California · Nonprofit
MINERVA UNIVERSITY
MINERVA UNIVERSITY (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,451,601 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($40,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $49M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $46M
- Net assets
- $23M
What Minerva University does
Mission
Minerva University strives to develop problem-solvers, entrepreneurs, and wise leaders from around the globe; and weave them together as one community to address the greatest challenges facing humanity.continued on schedule oour undergraduate students come together as future leaders and entrepreneurs from 100 nations to live and learn together in multiple culturally vibrant cities around the world over four years of study with a shared goal in mind to contribute to a safer, more sustainable world.minerva is an independent, non-profit educational institution, accredited by the wasc senior college and university commission (wscuc). Minerva is authorized by the student and exchange visitor program (sevp) to host international students on an f-1 visa for the undergraduate residential program.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Operate affordable, high quality educational programs leading to an undergraduate degree. To accomplish this, the institute identifies students, awards scholarships and other direct aid, provides instruction using high quality, scaffolded curricula on an innovate live video-based platform and immersive residential services in seven global locations.
$36,816,363 spentof which $10,581,149 as grants$21,602,799 earned by the program99% of program spendingOperate high quality educational programs leading to a graduate degree. To accomplish this, the institute identifies students and provides instruction using high quality, scaffolded curricula on an innovative live video-based platform.
$504,368 spent$615,436 earned by the program1% of program spendingOperate high quality educational non-degree programs with a duration of a few weeks or up to a year. To accomplish this, the institute identifies students and provides instruction using high quality, scaffolded curricula on an innovate live video-based platform.
$17,647 spent$237,930 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $37,338,378.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2022 to 2023, from $15M to $58M (+296%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 1% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of MINERVA UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Diane Tavenner
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $100k → $18M.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $200k from one payer (the payer's own filing calls it a related party, largest The Halperin Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money MINERVA UNIVERSITY raised.
From the IRS filings of MINERVA UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
MINERVA UNIVERSITY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 86% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 MINERVA UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 55% · 2021 46% · 2022 89% · 2023 96% — 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
40% of MINERVA UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 67% 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
86% of MINERVA UNIVERSITY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $6.3M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40M arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
MINERVA UNIVERSITY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like MINERVA 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MINERVA 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 MINERVA UNIVERSITY?
- MINERVA UNIVERSITY (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,451,601 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($40,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MINERVA UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $46,451,601 in grants to MINERVA UNIVERSITY, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MINERVA UNIVERSITY?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $40,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MINERVA UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Minerva University →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 9 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