Report · Grant renewal
Will they fund you again?
When a US funder starts funding a nonprofit, there's about a 39 in 100 chance the nonprofit gets money from it again the following year. Some funders do that almost never, others three times in four. Those differences between funders are much bigger than any we found by cause, size or place.
What we're counting
We take a funder paying a nonprofit for the first time in at least two years, and ask whether the same nonprofit got any money from that funder the next year. That isn't always a grant being renewed. Tax returns list the money paid out in the year, so the second payment of a two- or three-year grant counts as money again. And “first” means the first we can see in at least two years, not necessarily the first ever.
The second year is the hard one
Most new funding relationships show no money the following year, though some pick up again later. But each year a relationship lasts, the next gets more likely. A nonprofit funded two years in a row has a 63 in 100 chance of a third. After 4 years in a row, it's 80 in 100.
It depends hugely on the funder
Here are some of the best-known names in American philanthropy, and how often a nonprofit they started funding got money from them again the next year. Publix Super Markets Charities Inc paid 76 in 100 of them again. AbbVie Foundation: 9 in 100. The number beside each is how many nonprofits that's based on. A low figure isn't a judgment on a funder: some choose to fund each nonprofit once, or ask it to wait before applying again.
all US funders, 39%
It's the same across all 7,219 funders we could check. Some 18% of them paid fewer than one in five of the nonprofits they started funding again the next year, and 10% paid more than three in five. The differences by cause are much smaller: the figure ranges from 33% for public safety to 44% for religion.
Some funders make you wait a year
A funder that rarely funds you two years running may still come back. A few do so in the third year instead. The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, for example, asks nonprofits to finish their grant and send in a final report before they apply again. Only 20 in 100 of its new grantees got money again the next year, but 62 in 100 within three years.
funded again the next yearwithin three years
A year off doesn't push nonprofits to find new funders
Of the grants that went to nonprofits a funder had backed before, 93 in 100 came the very next year and 6 in 100 after a year off. Only 137 of the 31,145 funders that often fund the same nonprofits again do most of it after a gap.
Some say a year off is good for nonprofits, because it pushes them to find other funders. At first glance it looks that way. Of nonprofits with no other foundation funders, 43 in 100 of those given a year off found a new one within two years, against 31 in 100 of those funded straight through. But that comes from which funders take years off, not from the year off itself. Compare nonprofits given a year off with nonprofits the same funder kept funding, and those given a year off were no more likely to find a new funder (the difference is less than 1 in 100).
We found no clear link between a year off and a big fall in revenue. About 2 in 100 lost half their revenue within two years, the same as nonprofits funded straight through. Nonprofits dropped for good lost half their revenue more often: 4 in 100.
Chance a nonprofit's revenue halves within two years, after a funder that had backed it two years running. The short line on each bar is the margin of error.
Having more funders is what protects you
What does hurt is losing a big funder when you have few others. Take nonprofits whose biggest foundation funder gave them at least a tenth of their revenue. When that funder stopped and they had no other foundation funders, their revenue halved within two years 19 times in 100. When it kept funding them: 7 in 100. With 9 or more other funders, losing it meant a halving only 4 times in 100.
Chance revenue halves within two years, by how many other foundation funders the nonprofit had. The short line on each bar is the margin of error.
Its biggest funder stoppedIts biggest funder kept going
It holds in general too. Of nonprofits with no foundation funders in our records, 7 in 100 saw their revenue halve within two years. With 16 or more funders: 1 in 100.
This shows the two go together. It doesn't prove that one causes the other: a funder may stop because a nonprofit was already in trouble.
Bigger grants and newer nonprofits do better
The bigger the first grant, the better the chance of money again. Under $5k: 37 in 100. $500k or more: 46 in 100.
Chance of money from the same funder again the next year, by the size of the first grant. The short line on each bar is the margin of error.
Brand-new nonprofits do noticeably better. Those registered with the IRS in the last three years got money again 47 times in 100. Older ones: between 38 and 41 in 100, whatever their age. A funder that backs a brand-new organization tends to stick with it.
Chance of money from the same funder again the next year, by how long ago the nonprofit registered with the IRS
Being invited helps a little. Most private foundations say on their tax return that they only fund organizations they choose themselves. They paid 39 in 100 of the nonprofits they started funding again the next year. Foundations that accept applications: 36 in 100. That small gap shows up among big and small foundations alike.
Where you are, and how big you are, hardly matter
A nonprofit in the same county as its funder got money again 41 times in 100. One in a different state: 39 in 100. State by state it barely changes (between 36 and 42 in 100), except in Hawaii (31 in 100). Size only matters at the very bottom: nonprofits with less than $25k a year got money again 34 times in 100, and everyone from $100k up about 40.
Chance of money from the same funder again the next year, by where the nonprofit is
Chance of money from the same funder again the next year, by the nonprofit's yearly revenue
The foundations most likely to fund you again
Private foundations that gave at least 40 first grants, grouped by how much they give a year. A foundation with only a few grants needs to keep it up for longer to rank high, so a lucky streak can't put it at the top.
Giving $50M+ a year
a typical foundation this size: 41 in 100
- Fred C and Katherine B Andersen Foundation92 of 110
- Publix Super Markets Charities Inc1,395 of 1,839
- Valhalla Foundation33 of 45
- The Goldman Sachs Foundation47 of 67
- Novo Foundation143 of 222
Giving $10M to $50M a year
a typical foundation this size: 39 in 100
- The Mary Alice Fortin Foundation92 of 103
- The Bolick Foundation57 of 63
- John W Anderson Foundation50 of 55
- Sunlight Giving50 of 55
- Skyline Foundation122 of 140
Giving $1M to $10M a year
a typical foundation this size: 36 in 100
Giving $250k to $1M a year
a typical foundation this size: 34 in 100
- The John a Rodger Jr Foundation Inc126 of 126
- P Wayne and Jane B Goode Foundation48 of 52
- The Neall Family Charitable Foundation39 of 43
- Slayton Foundation37 of 41
- The Clara Weiss Fund47 of 54
Giving under $250k a year
a typical foundation this size: 32 in 100
How we worked this out
US funders list the grants they make on their tax returns (Form 990 and 990-PF), which the IRS publishes. For each grant made between 2019 to 2023 we asked: is this the first time this funder has given to this nonprofit? Our records go back to 2017, so we could always look back at least two years. That gave us 1,476,302 first grants from 68,510 funders.
Then we checked whether the same funder gave the same nonprofit anything the following year (and, for grants up to 2021, in any of the next three years). We only used years where the funder's list of grants was complete, about as long as usual. Some returns just say “see attached”, and those would make every nonprofit look dropped.
Returns list what was paid in the year, so the second payment of a two- or three-year grant counts as money again. Some funders, such as community foundations, only have to list grants over $5,000, so a smaller payment from them can go unseen; their figures are likely a few points too low. Counted by money instead of by grant, 43% of first-grant dollars went to nonprofits that were funded again the next year.
Is it changing? By the year a funder started funding the nonprofits: 2019 39 in 100, 2020 35 in 100, 2021 37 in 100, 2022 42 in 100, 2023 40 in 100. It moves up and down by a few points, with no steady rise or fall.
Years off: we looked at every grant over five years (2019 to 2023) that went to a nonprofit the funder had funded before, and counted the years since the last one, using only years where the funder's list was complete. To compare a year off with funding straight through, we followed nonprofits a funder had backed two years running, from 2018 to 2021: funded the third year and the fourth, skipped the third and back in the fourth, or gone for both. A new funder is one that had never funded the nonprofit before. Revenue “halved” means that two years on it was below half the lower of the two years before (so one unusually good year doesn't count as a fall), for nonprofits with at least $100k a year. We only count foundation funders whose grant lists we can read, so nonprofits funded mostly by government or individual donors look as if they have none.
Source: IRS Form 990 and 990-PF filings, to 2024. The same question for England and Wales.
Published 2026-10-29
Cite this: Plinth. (2026). Will they fund you again? How often US funders pay the same nonprofit again. data.useplinth.com/reports/renewal.