Funding search · EIN 460677985 · Washington, DC

Breakthrough Prize Foundation

Name: Breakthrough Prize Foundation grants, 2021–2024
Creator: PaperOrbit
License: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements

A private foundation (files IRS Form 990-PF). Most private foundations do not take unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.

150
grants reported: $155.6M
total given: 2021–2024
filing years: $125,000
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2021–2024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

prize horizons physics research science life breakthrough refugees

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is built Report an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

Breakthrough Prizes to individual physicists and mathematicians
Life science research paid through Milky Way Research Foundation
Tech for Refugees grants to IRC, UNICEF, Airbnb.org
Support for displaced Ukrainian scientists via national academies
Breakthrough Junior Challenge student, teacher and school awards
AI-in-health institutional gift (Stanford RAISE-Health)

Typical grant

Median grant is $125,000, but the distribution is barbell shaped. The big money is $1M to $20M and goes to two places: the Milky Way Research Foundation for life science research and refugee-focused intermediaries like Airbnb.org, IRC, and Charities Aid Foundation America. The small end is prize money to named individuals, $25,000 to $100,000 for New Horizons and Mirzakhani New Frontiers, $3M for the main Breakthrough Prize, and these repeat annually as a fixed slate.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

“LIFE SCIENCE RESEARCH”
“TECH FOR REFUGEES”
“TO SUPPORT DISPLACED UKRAINIAN SCIENTISTS”
“2025 NEW HORIZONS IN PHYSICS PRIZE”
“SUPPORT CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES”

Positioning adjacent work

Do not pitch a project. Prizes here are nominated and selected, not applied for.
If your work is fundamental physics or math, cultivate nominators for New Horizons or Mirzakhani.
Displaced-scientist support flows through National Academy of Sciences and ALLEA. Partner with them, not the foundation.
Institutional asks succeed at scale: Stanford got $1,666,666 for RAISE-Health. Anything smaller reads as off-model.

Worth knowing: This is not a responsive grantmaker. A single related entity, Milky Way Research Foundation, absorbs roughly a third of the dollars across 20-plus payments, and prize money to individuals is nominally addressed to Washington, DC regardless of where the winner works. Recent years show a pivot toward refugee technology and Ukrainian scientists, both routed through a short list of large intermediaries.

41 grants matching “physical” · $13.2M

$3.0M
Gerard'T Hooft · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 special breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$100,000
Jeongwan Haah · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$100,000
Waseem Bakr · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$33,334
Sebastiaan Haffert · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$33,333
Rebecca Jensen-Clem · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$23,333
Maaike Van Kooten · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$13,564
University of Oxford · 2024
Support graduate studentship in particle physics
$1.5M
John Cardy · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$1.5M
Alexander Zamolodchikov · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$50,000
Alexandru Lupsasca · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$50,000
Michael Johnson · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$33,333
Marko Simonovic · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$33,333
Mikhail Ivanov · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$33,333
Oliver Philcox · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Laura M Perez · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Nienke Van Der Marel · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Paola Pinilla · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Tilman Birnstiel · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in physics prize
$750,000
Gilles Brassard · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$750,000
Charles Bennett · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$750,000
David Deutsch · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$750,000
Peter Shor · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$100,000
David Simmons-Duffin · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$100,000
Anna Grassellino · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$16,667
Hannes Bernien · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$16,667
Hannes Pichler · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$16,667
Jeff Thompson · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$16,667
Kang-Kuen Ni · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$16,667
Manuel Endres · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$16,667
Adam Kaufman · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$1.5M
Jun Ye · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$1.5M
Hidetoshi Katori · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$100,000
Suchitra Sebastian · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Gregg Hallinan · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Raffaella Margutti · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Norman Yao · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Mansi Kasliwal · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Dominic Else · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Alessandra Corsi · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Vedika Khemani · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$25,000
Haruki Watanabe · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

Milky Way Research Foundation32 grants · $62.3M
Airbnborg2 grants · $21.0M
Charities Aid Foundation America3 grants · $15.0M
International Rescue Committee (Irc)4 grants · $5.6M
National Academy of Sciences3 grants · $5.4M
Unicef1 grant · $4.0M
Gerard'T Hooft1 grant · $3.0M
Daniel Spielman1 grant · $3.0M
Dennis Gaitsgory1 grant · $3.0M
Simon Brendle1 grant · $3.0M

Giving over time

$31.6M

2021

$69.4M

2022

$41.7M

2023

$12.9M

2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 150 grants.

$20.0M
Airbnborg · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Tech for refugees
$8.0M
Charities Aid Foundation America · Alexandria, VA · 2022
Tech for refugees
$6.6M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$6.0M
Charities Aid Foundation America · Alexandria, VA · 2022
Tech for refugees
$5.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$4.7M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$4.4M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$4.0M
Unicef · New York, NY · 2023
Tech for refugees
$3.4M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$3.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$3.0M
Dennis Gaitsgory · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 breakthrough prize in mathematics
$3.0M
Gerard'T Hooft · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 special breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$3.0M
Simon Brendle · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 breakthrough prize in mathematics
$3.0M
Daniel Spielman · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in mathematics
$3.0M
National Academy of Sciences · Washington, DC · 2022
To support ukraine refugees and ukrainian scientists affected by the crisis in ukraine
$3.0M
American Red Cross · Boone, IA · 2021
To support humanitarian relief efforts to help people affected by the crisis in ukraine
$3.0M
Takuro Mochizuki · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 breakthrough prize in mathematics
$2.9M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$2.9M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$2.7M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$2.6M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$2.2M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$2.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$2.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$2.0M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$2.0M
International Rescue Committee (Irc) · Albert Lea, MN · 2023
Tech for refugees
$1.9M
University of California Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2021
Research support
$1.9M
International Rescue Committee · Albert Lea, MN · 2022
Tech for refugees
$1.7M
Stanford University · Stanford, CA · 2023
Raise-health initiative
$1.6M
International Rescue Committee (Irc) · Albert Lea, MN · 2024
Tech for refugees
$1.6M
International Rescue Committee (Irc) · Albert Lea, MN · 2023
Tech for refugees
$1.5M
Alexander Zamolodchikov · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$1.5M
John Cardy · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$1.5M
Hidetoshi Katori · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$1.5M
Jun Ye · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$1.4M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$1.4M
National Academy of Sciences · Washington, DC · 2023
To support displaced ukrainian scientists
$1.4M
All European Academies · 2022
To support ukraine refugees and ukrainian scientists affected by the crisis in ukraine
$1.3M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$1.2M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$1.2M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$1.2M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
Life science research
$1.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$1.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$1.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$1.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
Life science research
$1.1M
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$1.0M
Airbnborg · San Francisco, CA · 2024
Tech for refugees
$1.0M
Charities Aid Foundation America · Alexandria, VA · 2023
Tech for refugees
$1.0M
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2022
Tech for refugees
$1.0M
National Academy of Sciences · Washington, DC · 2021
To support ukraine refugees and ukrainian scientists affected by the crisis in ukraine
$750,000
Charles Bennett · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$750,000
David Deutsch · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$750,000
Gilles Brassard · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$750,000
Peter Shor · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 breakthrough prize in fundamental physics
$536,121
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$512,499
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$502,092
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$500,000
International Rescue Committee (Irc) · Albert Lea, MN · 2023
Tech for refugees
$500,000
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2023
Tech for refugees
$500,000
Australian Academy of Science · 2022
Provide support for short-term research collaborations between ukrainian scientists and research facilities in australia and efforts to provide ukrainian scientists access to australian research facilities for sample an… read allProvide support for short-term research collaborations between ukrainian scientists and research facilities in australia and efforts to provide ukrainian scientists access to australian research facilities for sample analysis. less
$500,000
American Friends of the Tel Aviv University · New York, NY · 2021
To support ukraine refugees and ukrainian scientists affected by the crisis in ukraine
$466,881
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
Life science research
$460,787
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$376,586
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Life science research
$250,000
Sia Godika · Washington, DC · 2024
2023 breakthrough junior challenge - student award
$250,000
Noor Haideri · Washington, DC · 2023
2022 breakthrough junior challenge - student award
$250,000
Amber Kwok · Washington, DC · 2022
2021 breakthrough junior challenge - student award
$250,000
Social Impact Fund · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
Support charitable activities and programs that provide academic support, college scholarships and opportunities in steam education (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) to students in underserved com… read allSupport charitable activities and programs that provide academic support, college scholarships and opportunities in steam education (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) to students in underserved communities. less
$250,000
Jeffery Chen · Washington, DC · 2021
2019 breakthrough junior challenge - student award
$250,000
Maryam Tsegaye · Washington, DC · 2021
2020 breakthrough junior challenge - student award
$200,932
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Life science research
$200,000
Khan Academy · Mountain View, CA · 2023
General support
$200,000
Milky Way Research Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Life science research
$150,000
Arid1b Research Foundation · Chevy Chase, MD · 2024
Support charitable activities
$100,000
Blue Valley High School · Washington, DC · 2024
2022 breakthrough junior challenge - school award
$100,000
Ewain Gwynne · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Jeongwan Haah · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$100,000
John Pardon · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Neev Academy · 2024
2023 breakthrough junior challenge - school award
$100,000
Sam Raskin · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Waseem Bakr · Washington, DC · 2024
2025 new horizons in physics prize
$100,000
Angkana Ruland · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Michael Groechenig · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Roland Bauerschmidt · Washington, DC · 2023
2024 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Ana Caraiani · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Anna Grassellino · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$100,000
David Simmons-Duffin · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in physics prize
$100,000
Ecole McTavish Public High School · Washington, DC · 2022
2018 breakthrough junior challenge - school award
$100,000
James Maynard · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Le Bocage International School · Washington, DC · 2022
2020 breakthrough junior challenge - school award
$100,000
National Public School Koramangala · Washington, DC · 2022
2021 breakthrough junior challenge - school award
$100,000
Ronen Eldan · Washington, DC · 2022
2023 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Burlingame High School · Burlingame, CA · 2021
2019 breakthrough junior challenge - school award
$100,000
Jack Thorne · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Jacob Tsimerman · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in mathematics prize
$100,000
Khan Academy · Palo Alto, CA · 2021
General operating support
$100,000
Suchitra Sebastian · Washington, DC · 2021
2022 new horizons in physics prize
$90,000
All European Academies · 2023
To support displaced ukrainian scientists
$50,000
Dr Arka Moulik · Washington, DC · 2024
2023 breakthrough junior challenge - teacher award

View all 150 grants →

Grants already paid are the record; PaperOrbit reads your paper and finds the funders whose record matches it — then explains why.

Search funders like this one

Source: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, as filed by the foundation. These are grants already paid — a record of what this funder backs, not an open call.