Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 510 organizations whose IRS filings report $124,976,636 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($29,470,546). 323 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $840M
- Funders on record
- 510
- Grants received
- $125M
- Net assets
- $2.7B
What Lehigh University does
Mission
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 this, the university commits to achieve national and international research prominence; provide learning experiences grounded in fundamental, transferable skills across all disciplines and in real world challenges; promote strategic risk-taking in the presence of opportunity and adversity; support social, environmental and economic sustainability; provide meaningful connections and partnerships with alumni, supporters, and citizens around the globe; provide a robust return on the investment in a lehigh education; and promote a diverse, inclusive, and financially accessible environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instruction: lehigh is an independent, coeducational university with programs offered in four colleges: arts and sciences, business and economics, education, and engineering and applied sciences. An interdisciplinary mindset has long been a part of the lehigh culture and is evident in the university's approach to teaching and research. Lehigh's undergraduate and graduate students work in a collaborative environment, where they have the opportunity to work closely with faculty, staff and fellow students in a personalized setting. Lehigh University comprises five colleges, four of which confer undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees. The fifth college offers graduate-level programs only, including both master's and doctoral degrees. All five colleges actively collaborate on cross-disciplinary academic programs and faculty research initiatives, lehigh offers approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate degrees and offers more than 100 undergraduate programs and majors, featuring more than 2,100 courses. There are approximately 90 programs offered at the graduate level. In the fall of 2024, lehigh undergraduate enrollment was 5,878 fte undergraduate students and 1,373 fte…
$463,094,588 spentof which $169,575,325 as grants$424,703,194 earned by the program73% of program spendingResearch: lehigh is committed to the pursuit of new knowledge, creative discovery, scholarly inquiry, and establishing a vibrant intellectual culture that pervades the campus community. Faculty research and creative work has been recognized nationally and internationally by high honors from peers, significant grants and funding, patents granted, and numerous and varied awards. Lehigh faculty have contributed to advancements in their disciplines and have been at the forefront of major discoveries that have improved the lives of millions. This scholarly inquiry and research positively impacts and enhances the learning experience in the classroom. Together with traditional faculty scholarship activities, approximately 660 actively supported research projects were conducted in fiscal year 2025.
$71,063,550 spentof which $11,148,772 as grants$926,568 earned by the program11% of program spendingAuxiliary services: student life at lehigh creates a balanced educational experience that integrates formal studies with residential life and a vibrant array of student organizations and activities. Lehigh is a caring community deeply committed to harmonious cultural diversity as an essential element of the learning environment. In order that all members of the lehigh community might develop as effective and enlightened citizens, the university encourages physical, social, ethical and spiritual development as well as rigorous intellectual development. In fiscal year 2025, approximately 3,907 undergraduate students resided in residence halls, fraternities or sororities and approximately 212 residents occupied graduate housing on lehigh's campus.
$67,049,280 spentof which $5,882,387 as grants$66,889,016 earned by the program11% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$32,464,094 spentof which $184,754 as grants$12,179,459 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $633,671,512.
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 $2.5B to $3.2B (+24%).
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 7% · 2018 6% · 2019 7% · 2020 8% · 2021 9% · 2022 8% · 2023 7% · 2024 8% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
14% of LEHIGH UNIVERSITY’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.
Board chair
Vincent A Forlenza
Chairman, board of trustees
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 132 funders to 227 funders, grant income rose $6.0M → $17M.
51 of 510 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 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 510 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
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 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 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 12% · 2019 28% · 2020 45% · 2021 26% · 2022 20% · 2023 20% — growing more concentrated.
“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
50% of LEHIGH UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY draws 84% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 34 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $53M arriving through sponsors registered in 22 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
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding LEHIGH UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $327.0M on record — $325.8M federal, $1.2M state.
- National Science Foundation$132.4M
- Department of Health and Human Services$65.7M
- Department of Defense$43.4M
- Department of Energy$40.3M
- Department of Education$33.0M
- Department of Commerce$4.8M
- NJ$1.2M
- DE$14k
- VT$8k
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 LEHIGH 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 Pennsylvania
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
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 11 states
Part of a family of 43 related entities
- Lu Properties LLC · disregarded
- Lup2 LLC · disregarded
- Lup3 LLC · disregarded
- Lup4 LLC · disregarded
- Lup5 LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEHIGH 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 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY?
- LEHIGH UNIVERSITY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 510 organizations whose IRS filings report $124,976,636 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($29,470,546). 323 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEHIGH UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 510 organizations giving $124,976,636 in grants to LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 323 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEHIGH UNIVERSITY?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $29,470,546 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEHIGH UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 510 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