Top Foundation Funders

1. Open Society Foundations $303.8 M
2. Ford Foundation $270.9 M
3. Nationale Postcode Loterij $269.6 M
4. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation $120.9 M
5. The Atlantic Philanthropies $115.1 M
6. The Oak Foundation $72.7 M
7. National Endowment for Democracy $64.8 M
8. Hivos $50.0 M
9. Comic Relief UK $49.6 M
10. Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program $49.4 M
11. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $39.4 M
12. W. K. Kellogg Foundation $39.0 M
13. American Jewish World Service $37.1 M
14. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation $28.3 M
15. EEA and Norway Grants $26.6 M
16. The Sigrid Rausing Trust $26.5 M
17. The California Endowment $26.1 M
18. Open Doors International $22.1 M
19. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $20.8 M
20. Public Welfare Foundation $18.5 M
21. NoVo Foundation $18.4 M
22. NEO Philanthropy $17.9 M
23. Fundación ONCE $17.0 M
24. Freedom House $16.7 M
25. New Israel Fund $16.1 M
26. M = Millions

Foundation Funding by Region

Region totals include both foundation grants directly to recipients based in the region specified and foundation grants to recipients located in other regions to do work benefiting the region specified. Grants may mention more than one region of benefit and therefore be counted in more than one category.

Foundation Funding by Issue

• Equality Rights and Freedom from Discrimination

  $343,507,763 (15%)
  3,827 Grants (19%)

• Human Rights, General

  $309,165,268 (13%)
  1,465 Grants (7%)

• Health and Well-being Rights

  $263,982,754 (11%)
  1,954 Grants (10%)

• Sexual and Reproductive Rights

  $212,204,991 (9%)
  926 Grants (5%)

• Education, Religion, and Culture

  $164,792,782 (7%)
  1,504 Grants (7%)

• Civic and Political Participation

  $163,218,851 (7%)
  1,530 Grants (8%)

• Freedom from Violence

  $159,666,209 (7%)
  1,911 Grants (9%)

• Environmental and Resource Rights

  $150,902,143 (6%)
  2,114 Grants (10%)

• Economic and Labor Rights

  $149,445,789 (6%)
  1,360 Grants (7%)

• Access to Justice/Equality Before the Law

  $149,213,075 (6%)
  1,111 Grants (5%)

• Migration and Displacement

  $135,518,717 (6%)
  1,136 Grants (6%)

• Expression and Information Rights

  $103,586,593 (4%)
  1,030 Grants (5%)

• Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding

  $40,393,888 (2%)
  433 Grants (2%)

Issue totals include foundation funding that could be identified as meant to address a specific issue. In order to provide unique totals and avoid double-counting, each foundation grant has been assigned to exactly one issue category within the human rights taxonomy.

Foundation Funding by Intersecting Populations

In order to show the intersections of multiple population groups, these graphics indicate other population groups supported within funding towards the group highlighted on this page.

Foundation Funding by Strategy

• Advocacy, Systems Reform and Implementation

  $620,621,843 (26%)
  4,767 Grants (23%)

• Capacity-building and Technical Assistance

  $337,163,491 (14%)
  2,889 Grants (14%)

• Research and Documentation

  $295,905,261 (13%)
  2,306 Grants (11%)

• Media and Technology

  $226,949,289 (10%)
  2,378 Grants (12%)

• Coalition-building and Collaboration

  $106,882,008 (5%)
  2,063 Grants (10%)

• Arts and Culture

  $59,643,875 (3%)
  970 Grants (5%)

• Litigation and Legal Aid

  $56,415,158 (2%)
  455 Grants (2%)

• Grassroots Organizing

  $44,397,617 (2%)
  735 Grants (4%)

• Security and Resilience

  $7,133,410 (0%)
  74 Grants (0%)

• Scholarships and Travel

  $3,432,062 (0%)
  129 Grants (1%)

Strategy totals include foundation funding that could be identified as supporting a specific strategy. Grants may employ multiple strategies and would therefore be counted in more than one category.