Which Sectors See Repeat Foundation Grants Most Often?

Which nonprofit sectors are most likely to see a private foundation give to the same organization again?

The differences are modest. In a comparison of matched foundation and nonprofit pairs first observed in 2017-2022 filings, Environment had the highest repeat rate, at 57.7%. Education followed at 56.8%, then Arts, Culture & Humanities at 56.3%.

These are average rates across six starting-year cohorts, weighted equally. Across 17 sector groups with enough records in every cohort, rates ranged from 51.1% to 57.7%. The recipient’s sector offers some context, but it does not tell you whether a particular foundation will give again.

How we measured repeat giving

For each foundation and nonprofit pair first seen in a tax year from 2017 through 2022, we checked whether the same foundation reported another positive grant to that nonprofit in either of the next two tax years. Each pair counted once, regardless of grant amount.

Giving each starting-year cohort equal weight keeps a large year from dominating the sector comparison. The three leading sectors were close: the gap between Environment and Arts, Culture & Humanities was just 1.4 percentage points.

The typical first-year total was also similar for pairs that received another grant and those that did not. In Environment, the median was $2,619 for pairs that repeated and $2,300 for those that did not. In Education, it was $2,500 versus $2,020; in Arts, Culture & Humanities, $2,500 versus $2,400. These are totals to a recipient within a tax year, not individual grant amounts.

What this means for grant research

Sector is useful for finding foundations whose giving may align with your work. But broad sector averages leave a lot of variation between individual funders. Check a foundation’s own grant history and look for organizations similar to yours that it has supported more than once.

Our guide to finding nonprofit grant data explains how to use grant records in prospect research. The NTEE codes guide explains the sector categories used here.

About the data

This analysis uses positive private foundation grants reported on IRS Form 990-PF filings from tax years 2016-2024. Amended filings were excluded. We included pairs first observed in 2017-2022 so each had two following tax years available, and grouped recipients by their current NTEE major category. The comparison covers high-confidence matches to nonprofit records, not every grant reported to the IRS.

“First observed” does not necessarily mean the foundation had never supported the nonprofit before the records available here. A repeat grant does not establish a formal renewal or future commitment. The sector describes the nonprofit, not the purpose of an individual grant.