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Foundation Lookup

Form 990-PFTax years 2023 to 2025Grants 1,398,923

Foundation grant size

The median grant from a private foundation to an organization is $5,000. It grows with the foundation: $2,123 from those with under $1 million in assets, $75,000 from those with $1 billion or more.

See which foundations fund work like yours Matching by cause, place and grant size

Foundations with a return in the last two years, each by its latest return: 127,413 returns, tax years 2023 to 2025 (2024: 54,983; 2025: 71,689; earlier: 741), counted from the IRS e-file data on Nov 11, 2026. Returns reach the IRS 5 to 18 months after the year they describe.

Median grant by foundation size

Total assets at the end of the year

The bar spans the middle half of each group’s grants; the mark is the median.

Median grant and the middle half of grants, by the foundation’s total assets. Log scale: each step is ten times the last.
  1. Under $1 million 79,992 foundations · 321,772 grants counted · typical foundation lists 3 grants Median$2,123 Middle half$967 to $7,000 Paid in grants$11.7 billion
  2. $1 million to $10 million 35,365 foundations · 490,365 grants counted · typical foundation lists 10 grants Median$5,000 Middle half$1,500 to $12,702 Paid in grants$13.4 billion
  3. $10 million to $50 million 8,762 foundations · 269,129 grants counted · typical foundation lists 20 grants Median$10,000 Middle half$3,000 to $25,340 Paid in grants$17.5 billion
  4. $50 million to $250 million 2,589 foundations · 171,492 grants counted · typical foundation lists 40 grants Median$14,000 Middle half$2,500 to $50,000 Paid in grants$23.3 billion
  5. $250 million to $1 billion 556 foundations · 69,811 grants counted · typical foundation lists 81 grants Median$27,500 Middle half$5,000 to $100,000 Paid in grants$25.4 billion
  6. $1 billion or more 149 foundations · 76,354 grants counted · typical foundation lists 336 grants Median$75,000 Middle half$5,000 to $250,000 Paid in grants$40.5 billion

Most grants are small; most dollars are not

1,426,080 grants

Every grant to an organization in the latest returns, by size. The first bar is the share of grants, the second the share of the money.

  1. Under $1,000 Grants16.6%237,431 Dollars0.1%$80.6 million
  2. $1,000 to $4,999 Grants26.4%375,876 Dollars0.8%$765.2 million
  3. $5,000 to $24,999 Grants32.4%462,202 Dollars4.7%$4.7 billion
  4. $25,000 to $99,999 Grants15.1%215,223 Dollars9.3%$9.3 billion
  5. $100,000 to $999,999 Grants8.5%121,173 Dollars29.5%$29.5 billion
  6. $1 million or more Grants1.0%14,175 Dollars55.6%$55.6 billion

How we counted

Returns
Foundations whose latest Form 990-PF return ends within the last two years, each by that return: 127,413 returns. Returns held back by our check on amounts larger than assets plus revenue (537) are left out.
Foundation size
Total assets at the end of the year, at book value, from the return’s balance sheet.
Grants counted
Grants paid during the year to organizations, of $100 or more. Grants to people, such as scholarships, are left out, and so are smaller amounts, which are often placeholders, and lines that only say “see attached” or “various”. The split of grants by size above counts every grant to an organization of $1 or more.
Median
Half of the grants were smaller and half larger. The middle half runs from the grant a quarter of the way up the list to the one three quarters of the way up.
Grants a year
The median number of grant lines on the return, among foundations that listed at least one.

Typical grants, foundation by foundation