Data sources and methodology
Where every number on Grantvello comes from, how fresh it is and how we compute the parts that are estimates.
Sources
- IRS Form 990-PF e-file data. The IRS publishes electronically filed returns of tax-exempt organizations as XML files, in monthly batches. We read every Form 990-PF in the batches for recent years. A return usually appears 6 to 18 months after the end of the foundation's tax year.
- IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File. Names, addresses, subsection, foundation code, ruling date and NTEE classification of every registered exempt organization. Updated monthly by the IRS.
- IRS Publication 78 data and the automatic revocation list. Used to check whether an organization is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
- Grants.gov. Federal funding opportunities that are posted or forecast. We fetch the listing and the full synopsis of every opportunity daily.
How a funder profile is built
For each foundation we take its most recent return (by tax year, then filing date) and read Part XV: grants paid during the year and grants approved for future payment, with each recipient's name, address, relationship to the foundation, status and stated purpose, and the application information the foundation provided.
- Grants to organizations are kept with recipient name, city, state, amount and purpose. Some returns put an organization's name in the field meant for a person; we recognize those.
- Grants to individuals are counted and summed, but the names are never stored or published.
- Typical grant is the median amount of the foundation's grants to organizations on that return. The range shown is the 25th to 75th percentile.
- Causes are assigned to each grant from words in its stated purpose (for example "scholarship" or "food pantry"). The foundation's own classification is not used for this, because a foundation's category says little about what it funds.
- Recipients are linked to IRS records only when the name and state identify exactly one organization. Ambiguous matches are left unlinked.
What the statuses mean
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | A federal opportunity that Grants.gov lists as posted, with a closing date in the future or none, confirmed by our check within the last 48 hours. |
| Upcoming | A forecast on Grants.gov whose expected posting or closing date is still ahead. |
| Closed | The closing date has passed or Grants.gov archived the opportunity. |
| Historical Funder | A foundation that reported grants on a recent return. This describes the past. It does not mean the foundation is accepting proposals now. |
| Invitation Only | The foundation checked the box on Form 990-PF saying it gives only to preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests. |
| Unverified | We could not confirm the record recently, or the latest data is too old to say anything current. |
We never show a private foundation as "Open". Foundations rarely publish machine-readable calls for proposals, so a current cycle can only be confirmed on the funder's own website.
How match scores work
The score from 0 to 100 is computed by fixed rules, with no machine learning. It has five parts:
| Part | Points | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Cause | 30 | Share of the funder's grants whose purpose matches your causes. |
| Geography | 25 | Share of its grants that went to organizations in your state. |
| Grant size | 20 | Whether its typical grant is close to the amount you seek, or sensible for your budget. |
| Recency | 15 | How recent its latest return is. Returns appear one to two years after the tax year, so a return for two years ago counts as current. |
| Openness | 10 | Whether it describes how to apply. |
A funder with fewer than two grants in your causes, or under 15% of its grants, is not listed, however close it is: geography alone is not a reason to apply.
When a part cannot be computed (for example you did not give a budget), it is left out and the score is scaled over the parts that are known. A funder with too little data gets "Not enough data" instead of a number. Foundations that accept no unsolicited requests are listed separately rather than ranked.
A match score is our estimate of fit. It is not the probability of being funded. Every ranked funder comes with the grants that support the match, so you can judge the evidence yourself.
Limits you should know
- Tax returns describe the past. A foundation's priorities, staff and process can change.
- Paper-filed returns are not in the IRS e-file data. Most foundations now file electronically, but not all.
- Purpose text on returns is often short ("general support"), so cause classification misses some grants.
- Application deadlines on a return are what the foundation wrote at filing time; they are not proof of a current cycle.