Illinois · Nonprofit
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (Illinois) receives grants from 1718 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,260,906,858 to it, the largest being Northwestern Memorial HealthCare ($258,345,875). 1072 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.2B
- Funders on record
- 1,718
- Grants received
- $1.3B
- Net assets
- $15.6B
What Northwestern University does
Mission
Northwestern is committed to excellent teaching, innovative research and the personal and intellectual growth of its students in a diverse academic community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education of students: for the 2025 academic year, 8,961 undergraduates and 11,228 graduates and professional school students enrolled full-time at the university. The exempt purpose of Northwestern University is to provide educational services to its students. This includes superior undergraduate education for a diverse student body in a comprehensive range of academic and professional fields. At the graduate level, northwestern's role encompasses offerings in the major academic and professional fields, closely related to research, creative activities, and clinical services.
$2,983,776,148 spentof which $638,355,669 as grants$1,774,274,941 earned by the program76% of program spendingResearch activities: the research program at Northwestern University is a major component of university efforts, assuring institutional leadership in scientific discovery, intellectual inquiry, and creative performance. The character of this research shapes all areas of university endeavor, especially graduate education as well as undergraduate studies.
$725,804,000 spentof which $141,967,787 as grants$992,056,229 earned by the program18% of program spendingAuxiliary enterprises serve the educational mission by primarily providing residences and food services, and other various goods and services to support university student, faculty, and staff activities.
$220,554,000 spent$134,184,796 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,930,134,148.
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 $15.8B to $19.4B (+22%).
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 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
12% of Northwestern University’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (5% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 468 funders to 675 funders, grant income rose $58M → $189M.
83 of 1718 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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: $786M from 110 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Big Ten Conference Inc); $3.8M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Inc); $127k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Northwestern University). These are real filings, and they are not money Northwestern University raised.
From the IRS filings of Northwestern University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 1718 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
Northwestern University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 15 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 15 funders to its left
62% 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 Northwestern University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 8% · 2018 20% · 2019 26% · 2020 34% · 2021 19% · 2022 27% · 2023 23% — 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
46% of Northwestern University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
Northwestern University draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 46 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $227M 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
Northwestern University runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 22 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22 recreation & sports nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Government funding Northwestern University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.4B on record — $5.4B federal, $1.2M state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$4.2B
- National Science Foundation$551.5M
- Department of Defense$365.2M
- Department of Energy$192.0M
- Department of Education$48.1M
- Department of Commerce$32.8M
- NJ$939k
- MA$266k
- DE$21k
- VT$1k
- FL$244
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 Northwestern 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 Illinois
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
53%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 6 states
Part of a family of 17 related entities
- Northwestern University USA Foundation Limited · disregarded
- Rubicon Insurance Company · exempt
- Students Publishing Company · exempt
- McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University · exempt
- The Big Ten Conference Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Northwestern 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 Northwestern University?
- Northwestern University (Illinois) receives grants from 1718 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,260,906,858 to it, the largest being Northwestern Memorial HealthCare ($258,345,875). 1072 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Northwestern University have?
- IRS filings report 1718 organizations giving $1,260,906,858 in grants to Northwestern University, 1072 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Northwestern University?
- Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is the largest funder on record, with $258,345,875 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Northwestern University find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 1718 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