Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,453,316 to it, the largest being ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY INC ($7,692,832). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $107M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $35M
- Net assets
- $1.1B
What Carnegie Institution of Washington does
Mission
The mission of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, as set forth in its articles of incorporation under an act of congress in 1904, is "to encourage, in the broadest and most liberal manner, investigation, research, and discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind."
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Program service activity #1 carnegie science is a world-renowned center for scientific research in astronomy, earth and planetary sciences, and biology. Carnegie researchers employ interdisciplinary efforts to investigate how the universe was formed, how life evolved on this planet, and the potential for life to exist elsewhere in the cosmos. Carnegie observational and theoretical astronomers collaborate to trace the evolution of the universe from the spark of the big bang through star and galaxy formation; explore the structure of the universe; and probe the mysteries of dark matter, dark energy, and the ever-accelerating rate at which the universe is expanding. Unlike most in their field, carnegie observational astronomers design and build their own instruments to capture the secrets of space. Carnegie operates telescopes at las campanas observatory in chile, where much of our astronomical research is conducted. We are founding partners in a consortium that is working to design, construct, and operate the giant magellan telescope, one of the new class of extremely large telescopes, which will be among the world's largest ground-based optical/infrared facilities when it is…
$74,965,605 spent$12,305,423 earned by the program88% of program spendingProgram service activity #2 education - carnegie, a non-degree granting entity, is an advanced study organization at which highly qualified graduate scientists are offered postgraduate and postdoctoral training for careers in education and research. Carnegie's postdoctoral scientific education is primarily conducted in the laboratory or in the field. The postdoctoral curriculum is heavily weighted toward training candidates to be capable researchers and teachers of research. The faculty consists of the professional staff of carnegie, all of whom pursue their own research. Carnegie also offers certain training opportunities for predoctoral students who may go on to pursue advanced degrees at degree-granting institutions, as well as internship opportunities, both through formal programs and on an individual, case-by-case basis. Carnegie also partners with local schools and school districts to offer more instruction on astronomy and planetary science, and makes information available concerning carnegie's scientific research findings to the general public through lectures and other programming.
$10,389,380 spentof which $1,371,719 as grants12% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $85,354,985.
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 $1.3B to $1.5B (+15%).
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 17% · 2018 24% · 2019 11% · 2020 17% · 2021 9% · 2022 7% · 2023 12% · 2024 14% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
15% of CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (40% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Craig R Barrett
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 35 funders, grant income fell $5.6M → $4.3M.
21 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
59% 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 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 23% · 2019 29% · 2020 37% · 2021 16% · 2022 15% · 2023 18% — diversifying over time.
“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
36% of CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% 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
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 32 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 32 science & tech nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $103.6M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$45.4M
- National Science Foundation$30.7M
- Department of Energy$15.4M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$9.8M
- Department of Defense$1.6M
- Department of the Interior$215k
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 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Carnegie Science Holdings · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: 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 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON?
- CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,453,316 to it, the largest being ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY INC ($7,692,832). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $35,453,316 in grants to CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON?
- ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY INC is the largest funder on record, with $7,692,832 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 75 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing