Virginia · Nonprofit
The George Washington University
The George Washington University (Virginia) receives grants from 916 organizations whose IRS filings report $407,558,656 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($33,887,877). 477 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.0B
- Funders on record
- 916
- Grants received
- $408M
- Net assets
- $2.8B
What The George Washington University does
Mission
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 of such research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education: our namesake envisioned a university in the nation's capital that would prepare citizen leaders brought together from all over the world. Today, we are that university with students and faculty members from every state and more than 130 countries. Taking full advantage of our setting in a global nerve center, a gw education integrates intellectual discovery, interactive learning, and unparalleled access to opportunities in every sector of society. In a city shaping the future, george washington is a university where faculty and students not only study the world but also work to change it.
$1,386,628,979 spentof which $454,817,721 as grants$1,371,504,871 earned by the program75% of program spendingResearch and research support: gw's research is distinguished by our commitment to transform policy that affects people in their daily lives. This unique approach to research gives special character to our teaching and enables us to offer our students learning experiences that few can match. With our location, connections and close proximity to institutions such as the national institutes of health, national science foundation, the smithsonian institution, and library of congress, gw's research helps solve national and global problems while giving our students learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. In the 21st century, gw's faculty and students continue to open new doors of discovery.
$299,274,836 spentof which $64,731,681 as grants$239,374,720 earned by the program16% of program spendingAuxiliary enterprises - students and community: gw provides a number of services that support learning, build community, and enhance the overall quality of student life. Auxiliary enterprises include facilities and residential property management, dining, bookstore, parking, student health, mail, and laundry services. Gw's university student center houses student organization offices and meeting rooms and is utilized by students, faculty, staff, and visitors. For more info about gw's programs & accomplishments, see the 2024-2025 financial report on the finance division website at: http://finance.gwu.edu/reports
$162,752,862 spentof which $298,030 as grants$141,629,694 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,848,656,677.
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 2019 to 2020, from $4.6B to $4.9B (+8%).
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 1% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 2% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
4% of The George Washington University’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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 199 funders to 312 funders, grant income rose $28M → $59M.
100 of 916 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 The George Washington University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 916 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
The George Washington University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 8% of grant income, and it takes 19 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 19 funders to its left
58% 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 The George Washington University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 18% · 2018 8% · 2019 10% · 2020 9% · 2021 16% · 2022 14% · 2023 13% — 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
38% of The George Washington University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
The George Washington University draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 44 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $126M arriving through sponsors registered in 34 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
The George Washington University's funding base is broadening — from 199 funders to 312 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding The George Washington University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $11.4M on record — $11.0M federal, $477k state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$3.0M
- Department of Veterans Affairs$3.0M
- Department of Agriculture$2.6M
- Department of Justice$793k
- Department of Homeland Security$663k
- National Science Foundation$500k
- CT$249k
- NJ$91k
- MD$55k
- VT$32k
- DE$24k
- MA$10k
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 The George Washington 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
49%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 10 states
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- George Washington Worldwide LLC · disregarded
- Medical Faculty Associates Inc · exempt
- Mount Vernon College · exempt
- Washington Research Library Consortium · exempt
- Charitable remainder trusts (27) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The George Washington 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 The George Washington University?
- The George Washington University (Virginia) receives grants from 916 organizations whose IRS filings report $407,558,656 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($33,887,877). 477 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The George Washington University have?
- IRS filings report 916 organizations giving $407,558,656 in grants to The George Washington University, 477 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The George Washington University?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $33,887,877 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The George Washington University find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 916 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