Who funds whom: look up the foundations that paid a nonprofit
Type the name of a nonprofit and GrantCue lists the foundations and grantmaking charities that reported paying it, with the amounts and years, taken from their IRS filings. Add a few organizations that do work like yours and it shows who funds them, so your prospect list starts with funders that already give to your field.
How it works
- Type an organization's name, and its state or city if you know them. A one-word name such as "Hope" needs a state or a city, because it matches too many places otherwise.
- If the name turns up in more than one town, choose the one you mean. Each place shows the spellings the filings used, so you can see exactly what was matched.
- Read the list of funders. Each one shows the total it reported paying, the number of grants, the years it paid and its latest year. For a private foundation you also see whether its latest return gives application information.
- Switch to "Your peers" to keep a list of up to 30 organizations that do work like yours. Add them by name, or ask for suggestions drawn from your state and the focus areas in your profile. Funders that paid the most of your peers come first, and funders that already paid your own organization are listed apart from the new ones.
- Open a funder's profile for its full giving history, and track the ones you want to follow up.
What the data is and isn't
The data comes from IRS e-filed returns. Private foundations report their grants on Form 990-PF. Community foundations, United Ways and other public charities that make grants report them on Schedule I of Form 990.
The filings run from tax year 2021 to 2025, and most of the grants in them were paid in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (read October 2026). Each result shows the years its grants come from. A return reaches the IRS months after the tax year ends, so the newest grants are often not in the data yet.
A grant on a return is a record of a past payment. It does not mean the funder is taking applications now. Many private foundations give only to organizations they choose themselves, and priorities change between filings. For a private foundation, GrantCue shows whether its latest return gives application information. Form 990 has no such question, so for community foundations and other public charities there is nothing to show. Check the funder's own website before you apply.
Form 990-PF lists each recipient by name and address, not by tax ID, so GrantCue matches recipients by name and place. A similar name in the same town can belong to a different organization, and one organization can appear under several spellings. The results list every spelling that was matched so you can judge for yourself. Schedule I rows also carry the recipient's EIN, which GrantCue uses to find the funders that already paid your own organization.
Schedule I covers public charities that file the full Form 990. Smaller charities that file Form 990-EZ or the 990-N postcard do not file it. It lists only recipients that received more than $5,000 from the filer in the year, as one total for the year. Many community foundation grants are recommended by donors from donor-advised funds, so they show where a donor chose to give rather than what the foundation's own grant programs fund.
Amounts and names are as each funder reported them. GrantCue does not audit them. The methodology page explains how the foundation data is built.
Examples from the filings
A few examples from the filings: each organization below is shown with funders that reported grants to it.
Who it helps
- Small nonprofits without a development team that want a prospect list built from funders already paying for work like theirs.
- Grant writers and consultants getting to know a new client's field, or checking who has funded a partner organization.
- New organizations and new programs that need to know which funders support that kind of work in their state.
Frequently asked questions
Not directly. The search works by organization name, because the filings list grants by recipient. Start with organizations you know do that work, such as a food bank in your region or a youth program in the next county, and add them as peers. GrantCue then lists the foundations that paid them, with the ones that paid the most of your peers first. "Suggest peers" can also propose recipients in your state that foundations like yours paid for the purposes in your profile.
From IRS e-filed returns: Form 990-PF for private foundations, and Schedule I of Form 990 for community foundations, United Ways and other public charities that make grants. Names and amounts are as the funder reported them.
Not necessarily. The filings show past payments only. Many private foundations give only to organizations they pick, and a funder's priorities can change from one year to the next. Use the list to decide which funders to research, then read each funder's guidelines before you apply.
Recipients are matched by name and place. Try the full name as a funder would print it, and leave the city blank if a search returns nothing. A grant can also be missing because the funder has not filed for that year yet, because the funder files Form 990-EZ, or because a Schedule I grant was $5,000 or less. When a name appears in several towns, choose the one you mean.
Yes. Both lookups, the funders of one organization and the funders of your peers, are included in every GrantCue plan, including the free plan. You need a free account to search, and no card is needed.
Who funds whom is part of the free plan: sign up, then look up any organization by name.