Massachusetts · Nonprofit
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (Massachusetts) receives grants from 327 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,204,112 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE I ALDEN TRUST ($4,050,000). 177 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $529M
- Funders on record
- 327
- Grants received
- $48M
- Net assets
- $901M
What Worcester Polytechnic Institute does
Mission
Wpi transforms lives, turns knowledge into action to confront global challenges, and revolutionizes stem through distinctive and inclusive education, projects and research. (http://www.wpi.edu/about/mission.html)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The university provides education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to approximately 5,500 undergraduate and 2,025 graduate students. In addition, housing and board auxiliary services are provided for approximately 2,410 students. During fiscal year 2025, the university awarded 1,298 bachelor, 867 master and 87 phd degrees. Students emerge from the university's unique experience ready to take on some of the most difficult challenges in science and technology. More importantly, they understand how their work can truly impact society and improve lives.
$377,933,360 spentof which $155,149,656 as grants$434,365,675 earned by the program84% of program spendingAt the university, 244 faculty and post doc researchers, and 632 students are engaged in cutting-edge research across a broad range of disciplines. The university receives research funding from a variety of sources, primarily from governmental organizations such as the national science foundation, department of defense, national institute of health and other federal agencies. Research at the university has a decidedly applied focus, with work focused on problems that are both interesting and important. The result is new knowledge, new innovations, and technological advances that attack some of the major challenges of our time.
$69,921,140 spentof which $13,976,103 as grants$55,929,914 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $447,854,500.
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.
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 $1.2B to $1.3B (+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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 9 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 Fitzgerald
Chair & trustee
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 59 funders to 114 funders, grant income rose $2.4M → $7.3M.
45 of 327 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 327 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
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 8% of grant income, and it takes 12 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 12 funders to its left
63% 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 WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 11% · 2019 21% · 2020 13% · 2021 15% · 2022 10% · 2023 25% — 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
38% of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 32 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $18M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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.
Government funding WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $328.4M on record — $290.8M federal, $37.7M state.
- National Science Foundation$111.6M
- Department of Defense$57.8M
- Department of Health and Human Services$55.5M
- Department of Education$34.5M
- Department of Energy$16.3M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$3.8M
- MA$37.7M
- VT$2k
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 WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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 7 related entities
- Gateway Park LLC · disregarded
- Lancaster Island LLC · disregarded
- Sagamore Grove LLC · disregarded
- Grove Street Lodging LLC · disregarded
- Prescott Street Lodging LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC 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 WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE?
- WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (Massachusetts) receives grants from 327 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,204,112 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE I ALDEN TRUST ($4,050,000). 177 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 327 organizations giving $48,204,112 in grants to WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, 177 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE?
- THE GEORGE I ALDEN TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $4,050,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 327 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