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Carnegie Mellon University ↗
  • Who funds Southern Methodist University ↗
  • Who funds Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES ↗
  • Who funds OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds Emory University ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON 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.

Memorial Foundation I…The Frist FoundationHca Healthcare Founda…United Way of Middle …Dorothy Cate and Thom…The Healing Trust For…Vanderbilt University…The Steven & Laurie E…Joe C Davis FoundationThe Community Foundat…Tennessee Titans Foun…Nashville Predators F…
Memorial Foundation IncTN91.6× affinity48 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Memorial Foundation Inc · The Frist Foundation · Hca Healthcare Foundation · United Way of Middle Tennessee Inc · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust · Vanderbilt University Medical Center · The Steven & Laurie Eskind Family Foundation · Joe C Davis Foundation · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Tennessee Titans Foundation · Nashville Predators 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Vanderbilt University funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Vanderbilt University. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%23%51%90%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
  • University of Delaware: 30% 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
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 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
  • Trustees of Boston College: 3% of income from government
  • Oregon Health & Science University Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Rutgers University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
14report 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 426 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 Vanderbilt 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