Report · Funding by size
Grant money flows uphill
The 142,732 smallest nonprofits that received any tracked grant, each under one hundred thousand dollars in revenue, shared $11.0B between them. Their median was a single funder apiece.
The 3,534 largest, each above one hundred million dollars, shared $494.3B. That is 45 times as much money, spread across a fraction as many organizations. Universities, hospitals and national charities sit in this top band, and they absorb most of what funders give.
Funding follows size. An organization that is already large draws more grants, and the smallest organizations compete for what is left. More than half of all grant dollars land on the few thousand organizations in the top two bands.
The short version
- The 3,534 US nonprofits with over $100M in revenue received $494.3B in tracked grants — about 45× what the 142,732 smallest (under $100k) received.
- 70% of all tracked US grant dollars went to organizations in the top two revenue bands.
- The smallest organizations drew a median of 2 funders each; the largest, 12.
Dollars by organization size
Questions and answers
- Do larger nonprofits receive more grant money?
- Yes — tracked grant dollars concentrate at the top. Organizations with over $100M in revenue received $494.3B, about 45 times what those under $100k received, despite being far fewer in number.
- What share of US grant money goes to the largest organizations?
- 70% of all tracked grant dollars landed on organizations in the top two revenue bands (over $10M). Donor-advised funds and large regranters sit in the top band and inflate it.
More from the funding graph
Organization size is median total revenue across an organization's filings. Grant figures are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 — the two years with complete filing coverage, as charity filings lag 12 to 24 months — among recipients resolved by EIN. Donor-advised funds and large regranters appear in the top band and inflate it. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.