Who funds Harvard University?
296 private foundations reported grants to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts totaling $74.2 million across 396 grants in tax years 2023 to 2025. The largest funder was The Simons Foundation Inc, with $11.7 million.
From the funders' IRS Form 990-PF filings.
- Foundation funders296
- Grants reported396
- Total received$74.2 million
- Funders taking applications25
Foundations that fund Harvard University
| Foundation | Purpose given | Grants | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simons Foundation Inc | Nsf-simons center for mathematical and statistical analysis of biology | 44 | $11.7 million |
| The Edgerley Family Foundation | Support-general fund | 1 | $7.3 million |
| The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | 80249 gun policy research: uncovering fundamental information on the problem of gun violence, with a focus on how policies affect black americans | 13 | $4.5 million |
| The Chris and Carrie Shumway Foundation | Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains. | 1 | $4.1 million |
| Blavatnik Family Foundation | Support for Education and Research | 1 | $2.4 million |
| Gray Foundation | Hms project, chen atlas informatics, santagata project, sorger project, brugge-atlas project | 1 | $2.3 million |
| Hutchins Family Foundation Inc | To support the charity's mission. | 1 | $2.0 million |
| Beal Family Foundation | Annual contribution | 1 | $2.0 million |
| Denise A& Eugene Chinery Foundation | Faculty of Arts & Sciences for the Denise A. and Eugene W. Chinery Research Scholar Fund | 3 | $1.9 million |
| The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation | For a political economy conference | 6 | $1.8 million |
| Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Inc | To provide demonstration sites technical assistance in business process redesign through dedicated on-site fellows as they implement a new approach to connecting families at risk of child welfare involvement to community-based services | 1 | $1.7 million |
| Vranos Foundation | Stem cell institute | 1 | $1.7 million |
| Endeavor Foundation Inc | Liang-zhou nieman | 1 | $1.5 million |
| The Sherwood Foundation | Connecting science + community | 1 | $1.5 million |
| The Andrew W Mellon Foundation | To support the further development of the black teacher archive portal | 2 | $1.4 million |
| Alfred P Sloan Foundation | To enable the safe analysis of private data by expanding both an open-source library of software tools as well as a growing community of users | 7 | $1.3 million |
| The Tommy Fuss Fund | Faculty of arts & sciences for the tommy fuss research fund | 1 | $1.2 million |
| Matthew A & Susan B Weatherbie Foundation | General Purpose | 1 | $1.1 million |
| James Duncan Phillips Fund for Harvard | See attached | 1 | $1.0 million |
| The Marcus Foundation Inc | To support the exempt purpose of the receipient organization | 1 | $976,800 |
| The Raymond Frankel Foundation | To promote arms control | 1 | $951,200 |
| Harvard College Trust | Fund for support of doctoral students | 1 | $908,338 |
| Charles Koch Foundation | General operating support | 2 | $816,040 |
| The Recanati-Kaplan Foundation | Charitable purpose | 1 | $800,000 |
| The William & Lia G Poorvu Family Foundation | Shorenstein ctr on media, politics & public policy | 3 | $755,000 |
| Charina Foundation Inc | General support | 1 | $750,000 |
| William Randolph Hearst Foundation | To support undergraduate financial aid through the Phobe Apperson Hearst Scholarship | 2 | $647,500 |
| JSJN Children's Charitable Trust (F/K/A Webster Charitable Trust) | Charitable use - to support hbs fund and hbs action plan for radical equity | 1 | $602,604 |
| The Harkness Trust | General | 1 | $600,000 |
| Richard King Mellon Foundation | Toward support of project argyle | 1 | $575,000 |
| A Alfred Taubman Foundation | Graham t. Allison jr. Plaza fund | 4 | $520,000 |
| The Jane and Richard Eskind and Family Foundation | To further one or more of the exempt purposes of the charity | 1 | $500,000 |
| William K Bowes Jr Foundation | For the grant seed program | 1 | $500,000 |
| Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation | Research, general support & education | 4 | $448,000 |
| UW SG Welsh Char Trust | Unrestricted general | 1 | $443,284 |
| Landry Family Foundation | Exempt purpose | 1 | $441,000 |
| The Greenfield Foundation Inc | To provide support for 2023-2024 program | 1 | $410,000 |
| The Robbins Family Foundation | General operating purpose | 1 | $400,000 |
| Valerie & Charles Diker Fund Inc | General support | 1 | $400,000 |
| The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research | How to build (and rebuild) an animal | 7 | $382,433 |
| Susan and Stephen Baird Family Foundation | General and unrestricted | 1 | $335,000 |
| The Brett & Meaghan Barakett Foundation | General support | 1 | $325,000 |
| The Diomedes Foundation | To fund the recipient's operating budget | 1 | $292,000 |
| Henry R Byers Tr UW Harvard | Unrestricted general | 1 | $284,641 |
| The Sancti Foundation Inc | To support educational, research and development efforts | 1 | $270,000 |
| Stephen Dellapietra and Pamela Hurst- Dellapietra Family Foundation Inc | Charitable contribution | 1 | $260,000 |
| The Angelo Family Charitable Foundation | For operations | 1 | $260,000 |
| Nooril-Iman Charitable Foundation Inc | General | 1 | $250,000 |
| The JCT Foundation | General support | 1 | $230,000 |
| Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation | Performing Arts at Harvard University Construction Fund at the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) (Pledge #: 0006852921) | 1 | $200,313 |
| The David S Howe Foundation | Donee's exempt purpose | 1 | $200,000 |
| The Persepolis Foundation | General charitable purposes | 1 | $200,000 |
| Rea-O'Keefe Family Foundation #0771334 | General fund | 1 | $200,000 |
| The Liu Kuo-Sung Foundation | In collaboration with harvard university to publish all the works done by artist liu, kuo-sung, known as the "father of modern chinese ink paintings". | 1 | $200,000 |
| The Spencer Foundation | The black teacher archive | 1 | $189,896 |
| Germeshausen Foundation Inc | Support educational programs | 1 | $165,000 |
| Gershinowitz Memorial Fund | General operating | 1 | $152,000 |
| Kahng Foundation | For charitable purpose of organization | 1 | $150,000 |
| The Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation | Science of the human past $400,000 extended pledge (2022-2025) | 3 | $140,500 |
| The Swartz Foundation | Fund Research | 1 | $135,000 |
| Target ALS Foundation Inc | Biomedical research | 1 | $125,000 |
| Kenneth Rainin Foundation | Discovery of therapeutic microbial metabolites in inflammatory bowel diseases | 1 | $125,000 |
| The John E Stevens Trust | General fund | 1 | $120,551 |
| Research Corporation dba Research Corporation for Science Advancement | Searching for New Physics with Galactic Neutrinos | 1 | $120,000 |
| Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation | Medical support | 1 | $116,000 |
| Rita Allen Foundation Inc | Rita allen foundation scholars program | 1 | $110,000 |
| Charles H Hood Foundation | Child health research award - targeting lipid dysregulation in hereditary spastic paraplegia | 1 | $100,000 |
| Michael S Feldberg - Ruth Lazarus Charitable Trust | Charitable | 1 | $100,000 |
| Krieger Charitable Trust Fka Cecilia L Krieger Trust | Charitable purpose | 1 | $100,000 |
| The Paul & Harriet Weissman Family Foundation Inc | The purpose of these contributions is to provide the donee organizations to carry out their exempt functions. | 1 | $100,000 |
| Anthony J and Christie B de Nicola Foundation | Charitable gift | 1 | $100,000 |
| McKinnon Family Foundation | Education | 1 | $100,000 |
| Michael & Susan Dell Foundation | June 2024 Harvard Business School | 1 | $100,000 |
| Universal Enlightenment Forum Inc | To support religious enlightenment | 1 | $100,000 |
| The Michael and Louisa von Clemm Foundation | General support | 1 | $94,192 |
| William T Grant Foundation Inc | Building healthy foundations: city-wide mapping of childhood asthma rates for early identification of dangerous housing | 1 | $81,229 |
| PEAK6 Foundation | For the Women's Initiatives of the Women and Public Policy Program and MRCBG Advisory Council | 1 | $80,000 |
| Margulf Foundation | Restricted grant to the harvard immigration and refugee clinic | 1 | $75,000 |
| Rattner Family Foundation Inc | To further the tax exempt mission of the organization | 1 | $75,000 |
| Ada Howe Kent Foundation | non restrictive | 1 | $75,000 |
| Smart Family Foundation of Illinois | Cultural, historical & other educational | 1 | $75,000 |
| The Gershwind Foundation | Educational | 2 | $70,000 |
| The Karen Toffler Charitable Trust | Dr. Rachel bennett and sudeshna das | 1 | $65,000 |
| The Theresa and Frank Caplan Foundation | Detecting and Learning from Automatic Teaching in Early Childhood | 1 | $63,000 |
| The Robert Kravis and Kimberly Kravis Foundation | General Purpose Donation | 1 | $60,000 |
| Samuel H Kress Foundation | Institutional fellowships | 1 | $55,000 |
| The Stanley S Shuman Family Foundation | General support | 1 | $55,000 |
| Wm Keck Foundation | For general support of charitable purposes. | 1 | $55,000 |
| Bertram A and Ronald M Druker Charitable Fndn | General & unrestricted | 1 | $50,000 |
| Abrams Foundation Inc | General operating support for the nieman foundation for journalism | 1 | $50,000 |
| The Cornell Family Foundation | General charitable purpose | 1 | $50,000 |
| Michael E Gellert Trust | General | 1 | $50,000 |
| Richard Ann John & James Solomon Families Foundation | Charitable | 1 | $50,000 |
| The Sterling Foundation | General support | 1 | $50,000 |
| Burgstahler Foundation | Education | 1 | $50,000 |
| The Noom Foundation | General fund | 1 | $50,000 |
| Bowen H and Janice Arthur McCoy Charitable Foundation | Educational | 1 | $50,000 |
| The Leonettio'connell Family Foundation | Scholarship | 1 | $45,484 |
| Soros Fund Charitable Foundation | General Support | 2 | $39,750 |
| The Ausolus Trust | Exempt purpose | 1 | $36,000 |
Using this list
A foundation that already gives to Harvard University gives in its field and region, so the list doubles as a prospect list for similar organizations in Cambridge. Open a foundation to see its application rules, typical grant and every other grant it paid.
Questions people ask
Who funds Harvard University?
The Simons Foundation Inc, The Edgerley Family Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Chris and Carrie Shumway Foundation and Blavatnik Family Foundation, and 291 more, according to their IRS Form 990-PF filings.
How much does Harvard University get from foundations?
$74.2 million in 396 reported grants from 296 private foundations in tax years 2023 to 2025. Government grants and gifts from individuals are not included.
Which of these funders accept applications?
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Inc, Endeavor Foundation Inc and The Andrew W Mellon Foundation say in their filings that they accept applications.