Ohio · Nonprofit
DENISON UNIVERSITY
DENISON UNIVERSITY (Ohio) receives grants from 331 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,084,509 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,109,426). 216 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $299M
- Funders on record
- 331
- Grants received
- $97M
- Net assets
- $1.4B
What Denison University does
Mission
Through an emphasis on active learning, Denison University engages students in the liberal arts, which fosters self-determination and the transformative power of education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Our purpose is to inspire and educate our students to become autonomous thinkers, discerning moral agents and active citizens of a democratic society. Through an emphasis on active learning, we engage students in the liberal arts, which fosters self-determination and demonstrates the transformative power of education. We provide undergraduate programs of instruction to approximately 2,464 students. Students are offered approximately 65 majors, concentrations and programs of study. Scholarships and grants are provided based on merit and economic need. The university also provides services to students including counseling and programs in the areas of admissions, student aid, student employment, student activities, registration, and student life.
$256,346,506 spentof which $91,696,389 as grants$208,544,371 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $256,346,506.
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 $1.4B to $1.7B (+21%).
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 0% · 2021 2% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
18% of DENISON UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Lewis A Sachs '85
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 90 funders to 142 funders, grant income rose $3.0M → $9.3M.
66 of 331 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 DENISON UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 331 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
DENISON UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
46% 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 DENISON UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 33% · 2019 37% · 2020 27% · 2021 32% · 2022 22% · 2023 18% — 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
49% of DENISON UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
DENISON UNIVERSITY draws 59% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 32 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $41M arriving through sponsors registered in 27 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
DENISON UNIVERSITY's funding base is broadening — from 90 funders to 142 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding DENISON UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $13.7M on record.
- Department of Education$8.9M
- National Science Foundation$4.4M
- Department of Health and Human Services$361k
- Department of Commerce$5k
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 DENISON UNIVERSITY
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Denison Golf LLC · disregarded
- Middleton House Ltd · disregarded
- Historic Granville Inn LLC · disregarded
- Denison University Research Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DENISON UNIVERSITY: 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 DENISON UNIVERSITY?
- DENISON UNIVERSITY (Ohio) receives grants from 331 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,084,509 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,109,426). 216 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DENISON UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 331 organizations giving $97,084,509 in grants to DENISON UNIVERSITY, 216 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DENISON UNIVERSITY?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $15,109,426 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DENISON UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 331 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