Foundations that fund organizations in Stanford, California
Worked out from where the grants went, not where the foundations sit.
Funding landscape for Stanford nonprofits
947 private foundations gave $285M to Stanford organizations in their latest filings; 26 of the 100 that say either way accept applications.
1,347 grants in total, with a typical foundation's median grant to Stanford around $499K. 48 of these funders are based in California; the rest give here from elsewhere.
- Foundations giving here
- 947
- Accept applications
- 26
- of 100 that state a policy
- Dollars to Stanford
- $285M
- latest filings
- Grants
- 1,347
- Typical median grant
- $499K
- Based in CA
- 48%
- of funders listed
Funders, by dollars given to Stanford organizations
| Foundation | Based in | Grants here | Dollars here | Median | Accepts applications | Typical purposes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sergey Brin Family Foundation C/O Pacific Foundation Services | San Francisco, CA | 5 | $32M | $4.0M | Preselected only | Support for autism research; The spark at stanford fund; Support for parkinson's disease research |
| Xie Foundation | Sunnyvale, CA | 4 | $32M | $6.0M | Preselected only | General Purpose. |
| The Linda and Mike Mussallem Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 1 | $20M | $20M | Preselected only | Center for Biodesign |
| Charles R Schwab Foundation for Financial Freedom | Palm Beach, FL | 2 | $11M | $5.5M | Preselected only | The initiative for the financial freedom fund; Schwab financial freedom leadership fund & the schwab progr… |
| Cabin Road Foundation Dated April 4 2011 | Redwood City, CA | 1 | $10M | $10M | Yes | General |
| Good Ventures Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | 16 | $9.2M | $359K | Preselected only | 2-week in-person economics of transformative ai course; Ai alignment throughout the 2024-2025 academic year; An investigation of the factors that regulate vaccine durab… |
| Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | 18 | $8.4M | $242K | Preselected only | In support of the integration of oceanographic data with tu…; To support the development of a portable, low-cost, and err…; In support of research demonstrating the efficacy of long-t… |
| The H & F Baker Foundation Inc | New York, NY | 1 | $7.9M | $7.9M | Preselected only | To promote the work of Stanford University |
| The Simons Foundation Inc | New York, NY | 41 | $7.5M | $192K | Preselected only | Simons investigator in physics; 2024-2025 shenoy undergraduate research fellowship in neuro…; Simons investigator in computer science |
| Xq Institute | Oakland, CA | 1 | $6.9M | $6.9M | Preselected only | Support to re-imagine and redefine the high school learning… |
| Bradford M Freeman Foundation | Sherman Oaks, CA | 1 | $5.0M | $5.0M | Preselected only | Contribution |
| The Starr Foundation | New York, NY | 1 | $5.0M | $5.0M | Preselected only | Hoover institution on war, revolution and peace center for… |
| Penner Family Foundation Inc | Bentonville, AR | 6 | $4.2M | $38K | Preselected only | The department of athletics, physical education, and recrea…; General Operating Support; to support the Athletic Department |
| Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation C/O Eve Fugiel | Glenview, IL | 1 | $4.0M | $4.0M | Preselected only | General support |
| The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation | Menlo Park, CA | 14 | $3.8M | $196K | Yes | For support of the stanford center on philanthropy and civi…; For general operating support; Matching gift of staff and board members |
| The Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust | New York, NY | 5 | $3.8M | $758K | Preselected only | Development of personalized decision support tool using net…; Determining the therapeutic potential of statins on strictu…; Development of a molecular switch based continuous insulin… |
| Walton Family Foundation Inc | Bentonville, AR | 1 | $3.2M | $3.2M | Preselected only | To support Carnegie in leading a field-wide shift from time… |
| Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation | Irvine, CA | 5 | $3.0M | $150K | Yes | Research, general support & education |
| The Kavli Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | 4 | $2.2M | $122K | Preselected only | Kipac public engagement; Kipac - scicomm training 2024; The via project: the milky way as a dark matter laboratory |
| Laura and John Arnold Foundation | Houston, TX | 8 | $2.2M | $270K | Preselected only | To provide operating support for the meta-research innovati…; To research the extent of profit-shifting to low-tax jurisd…; To support the improvement of audit and enforcement procedu… |
| The Chi-Li Pao Foundation USA C/O Alan C Yeung MD | Stanford, CA | 3 | $2.2M | $200K | Preselected only | Ims-clp fund; Graduate fellowship fund; Clp care hku enrichment year |
| The Anne Wojcicki Foundation | Los Altos, CA | 1 | $2.0M | $2.0M | Preselected only | Shoshana levy fellowship |
| Sarah Ketterer Family Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | $2.0M | $2.0M | Preselected only | General operating support |
| Gates Foundation | Seattle, WA | 1 | $1.9M | $1.9M | Yes | K-12 education |
| Good Planet Foundation | San Jose, CA | 1 | $1.8M | $1.8M | Preselected only | General operations |
| John S and James L Knight Foundation | Miami, FL | 2 | $1.8M | $900K | Yes | To provide renewed support for nonpartisan research, conven…; To equip newsrooms with one-stop shopping at big local news… |
| Alfred P Sloan Foundation | New York, NY | 15 | $1.7M | $75K | Yes | To train a diverse group of ph.d. students in the latest bi…; To help remediate underrepresentation of minorities (urm) i…; To complete a model of e. coli that accounts for over 90% o… |
| Conrad N Hilton Foundation | Westlake Village, CA | 1 | $1.6M | $1.6M | Yes | To elevate parent voices for regional (los angeles county)… |
| Sykes Family Foundation | Plainview, NY | 1 | $1.5M | $1.5M | Preselected only | General |
| J-P Conte Family Foundation | San Francisco, CA | 1 | $1.5M | $1.5M | Preselected only | General support. |
| Bin Lin and Daisy Liu Family Foundation | Fremont, CA | 1 | $1.5M | $1.5M | Preselected only | General support |
| Wm Keck Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | 2 | $1.5M | $733K | Yes | For general support of charitable purposes.; To develop bioluminescent probes for visualizing gpcr ligan… |
| Karen & Rick Hargrove Foundation | La Selva Beach, CA | 1 | $1.4M | $1.4M | Preselected only | Education |
| Carnegie Corporation of New York | New York, NY | 3 | $1.3M | $486K | Yes | For research, training, international engagements, and outr…; For support of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civi…; For support of the Advancing Social and Economic Opportunit… |
| Saw Island Foundation Inc | Woodside, CA | 1 | $1.3M | $1.3M | Yes | To advance knowledge about the conditions for interactions… |
| The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc | Milwaukee, WI | 6 | $1.3M | $225K | Yes | To support the 2024-2025 Bradley Graduate and Post-Graduate…; To support a conference; To support the Economic Policy Working Group |
| Bravo Family Charitable Foundation | Miami, FL | 1 | $1.2M | $1.2M | Yes | Professorship fund |
| The David and Lucile Packard Foundation | Los Altos, CA | 9 | $1.2M | $100K | Yes | Environment and Science; Families and Communities; Fellowships for Science and Engineering |
| Sand Hill Foundation | Menlo Park, CA | 2 | $1.0M | $513K | Yes | Susan ford dorsey family donor advised fund; Stanford women's cancer center |
| Leducq Foundation for Cardiovascular Research | Houston, TX | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | General support |
| K5 Foundation Co Pacific Foundation Services | San Francisco, CA | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | The Karr Family Programming Fund |
| Mae Philanthropies | Palo Alto, CA | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | Educational institution that insipres learning |
| Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated | Pittsburgh, PA | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Yes | Hoover institution on war, revolution and peace |
| Frederick Gardner Cottrell Foundation | Tucson, AZ | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | Charitable entity support |
| The Stephanie and Carter McClelland Foundation | New York, NY | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | Unrestricted grant for donee's exempt purpose. |
| Big Rock Foundation Corp C/O Realize Cpa | San Francisco, CA | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | Community support |
| Tidemark 10 Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | For the center for ocean solutions |
| William K Bowes Jr Foundation | San Francisco, CA | 2 | $900K | $450K | Preselected only | William k. bowes, jr. foundation: stanford bio-x bowes fell…; General operating support |
| Stephenson Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | 2 | $875K | $438K | Preselected only | To support the promotion of personal and economic liberty,…; To help support early-career economists |
| The Longbrake Family Foundation | Seattle, WA | 1 | $866K | $866K | Preselected only | General operations |
| Carina Initiatives Inc | Torrance, CA | 1 | $830K | $830K | Preselected only | University program |
| Enlight Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | 2 | $824K | $412K | Preselected only | Education and environment; Education |
| Edward P Evans Foundation | Charlestown, MA | 1 | $813K | $813K | Preselected only | Support scientific research |
| The Laura Ellen & Robert Muglia Family Foundation | Pennington, NJ | 1 | $800K | $800K | Preselected only | Year 1 of 3 Year Commitment, GSB Class of 1980 45th Reunion… |
| The Marmor Foundation | Berkeley, CA | 9 | $793K | $10K | Preselected only | Annual Support; Support for Marmor Collection; General Operating Support |
| Pan-Oyler Foundation C/O John Oyler | Pittsburgh, PA | 1 | $787K | $787K | Preselected only | General support |
| Ronald & Ann Williams Charitable Foundat | San Francisco, CA | 7 | $759K | $100K | Preselected only | Medical research; Chase hand center; Cancer center |
| The G Harold & Leila y Mathers Charitable Foundation | Rye Brook, NY | 3 | $723K | $233K | Yes | Research project |
| Realty Gift Fund | Santa Fe, NM | 1 | $689K | $689K | Preselected only | General support |
| Charles Lee Powell Foundation | Del Mar, CA | 1 | $650K | $650K | Preselected only | Education |
| Chambers Family Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | 3 | $625K | $100K | Preselected only | The chambers family foundation ai and melanoma fund; Gift to hoover institution on war, revolution, and peace. g…; The under one umbrella fund |
| Smith Richardson Foundation Inc | Greensboro, NC | 3 | $620K | $200K | Yes | General operating support |
| Dixon and Carol Doll Family Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 2 | $610K | $305K | Preselected only | Annual Council Gift 2023-2024 fund; The Dixon and Carol Doll Next Generation Fund |
| The Gifford Foundation Inc | Palo Alto, CA | 2 | $606K | $303K | Preselected only | General Fund-sports & education; Head Men's Coaches Tennis Office Naming |
| George D Smith Fund Inc | Chicago, IL | 1 | $600K | $600K | Preselected only | Organization's charitable purposes |
| The Ford Foundation | New York, NY | 7 | $592K | $90K | Yes | Matching gift; For "discrit incarcerated: exploring the demographics and t…; Core support for the rule of law impact lab to use legal to… |
| The Donald E & Delia B Baxter Foundation | Leaburg, OR | 1 | $590K | $590K | Preselected only | Research grants |
| John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation | Chicago, IL | 2 | $575K | $288K | Preselected only | In support of the stanford trustworthy ai research's evalua…; In support of stanford center on philanthropy and civil soc… |
| The Violich Family Foundation | Kentfield, CA | 3 | $570K | $10K | Preselected only | Contribution; Pav's women's softball head coachfund |
| The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | Princeton, NJ | 8 | $566K | $37K | Yes | Matching gifts; 75915 studying the role corporations could play in improvin…; 80649 improving democratic decisionmaking in municipal fina… |
| Valhalla Foundation | Woodside, CA | 2 | $563K | $281K | Preselected only | Scaling early childhood math programs; Scaling high quality public schools |
| Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc | Wilmington, DE | 2 | $550K | $275K | Preselected only | General & Unrestricted; PILLAR program spearheaded by Dr. Jeff Goldberg and medical… |
| Jean Perkins Foundation | Las Vegas, NV | 2 | $540K | $270K | Preselected only | To support the organization's programmatic efforts around n…; To fund scholarships for u.s. veteran students |
| Ishiyama Foundation | San Francisco, CA | 3 | $535K | $25K | Preselected only | Preservation; Education |
| Ono Pharma Foundation | New York, NY | 2 | $518K | $259K | Yes | The ono pharma breakthrough science intitiative awards prog… |
| Oberndorf Family Foundation | San Francisco, CA | 3 | $512K | $10K | Preselected only | General charity |
| The Rhines Foundation | Dallas, TX | 1 | $510K | $510K | Preselected only | Support hoover institution and science and engineering fund |
| The Sapp Family Foundation | New York, NY | 1 | $500K | $500K | Preselected only | General |
| Kissick Family Foundation | Sherman Oaks, CA | 2 | $500K | $250K | Preselected only | Contribution |
| The Lakeview Foundation | Greenbrae, CA | 1 | $500K | $500K | Preselected only | General support |
| The Eugene McDermott Foundation | Dallas, TX | 1 | $500K | $500K | Yes | For operations |
| Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation | Scottsdale, AZ | 2 | $500K | $250K | Preselected only | Dr. solomon - emerging leader award (1st payment).; Dr. beinat - emerging leader award (1st payment). |
| Emmett Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | $500K | $500K | Preselected only | To benefit education |
| William T Kemper Foundation Commerce Bank Trustee | Kansas City, MO | 1 | $500K | $500K | Yes | The kemper family stanford in oxford teaching fellow fund |
| Argyros Family Foundation | Costa Mesa, CA | 1 | $499K | $499K | Yes | Education |
| Priory Fund | Montecito, CA | 1 | $483K | $483K | Preselected only | In furtherance of charitable purpose |
| Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment | Boston, MA | 1 | $460K | $460K | Preselected only | Climate science & policy research |
| Spruce Street Foundation Inc | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | $450K | $450K | Preselected only | Best use of funds |
| Wintercreek Foundation | Irvine, CA | 1 | $450K | $450K | Preselected only | General operating |
| Yibing and Ping Jiang Foundation | New York, NY | 1 | $450K | $450K | Preselected only | Education |
| The Esther a & Joseph Klingenstein Fund Inc | New York, NY | 2 | $450K | $225K | Preselected only | Early childhood programs; Early literacy grants |
| Jameson Freedom & Education Foundation | Del Mar, CA | 2 | $435K | $218K | Yes | To support its work defending free markets and free minds t…; To produce groundbreaking research, model programs and exce… |
| Hand Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 3 | $421K | $25K | Preselected only | GSB Dean's Fund; General & Unrestricted; General & Unrestricted (See General Explanation) |
| The Shanahan Family Charitable Foundation | Pasadena, CA | 1 | $420K | $420K | Preselected only | General Purpose |
| Fairbank Foundation | McLean, VA | 1 | $406K | $406K | Yes | General |
| Brown Science Foundation | Escondido, CA | 1 | $400K | $400K | Preselected only | For scientific research |
| Mulberry Essence Foundation | Greenwich, CT | 1 | $400K | $400K | Yes | General |
| Donnini-Rudolph Family Foundation | Champaign, IL | 1 | $400K | $400K | Preselected only | Best use |
| Rita Allen Foundation Inc | Princeton, NJ | 4 | $400K | $100K | Preselected only | Rita allen foundation scholars program |
| The Ewing York Foundation | Phoenix, AZ | 1 | $400K | $400K | Preselected only | Charitable |
Source: IRS Form 990-PF Part XV, latest electronic return per foundation (2026-10-28). "Accepts applications" reflects the foundation's own checkbox on Part XV line 2. Grants to individuals excluded.
Common questions
Which foundations give to nonprofits in Stanford, California?
Sergey Brin Family Foundation C/O Pacific Foundation Services, Xie Foundation, The Linda and Mike Mussallem Foundation, Charles R Schwab Foundation for Financial Freedom, Cabin Road Foundation Dated April 4 2011 and 95 others reported grants to Stanford organizations on their latest Form 990-PF.
How do I approach a foundation that doesn't accept applications?
A foundation that checks "contributes only to preselected organizations" on its 990-PF won't review a cold proposal. Look at who it funds, find a shared board member, grantee or advisor, and ask for an introduction. Foundations that accept applications usually list a contact and deadlines in Part XV; we show that text on each foundation's page.
Is this list complete?
No. It covers private foundations (Form 990-PF filers) whose latest electronic return lists at least one grant to an organization in Stanford. Community foundations and corporate giving programs file different forms and are not included yet.