799 private foundations reported research & science grants on their IRS Form 990-PF filings for tax years 2023–2025. Historical giving records — not an open application portal.
Themes are derived from the free-text purpose each foundation wrote on its own Part XV filing, so a grant is classified by what the funder said it was for. Grants paid directly to named individuals are excluded from recipient counts and tables.
Across tax years 2023–2025, 799 private foundations reported 1,789 grants for research & science totaling $432,255,414 to 1,302 organizations nationwide. Recipients span 50 states and territories, concentrated in New York, California, Massachusetts. Gates Foundation reported the most research & science giving — $106,533,514 across 108 grants. The median grant was $40,000.
Foundation filings are a record of past giving. The UseGrants eligibility check matches you to federal and state opportunities accepting applications today.
States whose organizations received the most reported research & science grants.
| State | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 255 | $60,917,611 |
| California | 251 | $78,540,590 |
| Massachusetts | 187 | $66,059,104 |
| District of Columbia | 129 | $61,738,767 |
| Illinois | 92 | $15,865,477 |
| Texas | 82 | $10,571,559 |
| Pennsylvania | 72 | $30,170,069 |
| Maryland | 66 | $10,605,325 |
| Florida | 59 | $5,228,050 |
| Virginia | 38 | $1,332,577 |
| Missouri | 37 | $4,835,348 |
| Ohio | 35 | $4,619,284 |
| North Carolina | 33 | $5,527,880 |
| Tennessee | 31 | $2,260,913 |
| Minnesota | 30 | $3,949,102 |
| Oregon | 28 | $11,053,358 |
| Colorado | 28 | $5,252,283 |
| Connecticut | 27 | $6,370,580 |
| Michigan | 27 | $3,419,759 |
| Washington | 25 | $10,314,834 |
| Foundation | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Gates Foundation | 108 | $106,533,514 |
| Hess Foundation Inc | 2 | $25,300,000 |
| Breakthrough Prize Foundation | 10 | $23,188,827 |
| Peter G Peterson Foundation | 29 | $21,671,726 |
| Freedom Together Foundation | 14 | $16,310,000 |
| The G Harold & Leila Y Mathers Charitable Foundation | 87 | $15,303,445 |
| Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation | 2 | $15,000,000 |
| Target ALS Foundation Inc | 42 | $11,854,985 |
| The Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc | 2 | $10,950,000 |
| John S and James L Knight Foundation | 29 | $10,891,410 |
| Clark Charitable Foundation Inc DBA a James & Alice B Clark Foundation | 3 | $8,930,000 |
| Munger Charitable Trust Number Five C/0 William H Borthwick | 1 | $7,901,830 |
| Harold Alfond Foundation | 1 | $7,000,000 |
| Torrey Coast Foundation | 12 | $5,973,198 |
| The Patrick J Mcgovern Foundation Inc | 9 | $5,310,000 |
| Recipient | Location | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milky WAY Research Foundation | Washington, DC | 8 | $21,780,827 |
| Icahn School of Medicine | New York, PA | 1 | $20,150,000 |
| Scripps Research Institute the | La Jolla, CA | 5 | $17,492,254 |
| Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University the | Redwood City, CA | 8 | $14,894,565 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | 16 | $12,308,944 |
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR | 3 | $10,170,000 |
| Lupus Research Alliance | New York, NY | 2 | $9,955,000 |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston, MA | 13 | $9,899,196 |
| Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | New York, NY | 5 | $8,331,550 |
| Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | Champaign, IL | 3 | $8,011,255 |
| Kitp House Project | Palo Alto, CA | 1 | $7,901,830 |
| University of Maine System | Orono, ME | 1 | $7,000,000 |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | Cambridge, MA | 10 | $5,849,124 |
| Harvard Business School | Cambridge, MA | 1 | $5,150,000 |
| Bridgespan Group Inc | Boston, MA | 1 | $5,000,000 |
| CAL State East BAY Educational Foundation | Hayward, CA | 1 | $5,000,000 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | 5 | $4,775,816 |
| Nuclear Threat Initiative Inc | Washington, DC | 2 | $3,750,000 |
| Washington University | Saint Louis, MO | 9 | $3,476,115 |
| International Aids Vaccine Initiative Inc | New York, NY | 2 | $3,465,097 |
799 private foundations reported research & science grants on their IRS Form 990-PF filings, totaling $432,255,414. The largest by reported dollars were Gates Foundation, Hess Foundation Inc, Breakthrough Prize Foundation. These are historical filings, not open application portals — check each foundation's own guidelines before approaching them.
1,302 distinct organizations appear as recipients, led by Milky WAY Research Foundation, Icahn School of Medicine, Scripps Research Institute the. Grants paid directly to named individuals are excluded from these figures.
The median reported research & science grant was $40,000, and the largest single reported grant was $20,150,000. Amounts are as reported by the filing foundation for a historical tax year.
The UseGrants feed tracks federal and state opportunities that are open today, each with the eligibility explained in plain English.
Source: public IRS Form 990-PF Part XV filings (tax years 2023–2025). Theme classification is derived from the funder’s own purpose text and is a summary, not a legal categorization. UseGrants is an independent aggregator, not affiliated with any foundation listed.
