Texas · Nonprofit
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University (Texas) receives grants from 603 organizations whose IRS filings report $544,495,053 to it, the largest being The Moody Foundation ($100,000,000). 346 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2B
- Funders on record
- 603
- Grants received
- $544M
- Net assets
- $3.8B
What Southern Methodist University does
Mission
The primary mission of the University is education through research and teaching by creating and imparting knowledge that will shape citizens who contribute to their communities and lead professions in a global society.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instructional: Instructional programs include academic instruction and services for undergraduate and graduate students including financial aid in the form of scholarships and fellowships. Student enrollment for Fall Semester 2024 was 12,129 and Spring Semester 2025 was 11,858.
$513,787,875 spentof which $225,441,946 as grants$731,346,003 earned by the program53% of program spendingStudent Services : This category includes athletic expenditures and services that support educational activities. Services includes the offices of admissions and registrar. It encompasses student activities, organizations, athletics, counseling and guidance and admissions and records.
$334,776,833 spentof which $20,660,739 as grants$10,925,491 earned by the program34% of program spendingSponsored Research: Sponsored research includes expenditures for all activities that are part of the University's research program, including activities specifically organized to produce research outcomes, whether commissioned by an agency external to the institution or separately budgeted by an organizational unit within the institution.
$76,788,241 spent$36,316,034 earned by the program8% of program spendingOrganized Activities: Organized activities make available to the public various resources that exist within the University such as seminars, conferences and camps. It also includes auxiliiary activities that support educational activities such as bookstore, student housing, vending and food administration and independent operations.
$51,915,733 spent$62,251,837 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: $977,268,682.
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 $3.5B to $3.9B (+12%).
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.
11% of Southern Methodist 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. 0 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 126 funders to 244 funders, grant income rose $16M → $83M.
46 of 603 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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: $77M from 52 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Atlantic Coast Conference); $52M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest American Athletic Conference). These are real filings, and they are not money Southern Methodist University raised.
From the IRS filings of Southern Methodist University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 603 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
Southern Methodist University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
26% 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 Southern Methodist University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 16% · 2018 27% · 2019 41% · 2020 31% · 2021 32% · 2022 22% · 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
48% of Southern Methodist University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
79% of Southern Methodist University's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120M arriving through sponsors registered in 26 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
Southern Methodist 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 Southern Methodist University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $271.2M on record — $270.6M federal, $617k state.
- Department of Education$81.8M
- National Science Foundation$64.6M
- Department of Defense$37.8M
- Department of Health and Human Services$30.4M
- National Archives and Records Administration$22.9M
- Department of Energy$18.4M
- OR$359k
- MA$217k
- DE$36k
- VT$5k
- OK$459
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 Southern Methodist 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 50 states
Part of a family of 9 related entities
- SMU Golf Foundation · exempt
- Peruna Holdings Corporation · exempt
- Mustang Mockingbird Properties · exempt
- Southern Methodist University Foundation · exempt
- SMU Corp · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Southern Methodist 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 Southern Methodist University?
- Southern Methodist University (Texas) receives grants from 603 organizations whose IRS filings report $544,495,053 to it, the largest being The Moody Foundation ($100,000,000). 346 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Southern Methodist University have?
- IRS filings report 603 organizations giving $544,495,053 in grants to Southern Methodist University, 346 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Southern Methodist University?
- The Moody Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $100,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Southern Methodist University find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 603 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