Georgia · Nonprofit
BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC
BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC (Georgia) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,752,138 to it, the largest being Melvin Douglas and Victoria Kay Ivester Foundation Inc ($2,442,500). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $107M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $9.8M
- Net assets
- $133M
What Brenau University Inc does
Mission
Brenau university challenges students to live extraordinary lives of personal and professional fulfillment. As students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees or non-degree programs at brenau campuses and online, each prepares for a lifetime of intellectual accomplishment and appreciation of artistic expression through a curriculum enriched by the liberal arts, scientific inquiry and global awareness.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Brenau university is a private, comprehensive university that includes the undergraduate residential school, the undergraduate nonresidential school, the graduate school, and the early college program.each component of the university enhances the others through shared resources, facilities, faculty and cultural opportunities with some limited cross-enrollment opportunities available. However, each unit is defined by distinct characteristics.the undergraduate residential school, or women's college, offers baccalaureate programs, some of which feed into graduate programs, with a multi-discipline liberal arts foundation that enables students to explore general interests as well as pursue specialized studies. Women have opportunities to develop leadership skills in an environment that encourages awareness of and participation in a world characterized by pluralism and to explore and prepare for various career opportunities.
$20,969,541 spentof which $7,179,411 as grants$17,280,013 earned by the program32% of program spendingThe undergraduate nonresidential school offers studies leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees and is open to men and women. The programs provide foundations for individual and professional growth and competence.
$21,764,392 spentof which $5,126,969 as grants$20,667,938 earned by the program33% of program spendingThe graduate school offers studies leading to masters, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees as well as graduate certificates and is open to men and women. The programs encourage students to develop the proficiency and professionalism necessary to meet the challenges inherent in their fields of study.
$22,370,821 spentof which $157,988 as grants$28,625,871 earned by the program34% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$304,256 spentof which $307,933 as grants$338,585 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $65,409,010.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $138M to $156M (+13%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 2% · 2021 4% · 2022 7% · 2023 0% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $218k → $1.4M.
5 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
44% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 21% · 2019 27% · 2020 36% · 2021 55% · 2022 39% · 2023 30% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
65% of BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
85% of BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC's grant income comes from Georgia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 679 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 679 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.0M on record.
- Department of Education$8.8M
- Department of Health and Human Services$122k
- Department of State$30k
- Department of the Treasury$25k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Georgia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC?
- BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC (Georgia) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,752,138 to it, the largest being Melvin Douglas and Victoria Kay Ivester Foundation Inc ($2,442,500). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $9,752,138 in grants to BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC?
- Melvin Douglas and Victoria Kay Ivester Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $2,442,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BRENAU UNIVERSITY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Georgia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Brenau University →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 45 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing