A comprehensive, source-cited roundup of grant and giving statistics for 2026, covering foundation grantmaking, federal funding, DAFs, success rates, and more.

Whether you’re building a case for support, benchmarking your win rate, or just want to understand where grant money actually comes from, you need numbers you can trust. This is our master roundup of grant and giving statistics for 2026: every figure paraphrased from a named source and tagged with its data year, so you can cite it with confidence.

We’ve organized 120+ data points into the categories that matter most to grant seekers: overall U.S. giving, foundations, donor-advised funds, federal grants, nonprofit reliance on grants, success rates, the grant-writing profession, research funding, small-business grants, education grants, history, and the trends shaping 2025–2026.

TL;DR: The Big Numbers

Total U.S. charitable giving reached an estimated $592.50 billion in 2024 and rose to $617.20 billion in 2025, the first time it topped $600 billion (Giving USA).
Foundation giving hit $109.81 billion in 2024, exceeding $100 billion for three straight years (Giving USA).
Foundation assets crossed $1.5 trillion just five years after passing $1 trillion in 2019 (Candid).
Donor-advised funds held $251.52 billion and granted $54.77 billion to charities in 2023 (National Philanthropic Trust).
Federal grant outlays to state and local governments reached $882.8 billion in FY2024 (in constant FY2017 dollars) (Congressional Research Service).
Two-thirds of U.S. nonprofits received at least one government grant or contract in 2023 (Urban Institute).
Funders accept roughly 1 in 10 proposals on average, with most success rates landing between 10% and 30% (industry estimates).
NIH awarded $35.3 billion in grants in FY2025, supporting 300,000+ researchers (NIH).

U.S. Giving & Grantmaking

According to Giving USA, total U.S. charitable giving reached an estimated $592.50 billion in 2024, up 6.3% in current dollars.
Giving USA reports giving rose to $617.20 billion in 2025, the first time it has ever exceeded $600 billion.
Foundation giving hit $109.81 billion in 2024, a 2.4% increase over 2023, per Giving USA.
Foundation grantmaking has now exceeded $100 billion for three consecutive years, Giving USA data show.
Foundations accounted for 19% of all U.S. gifts in 2024 (unchanged from 2023), per Giving USA.
The foundation share of giving climbed from roughly 7% in 1984 to 19% in 2024, according to Giving USA.
Individuals gave $392.45 billion (66.7%) in 2024, still by far the largest source of giving (Giving USA).
Corporate giving rose 9.1% to just over $44.40 billion in 2024, an all-time high even after adjusting for inflation (Giving USA).
Giving USA notes corporate giving equaled about 1.1% of corporate pre-tax profits in 2024, up from 0.8%.
Bequests totaled $45.84 billion in 2024, down 1.6%, per Giving USA.
Bequests have held steady at 7–9% of total giving for four decades, Giving USA reports.
In 2024, the largest shares of giving went to religion (23%), human services (14%), and education (14%) (Giving USA).
Religion’s share of giving fell from 62% in 1984 to 23% in 2024, according to Giving USA.
Giving USA notes 2024 was the first year in three that giving growth outpaced inflation.
Per the CAF World Giving Index 2024, about 73% of the world’s population gave money or time in 2024.

Foundations & Grantmakers

Foundations are the backbone of institutional grantmaking. For the distinction between funder types, see private vs. public foundations and our guide to community foundation grants.

Candid counts 86,000+ grantmaking entities in the U.S., about 92% of them independent foundations.
Counting all types, there are 125,000+ private foundations in the U.S. (Candid).
Foundation assets crossed $1.5 trillion just five years after hitting $1 trillion in 2019 (Candid, citing FoundationMark).
Foundation assets grew roughly 60% in five years and nearly doubled over the past decade, per Candid.
Candid reports investment returns drive about 70% of foundation asset growth, with new contributions making up the other 30%.
Total foundation investments equal roughly 3% of the entire U.S. stock market, according to Candid.
Gates, Ford, and Lilly Endowment together hold $60 billion+ in combined investment assets (Candid).
Private foundations must distribute about 5% of net investment assets annually; the median self-reported payout has been stuck at 5% for five straight years (Candid).
Foundations with under $10 million in assets averaged a 10.3% payout in 2024, versus 5.2% for those over $100 million (Candid).
In 2024, 40.3% of analyzed foundation grants were general operating support, up from 37.1% in 2023 (Candid).
Small foundations awarded unrestricted operating grants 49.4% of the time, versus 26.9% for large ones (Candid).
In Candid’s 2026 grantmaker forecast, 44.3% of foundations expected to increase giving, while only 8.8% expected a decrease.
About 67.6% of surveyed foundations increased giving in 2025, with a median increase of 5.8% (Candid).
Community foundations posted the biggest median 2025 increase at 14.1%, per Candid.
In December 2025, 35+ philanthropies pledged to raise budgets 20%+ or lift payout to 8%+ for two fiscal years (Candid).
Midsize foundations ($10M–$100M) increased grant dollars 13.6% in 2024 (Candid).
Larger foundations (over $10M/year) tend to have lower application success rates than small funders, thanks to bigger applicant pools (Candid).

Donor-Advised Funds

DAFs are one of the fastest-growing sources of charitable dollars. For how they work and how to attract them, see our donor-advised fund grants guide.

According to the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) DAF Report, DAFs held $251.52 billion in assets in 2023.
DAF grants to charities topped $54.77 billion in 2023, per NPT.
The average DAF account held $141,120 in 2023 (NPT).
NPT reports DAFs paid out at 23.9% in 2023, versus a mean foundation payout of 8.7% in 2024.

Federal & Government Grants

Federal money moves differently from foundation money. See federal vs. foundation vs. state grants and our walkthrough of using Grants.gov.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) counts at least 1,183 funded federal grant programs as of FY2025.
Federal grant outlays to state and local governments grew from $17.7 billion in FY1940 to $882.8 billion in FY2024 (in constant FY2017 dollars), per CRS.
Federal funds made up 35.3% of roughly $2.96 trillion in total state spending in SFY2023, about $1.04 trillion (CRS).
There are 26 grant-making agencies in the federal government (CRS).
Health programs account for 60%+ of all federal grants to state and local governments (CRS).
HHS is the largest federal grantmaker, at about 29% of total federal grant funding (USAspending.gov/OMB).
Most federal prime awards go first to states, then flow down as subawards (CRS).
There are four categorical grant types: project, formula, formula-project, and open-end reimbursement (CRS).
Any entity spending $1 million+ in federal grants per year must submit a Single Audit (2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance / OMB).
Federal agencies never publish personal financial-assistance opportunities on Grants.gov, a useful scam-detection fact (OMB/Grants.gov).
Pandemic relief sent $150 billion to state/local via the CARES Act and $362 billion via ARPA (CRS).
In August 2025, the GAO found that the termination of about 1,800 NIH grants (Feb–Jun 2025) violated the Impoundment Control Act.

How Much Nonprofits Rely on Grants

According to the Urban Institute, two-thirds of U.S. nonprofits received at least one government grant or contract in 2023.
The average nonprofit gets about one-quarter of its revenue from government (Urban Institute).
Roughly 2 in 10 nonprofits get more than half their revenue from government (Urban Institute).
The average nonprofit revenue mix is 50% private, 28% government, 18% earned, 4% other (Urban Institute).
Nearly 9 in 10 nonprofits with $10M+ in expenses get government funding, which makes up 54% of their revenue (Urban Institute).
More than 95% of U.S. counties have at least one public charity receiving government grants (Urban Institute).
In 2023, no congressional district had a typical government-funded nonprofit that could cover expenses without its grants (Urban Institute).
In every state, 60–80% of grant-receiving nonprofits couldn’t cover expenses without government funding (Urban Institute).
A third of nonprofits reported government funding disruptions in early 2025; for those, government made up 42% of revenue (National Council of Nonprofits).
Nearly twice as many disrupted nonprofits cut staff (29%) as all nonprofits (15%) in early 2025 (National Council of Nonprofits).
Nonprofits planning to hire fell from 52% at the end of 2024 to 38% by mid-2025 (National Council of Nonprofits).
More than one-third of state revenue and about one-tenth of local revenue comes from federal sources (Urban Institute).

Grant Success Rates & Seeking Behavior

For a deeper dive on odds and how to improve them, see grant success rate statistics.

On average, funders accept about 1 in 10 proposals (industry estimates).
Industry grant success rates generally land between 10% and 30% (industry estimates, GrantStation “State of Grantseeking”).
Nonprofits win about 25% of federal applications; local and state applications can be funded nearly half the time (industry estimates).
Foundations typically fund 15–30% of applicants (industry estimates).
Expanding an existing funder relationship yields roughly 80% success, versus 30–40% for brand-new funders (industry estimates).
88% of organizations submitting 3–5 applications won at least one; that rose to 96% for those submitting 6–10 (GrantStation).
38% of organizations submitting only one application won nothing (GrantStation).
92% of surveyed organizations applied for private foundation funding in 2023; 64% applied for federal (GrantStation).
The median largest award was $42,500 (non-government) versus $263,500 (government) (GrantStation).
The median largest federal award was $615,000 (GrantStation).
40% of organizations receive federal funding regularly (GrantStation).
General support (33%) narrowly beat project/program support (32%) as the most common largest award (GrantStation).
A single federal application takes about 80–200 hours (Instrumentl). For more, see our breakdown of grant research time.
Most grant decisions take 1–6 months: roughly a third take 1–3 months and another third take 4–6 (Instrumentl). See how long it takes to get a grant.
74% of grant seekers are internal employees; only 8% are contracted grant writers (GrantStation).
61% of organizations rely on just 1–2 people for writing and submission (GrantStation).
Only 9.2% of U.S. tax-exempt organizations are grantmaking foundations (Candid).
There are roughly 141,108 private foundations versus 1.5 million+ nonprofits, so each foundation would need to make 11 grants for every nonprofit to get one (Candid).

The Grant-Writing Profession

Curious what this work pays? See grant writer salary and grant writing fees.

In-house grant writers average $57k–$66k; entry-level starts around $47k, and senior directors earn $85k–$130k+ (salary aggregators).
The Grant Professionals Association (GPA) compensation survey reports a $65k median for grant writers and $73k across all grant-professional roles.
Freelance grant writers charge $50–$200 per hour (industry estimates).
Federal grant specialists command $150–$250 per hour (industry estimates).
Simple foundation proposals cost $300–$3,000 to outsource; percentage-of-award pay is considered unethical and is prohibited by the GPA code of ethics.

Research Grants: NIH & NSF

For the full picture on federal research funding, see the NSF & NIH grants guide.

NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research worldwide, with a budget near $48 billion (NIH).
NIH awarded $35.3 billion in competing and noncompeting grants in FY2025, out of a $48.5 billion appropriation (NIH RePORT).
NIH makes 60,000+ grants per year, supporting 300,000+ researchers at 2,500+ institutions (NIH).
Every $1 of NIH funding generated about $2.46 in economic activity in FY2023 (NIH).
Every $100 million in NIH funding yields roughly 76 patents and an estimated $598 million in further R&D (NIH).
The overall NIH research project success rate was about 13% in 2025, still 8,000+ awards (NIH RePORT).
Early-stage-investigator R01-equivalent success fell from 29.8% (FY2023) to 18.5% (FY2025) (NIH RePORT).
NIH comprises 27 institutes and centers, each with its own appropriation (NIH).
About 91% of major biomedical research grant dollars worldwide go to U.S.-based recipients (NIH).
NSF’s roughly $9.9 billion FY2024 budget funded 11,000+ new awards (NSF).
NSF evaluated 38,340 proposals and made 11,056 new awards in FY2023 (NSF/NCSES).
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship totals $159,000 per fellow ($37k/year stipend plus $16k cost-of-education for three years), with a 16–17% success rate (NSF).
NSF CAREER funding rates run about 15–25% by directorate (NSF).

Small Business Grants: SBIR/STTR & Corporate

For the deep dive, see the SBIR/STTR grants guide and the SBA grants guide.

SBIR/STTR (“America’s Seed Fund”) provides non-dilutive early-stage tech funding via 11 federal agencies, running since 1982 (SBA/SBIR.gov).
Through FY2019, there were 178,731 SBIR/STTR awards totaling $54.6 billion (SBIR.gov).
As of April 2026, SBIR Phase I runs up to $323,090 and Phase II up to $2,153,927 without special SBA approval (SBA).
In 2021, about 7,000 SBIR/STTR awards went to 4,000+ recipients, supporting roughly 65,578 jobs per year (SBIR.gov).
DOD and HHS together account for 75%+ of both SBIR and STTR funding (SBIR.gov).
NSF has the highest SBIR success rate of the 11 agencies, at about 20% (SBIR.gov).
SBIR/STTR was reauthorized in April 2026 and extended through September 30, 2031 (SBA).
Myth-buster: per the SBA, the agency does not provide grants to start or expand a business; its grants go to nonprofits, Resource Partners, and educational organizations.
Approval rates for many federal small-business grants run about 10–20% (industry estimates).
2026 corporate small-business grants include Intuit QuickBooks ($20k quarterly), American Express Shop Small ($20k), and the FedEx contest ($15k–$50k).
American Express and Main Street America awarded $10k grants to 400 small businesses in 2025.

Education Grants: Pell

For how education grants fit the broader landscape, see Department of Education grants.

The maximum Pell Grant for AY2025–26 is $7,395 (U.S. Department of Education / Federal Student Aid).
6,032,974 students received Pell Grants in AY2022–23, with $27.215 billion disbursed (U.S. Department of Education).
57.8% of Pell recipients come from families earning $40,000 or less per year (Federal Student Aid).
About 40% of all U.S. undergraduates received a Pell Grant in AY2019–20 (NCES).
The Higher Education Act of 1965 created the first federal college grant program; the Pell name was adopted in 1980 after Sen. Claiborne Pell (U.S. Department of Education).
The original Basic Educational Opportunity Grant disbursed $47.52 million to about 170,000 freshmen in 1973 (U.S. Department of Education).

Grant History

For the full story, see the history of grants in America.

The Morrill Act of 1862 was the first federal aid to higher education, granting 30,000 acres per member of Congress per state (USDA NIFA / National Archives).
The 1862 Morrill Act allocated 17.4 million acres, yielding a $7.55 million collective endowment when sold (National Archives).
New York’s land-scrip management (which funded Cornell) generated one-third of all land-grant revenue despite receiving one-tenth of the land (USDA NIFA).
There are 112 land-grant institutions today, at least one in every state, territory, and D.C. (USDA NIFA).

Trends to Watch (2025–2026)

The grant management software market is projected to grow 10%+ over five years, driven by cloud and AI adoption (market-research estimate). See grant management software.
The Stanford AI Index 2025 reports about 78% of organizations now use AI somewhere; a 2025 MIT study found 95% of generative-AI pilots produced no measurable financial return.
The top 50 corporate givers make up 2% of corporate foundations but over half of corporate award dollars (Candid).
With federal funding contracting, private foundations are described as a stabilizing force; over half of 2025 grants tracked were general operating support (Candid).
NIH’s new multiyear funding policy points toward fewer but larger grants; the FY2026 request would support 4,312 new competing grants, down 29.3% from FY2025’s 6,095 (NIH).

Methodology & Sources

These figures are drawn from primary and authoritative secondary sources, each named in-text: Giving USA (Giving USA Foundation / Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy) for giving totals; Candid (with asset figures citing FoundationMark) for foundation data; the National Philanthropic Trust for donor-advised funds; the Congressional Research Service, USAspending.gov/OMB, and GAO for federal grants; the Urban Institute and National Council of Nonprofits for nonprofit reliance; GrantStation, Instrumentl, and the Grant Professionals Association for success rates and profession pay; NIH RePORT, NSF/NCSES, and SBA/SBIR.gov for research and small-business funding; the U.S. Department of Education, NCES, USDA NIFA, and the National Archives for education and historical figures. Data years are tagged on each stat. Programs, rules, and figures change frequently, so always confirm against the primary source before citing.

Keep Reading

For focused deep-dives, see our two companion roundups: grant success rate statistics breaks down the odds and how to improve them, and nonprofit funding statistics drills into where nonprofit revenue actually comes from.

Grantboost helps nonprofits and small organizations find matching grants and draft proposals in their own voice, so more of these applications turn into wins. Try Grantboost free.

Disclaimer: Grant programs, eligibility rules, deadlines, and policies vary by region and change frequently. The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current rules in your area. Always consult a local grant writer or qualified expert in your region for advice specific to your organization, project, and jurisdiction.

Grant Statistics 2026: 120+ Data Points on Giving, Foundations & Grant Success Rates