Tennessee · Nonprofit
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) receives grants from 1029 organizations whose IRS filings report $561,358,747 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($63,114,069). 646 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8B
- Funders on record
- 1,029
- Grants received
- $561M
- Net assets
- $11.2B
What Vanderbilt University does
Programs
Vanderbilt is among a unique set of independent universities that offers both a high-quality undergraduate program and a full range of graduate and professional degree programs. Its world-class faculty consists of more than 2,400 full-time members, and the diverse student body is more than 12,000 strong across 11 schools and colleges. Vanderbilt's eleven schools and colleges include: College of Arts and Science, College of Connected Computing, Blair School of Music, Divinity School, School of Engineering, Graduate School, Law School, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Owen Graduate School of Management, and Peabody College (of education and human development). Vanderbilt has approximately 7,366 undergraduate students, 6,304 graduate and professional students, and an 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio. For more information regarding education at Vanderbilt, visit http://www.vanderbilt.edu.
$1,406,821,926 spentof which $474,486,535 as grants$1,450,858,431 earned by the program74% of program spendingVanderbilt is an internationally recognized research university. A majority of Vanderbilt's research funding is received from the federal government. Funding is also received from foundations, associations, corporations, and other sources. Vanderbilt's researchers are at the forefront of posing innovative solutions to some of the most challenging questions facing the world today. For more information regarding research at Vanderbilt, visit http://research.vanderbilt.edu
$485,703,389 spentof which $94,739,247 as grants$95,361,442 earned by the program26% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,892,525,315.
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 $9.4B to $13.9B (+47%).
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 13% · 2018 12% · 2019 10% · 2020 10% · 2021 7% · 2022 6% · 2023 10% · 2024 8% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
18% of Vanderbilt University’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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.
Board chair
Bruce R Evans
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 312 funders to 422 funders, grant income rose $42M → $67M.
118 of 1029 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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: $134M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Vanderbilt University Medical Center). These are real filings, and they are not money Vanderbilt University raised.
From the IRS filings of Vanderbilt University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 1029 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
Vanderbilt University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 24 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 24 funders to its left
59% 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 Vanderbilt University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 18% · 2019 18% · 2020 15% · 2021 6% · 2022 12% · 2023 8% — 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
42% of Vanderbilt University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
Vanderbilt University draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 47 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $179M arriving through sponsors registered in 34 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
Vanderbilt University runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding Vanderbilt University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.0B on record — $2.0B federal, $2.7M state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.3B
- National Science Foundation$273.7M
- Department of Defense$150.5M
- Department of Education$147.1M
- Department of Energy$75.4M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$28.7M
- MA$1.8M
- CT$688k
- NJ$109k
- OK$60k
- OR$8k
- DE$4k
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 Vanderbilt 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% 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
Part of a family of 43 related entities
- Dore Capital LLC · disregarded
- Star V Partners LLC · disregarded
- West Trace LLC · disregarded
- Royal Tree LLC · disregarded
- Vanderbilt Chelsea Holdings LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Vanderbilt 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 Vanderbilt University?
- Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) receives grants from 1029 organizations whose IRS filings report $561,358,747 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($63,114,069). 646 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Vanderbilt University have?
- IRS filings report 1029 organizations giving $561,358,747 in grants to Vanderbilt University, 646 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Vanderbilt University?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $63,114,069 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Vanderbilt University find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 1029 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