California · Nonprofit
SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE
SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,143,839 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($18,482,340). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 52
- Grants received
- $40M
- Net assets
- $121M
What Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute does
Mission
The mission of the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (slmath) is to: foster and communicate mathematical research in a broad range of fundamental topics and applications, develop mathematical talent and cultivate excellence, community and engagement, and inspire an appreciation of the power, beauty, and joy of mathematics.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Scientific programs: slmath conducts broadly-based research programs in the mathematical sciences and closely related fields. In any given year, slmath conducts between two and four thematic research programs, each lasting either 5 months or 10 months. Each such program hosts 60-120 mathematical scientists from all over the world whose research centers on the program's theme, during which time they collaborate on research, conduct seminars and workshops, and train and mentor postdoctoral fellows in the discipline. Slmath also hosts, each year, several stand-alone workshops on special topics, each one lasting for a period between one day and two weeks and bringing to slmath between 40 and 150 participants. Slmath also collaborates with other mathematics institutes in scientific programs and in its efforts to encourage participation in mathematics research programs.
$8,725,325 spentof which $4,868,472 as grants$537,302 earned by the program81% of program spendingComputing and communication: slmath provides information technology (it) resources and services to its researchers and the broader math community worldwide. Slmath maintains an it platform that features the most advanced mathematical software and that grants access to and supports virtual collaborative research amongst mathematicians at the institute. Slmath develops and maintains a vmath website that streams videos of past program lectures for mathematicians and the general public. In addition, slmath produces and distributes digital versions of its most popular scientific and public events.
$1,342,263 spent13% of program spendingMath and society programs: slmath sponsors a number of programs and activities with the goals to enhance both k-12 mathematics education and the public understanding of and appreciation for mathematics.these programs include supporting the bay area mathematics olympiad (bamo, a mathematics-related event for students in grade 12 or under), the mathical book prize (an annual award for fiction and nonfiction books that inspire children pre-k - 12 to see math in the world around them), two book distribution programs (which provide mathical prize-winning books to title I schools nationally and in california's alameda county), and the critical issues in mathematics workshop (cime, a forum for the exchange of ideas between mathematics researchers and educators).in addition, a series of films, public lectures, and other events are hosted at slmath and throughout the country for the public. These events aid in understanding the importance of mathematics and its applications in our society and culture. These events also provide access to significant recent advances in the mathematical sciences.
$643,797 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,711,385.
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 $45M to $85M (+88%).
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 32% · 2018 39% · 2019 55% · 2020 54% · 2021 8% · 2022 26% · 2023 26% · 2024 31% · 2025 32%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (52% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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 14 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $1.5M → $8.1M.
16 of 52 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 62% 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: $6.7M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Simons Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE raised.
From the IRS filings of SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 52 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
SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 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 SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 20% · 2019 32% · 2020 29% · 2021 44% · 2022 44% · 2023 62% — 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
41% of SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
62% of SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE'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 $15M that is directly attributable, 84% of it comes from funders outside California, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 78 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 78 science & tech nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $51.8M on record.
- National Science Foundation$51.8M
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 SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
57%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Mathematical Sciences UK · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE: 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 SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE?
- SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,143,839 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($18,482,340). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 52 organizations giving $40,143,839 in grants to SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $18,482,340 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE 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 Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute →
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 52 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