New York · Nonprofit
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY (New York) receives grants from 402 organizations whose IRS filings report $672,015,006 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($78,629,751). 266 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $458M
- Funders on record
- 402
- Grants received
- $672M
- Net assets
- $2.6B
What The Rockefeller University does
Mission
The Rockefeller University (the university) is a world renowned center for research and graduate education in the biomedical sciences, chemistry, bioinformatics, and physics. The university's 73 laboratories conduct both clinical and basic research and study a diverse range of biological and biomedical problems with the mission of improving the understanding of life for the benefit of humanity. Laboratories are loosely clustered in nine research areas covering a wide spectrum of disciplines in the life sciences, including neuroscience, immunology, genetics, structural biology and bioinformatics. The university does not charge tuition. Its revenues are derived primarily from investment income, government grants and contracts, and private gifts and grants.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research education - 73 laboratories (and 15 emeritus laboratories) including 82 faculty members, 211 post-doctoral scholars, 263 graduate students and weill medical college of cornell university medical students.
$362,126,398 spentof which $14,091,997 as grants85% of program spendingHospital - consists of 40 beds and serves as a clinical research center for outpatients and inpatients. The Rockefeller University hospital exists solely to conduct clinical research. The specialized personnel and other resources available at the hospital facilitate clinical research for both the investigator and the research participant.
$17,418,087 spent4% of program spendingLibrary contains 648,432 volumes (of which 370,028 are on-line) and 8,383 on-line subscriptions and is maintained on an open stock policy. The library strives to advance knowledge by supporting our university's world class research community with technology, innovation, and collaboration in the field of science information and communication.
$3,414,234 spent1% of program spendingAuxiliary enterprises - housing on campus for single and married students; off campus housing for faculty and other university personnel; food service consists of cafeteria dining facilities; press includes journal and subscriptions.
$41,049,921 spent$34,061,855 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $424,008,640.
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 $3.9B to $4.5B (+17%).
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 25% · 2018 18% · 2019 18% · 2020 19% · 2021 18% · 2022 18% · 2023 20% · 2024 22% · 2025 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
47% of THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 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
William E Ford
Trustee, chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 101 funders to 155 funders, grant income rose $44M → $88M.
26 of 402 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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: $28M from 22 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Silicon Valley Community Foundation); $217k from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY raised.
From the IRS filings of THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 402 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
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
32% 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 THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 18% · 2019 21% · 2020 13% · 2021 13% · 2022 15% · 2023 11% — 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
41% of THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
61% of THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $105M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY's funding base is broadening — from 101 funders to 155 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $763.8M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$739.6M
- Department of Defense$15.6M
- National Science Foundation$8.0M
- Department of Commerce$499k
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$128k
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 THE ROCKEFELLER 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Clsi Ford Center Incubator · disregarded
- The Rockefeller University Faculty & Students Club Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE ROCKEFELLER 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 THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY?
- THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY (New York) receives grants from 402 organizations whose IRS filings report $672,015,006 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($78,629,751). 266 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 402 organizations giving $672,015,006 in grants to THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY, 266 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $78,629,751 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Rockefeller University →
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 402 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