Funding search · EIN 463460261 · Palo Alto, CA

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for

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

794
grants reported
$530.8M
total given
2022–2024
filing years
$167,732
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 20222024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

researcheventinternationaltravelengagingstrategyfellowscience

Full IRS filings ↗How this is builtReport 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

  • AI applied to scientific discovery, postdocs and software centers
  • Climate and ocean modeling, biogeochemistry, carbon cycle research
  • Fellowship programs run through Rhodes Trust (Schmidt Science, RISE)
  • Astronomy instrumentation and telescope/survey software (DSA-2000, LSST, LFAST)
  • Biomanufacturing, waste-to-feedstock and circular bioeconomy projects
  • Focused research organizations via Convergent Research

Typical grant

Median grant is about $168,000 with the middle half between $30,000 and $500,000, but the top of the range runs to $10 to $12.5 million. The very large checks go to intermediaries and program vehicles (Rhodes Trust, Convergent Research, Kyutai, Future House) while university research awards typically land between $500,000 and $2.5 million. Repeat giving is heavy: Rhodes Trust, Convergent Research, Caltech, MIT, Cambridge in America and Johns Hopkins all appear multiple times, often for the same named initiative across years.

Their words

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

  • SUPPORT FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON
  • TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR SCIENTIFIC FOCUSED RESEARCH
  • SCHMIDT AI IN SCIENCE POSTDOCS
  • SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE CENTER
  • GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT

Positioning adjacent work

  • Frame work as AI or computation accelerating discovery, echoing the AI in Science and software center awards.
  • Ask $1M to $2.5M for a multi-year university research project; that is their standard research band.
  • Connect to an existing named consortium (M2LINES, CliMA, LINCC, Ocean Margins, SUBSEA) rather than a standalone idea.
  • Emphasize open tools, shared datasets and research software engineering, which they fund repeatedly across institutions.

Worth knowing: Money concentrates in a small set of elite institutions and intermediaries: Caltech, MIT, Rhodes Trust, Convergent Research and Cambridge in America absorb a large share, and Oxford and UK universities are funded as freely as US ones. Giving looks strongly program-driven and relationship-driven, built around Schmidt-branded initiatives they created rather than responses to unsolicited proposals.

Top recipients

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

  • The Rhodes Trust13 grants · $81.4M
  • Convergent Research12 grants · $59.0M
  • California Institute of Technology17 grants · $26.0M
  • Kyutai2 grants · $21.5M
  • Future House2 grants · $19.2M
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology15 grants · $14.8M
  • Barack Obama Foundation1 grant · $10.0M
  • Digital Harbor Foundation4 grants · $9.6M
  • Cambridge in America9 grants · $8.9M
  • European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern)1 grant · $8.5M

Giving over time

$99.5M
2022
$195.3M
2023
$236.1M
2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 794 grants.

  • $15.8M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To support convergent research and its focused research organizations

  • $12.5M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2024

    General operating support

  • $12.5M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2022

    General operating support rise-related gift to rhodes

  • $11.0M

    Kyutai · 2023

    General support for the endowment of kyutai for scientific and educational open source ai research.

  • $10.4M

    Kyutai · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $10.0M

    Barack Obama Foundation · Chicago, IL · 2024

    To support the obama presidential center

  • $10.0M

    Future House · Sherborn, MA · 2024

    To provide support for futurehouse ai scientist program

  • $9.2M

    Future House · Sherborn, MA · 2023

    Support for scientific institute focused on accelerating biological research through machine learning

  • $9.2M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2022

    Cash - $8,200,000llc interest - $964,687valuation method: fair market valuedate of gift: 12/31/2022purpose: general operations and focused research organizations.

  • $8.5M

    European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) · 2023

    To provide support for the nextgen triggers project.

  • $8.1M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2024

    Support for rhodes trust science fellowship

  • $8.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    To provide support for scientific focused research

  • $8.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To provide support for eve (everything vs. Everything) fro.

  • $7.5M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2023

    To support the rise program

  • $7.0M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2024

    Awards earmarked to 105 individuals in the schmidt science fellowship program

  • $6.1M

    Digital Harbor Foundation · Baltimore, MD · 2024

    Support to implement the learning engineering virtual institute

  • $6.0M

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    To support mit's plasma science and fusion center

  • $5.9M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2024

    Awards earmarked to 305 individuals in the rise program

  • $5.9M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2023

    Awards earmarked to 92 individuals in the schmidt science fellowship program

  • $5.6M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2022

    Rhodes trust science fellowship

  • $5.2M

    Institute of International Education · New York, NY · 2023

    Quad fellowship award

  • $5.1M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2022

    Awards earmarked to 88 individuals in the schmidt science fellowship program

  • $4.8M

    California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2024

    Support for dsa-2000: revolutionizing access to the radio sky

  • $4.5M

    California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2024

    Support for clima: climate modeling alliance 2024

  • $4.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    To provide support for focused research organization

  • $3.8M

    The Regents of the University of California · Berkeley, CA · 2023

    The schmidt center ds4e

  • $3.8M

    California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2023

    Clima: climate modeling alliance 2023

  • $3.6M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2023

    Rise, an initiative of schmidt futures and the rhodes trust

  • $3.5M

    University of Chicago · Chicago, IL · 2023

    To provide support for incubating a market shaping hub and concepts competition at uchicago.

  • $3.5M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2023

    Awards earmarked to 250 individuals in the rise program

  • $3.1M

    The Regents of the University of California · Berkeley, CA · 2024

    The schmidt center ds4e

  • $3.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    To provide support for scientific focused research

  • $3.0M

    Ganna Walska Lotusland · Santa Barbara, CA · 2024

    To provide support to establish an employee assistance endowment fund

  • $3.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To provide support for parallelsquared technology institute phase 1.

  • $3.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To provide support for immune-omics fro [ifro].

  • $3.0M

    Fondazione Bologna University Business School · 2022

    The schmidt center for executive education on a.i.

  • $2.9M

    Chancellor Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford · 2024

    Support for schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $2.9M

    Institute of International Education · New York, NY · 2024

    To provide support for the quad fellowship program

  • $2.8M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2022

    Rise, an initiative of schmidt futures and the rhodes trust

  • $2.7M

    Chancellor Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford · Cary, NC · 2023

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $2.6M

    University of Reading · 2023

    Land ecosystem models based on new theory, observations, and experiments (lemontree)

  • $2.6M

    Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine · 2023

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $2.5M

    Uc San Diego Foundation · San Diego, CA · 2023

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $2.5M

    Cornell University · New York, NY · 2023

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $2.4M

    California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2024

    The dsa-2000 radio camera: revolutionizing access to the radio sky

  • $2.3M

    Eedi Ltd · 2022

    To provide support for enhancing learning through understanding and surfacing misconception. (ml model for misconceptions)

  • $2.3M

    University of Chicago · Chicago, IL · 2023

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $2.3M

    New York University · New York, NY · 2024

    Support for scientific research on m2lines - multiscale machine learning in coupled earth system modeling

  • $2.3M

    Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique · 2024

    Support for the scale-aware sea ice project

  • $2.2M

    University of Western Ontario · 2024

    To provide support for scientific focused research

  • $2.2M

    California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2023

    Caltech software academy

  • $2.1M

    Science and Technology Futures · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    To provide support for open datasets initiative.

  • $2.1M

    University of Reading · 2022

    Support for the land ecosystem models based on new theory, observations, and experiments (lemontree) vesri project

  • $2.0M

    University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Arts and Sciences Foundation · Chapel Hill, NC · 2024

    Support for the argus observatory low cost access to the deep, high cadence sky

  • $2.0M

    Princeton University · Princeton, NJ · 2024

    Support for scientific research on sargassum seaweed as a future renewable feedstock for sustainable biomanufacturing

  • $2.0M

    Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique · 2023

    The scale-aware sea ice project (sasip) scientific research

  • $2.0M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To provide support for chi fro ai scientific research

  • $2.0M

    UK Office of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation · 2022

    Ukraine relief fund support for victims of war in ukraine

  • $1.9M

    Cambridge in America · New York, NY · 2024

    Support for the university of cambridge scientific software center

  • $1.9M

    The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System · Madison, WI · 2024

    Support for scientific research on converting inconsistent and heterogeneous biomass and municipal solid wastes into de-mineralized and uniform feedstocks for thermal-catalytic processing to low carbon fuels, chemicals, read all
  • $1.9M

    New York University · New York, NY · 2023

    M2lines - multiscale machine learning in coupled earth system modeling

  • $1.9M

    Battelle Memorial Institute · Columbus, OH · 2024

    Support for separations technologies that enable production and use of high-value biomass streams from agricultural and food processing wastes

  • $1.9M

    New York University · New York, NY · 2022

    M2lines - multiscale machine learning in coupled earth system modeling

  • $1.8M

    Cambridge in America · New York, NY · 2024

    Support for advancing ai in scientific research

  • $1.8M

    Governing Council of the University of Toronto · 2023

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $1.8M

    Regents of the University of Michigan · Ann Arbor, MI · 2024

    Support for schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $1.8M

    University of Cape Town · 2024

    Support for scientific research on oxygen and biogeochemical dynamics along the west african margin: processes and consequences

  • $1.8M

    Science for America · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    General support

  • $1.8M

    University of Reading · 2024

    Support for land ecosystem models based on new theory, observations, and experiments (lemontree)

  • $1.8M

    California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2023

    Caltech software academy

  • $1.7M

    Cambridge in America · New York, NY · 2023

    Advancing ai in scientific research at the university of cambridge

  • $1.7M

    Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique · 2022

    The scale-aware sea ice project (sasip)

  • $1.7M

    University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2024

    Support for scientific research on animals as living bioreactors: the role of animal gut microbiomes in shaping oceanic carbon cycling and export

  • $1.6M

    University of Washington Foundation · Seattle, WA · 2023

    The university of washington scientific software center

  • $1.5M

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    Support for scientific research on a collaborative approach to converting industry waste into food and feed ingredients

  • $1.5M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    General operating support

  • $1.5M

    Swaniti Initiative · Houston, TX · 2024

    To provide support for carbon negative rice cultivation in india.

  • $1.5M

    National Academy of Sciences · Washington, DC · 2023

    National academies science communications award

  • $1.5M

    Digital Harbor Foundation · Baltimore, MD · 2024

    To provide support for retrofitting coal plants for biomass carbon removal.

  • $1.5M

    Digital Harbor Foundation · Baltimore, MD · 2023

    To provide general operating support for the neighborhood project.

  • $1.5M

    Science and Technology Futures · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To provide support for open datasets initiative.

  • $1.5M

    Rising International Education and Learning Limited · 2022

    To provide support for ai powered chatbot that serves as a personalized math tutor for low-income students.

  • $1.5M

    Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2024

    Support for crisis response program

  • $1.5M

    Hospital for Special Surgery · New York, NY · 2023

    Creation of the orthopedic data innovation lab (odil) at the hospital for special surgery

  • $1.5M

    Swaniti Initiative · Houston, TX · 2023

    To provide support for carbon negative rice cultivation in india.

  • $1.5M

    University of Washington Foundation · Seattle, WA · 2024

    Support for the university of washington scientific software center

  • $1.4M

    Johns Hopkins University · Baltimore, MD · 2024

    Support for schmidt software engineering center (ssec) at the johns hopkins university

  • $1.4M

    University of Arizona Foundation · Tucson, AZ · 2024

    Support for large fiber array spectroscopic telescope (lfast) development

  • $1.4M

    Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine · 2022

    Schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $1.4M

    National Science Foundation · Alexandria, VA · 2022

    To provide support for k12 education research, training, and infrastructure partnership.

  • $1.4M

    National Science Foundation · Alexandria, VA · 2022

    To provide support for k12 education research, training, and infrastructure partnership.

  • $1.4M

    Carnegie Mellon University · Pittsburgh, PA · 2024

    Support for the lincc analysis framework: an open, scalable system for science with the lsst

  • $1.4M

    The Rhodes Trust · 2022

    Awards earmarked to 474 individuals in the rise program

  • $1.4M

    Convergent Research · Cambridge, MA · 2024

    General operating support

  • $1.4M

    Elicsir Foundation Ets · 2024

    Support for italian computer science innovation and research

  • $1.4M

    University of Rochester · Rochester, NY · 2024

    Support for fetch4: fate, emissions, and transport of ch4 in past and modern atmospheres

  • $1.3M

    The Regents of the University of California · Berkeley, CA · 2024

    Support for building the circular bioeconomy with future feedstocks in the north san joaquin valley

  • $1.3M

    Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine · 2024

    Support for schmidt ai in science postdocs

  • $1.3M

    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · New York, NY · 2023

    Weaving artificial intelligence throughout the mount sinai health system

  • $1.3M

    University of Washington Foundation · Seattle, WA · 2024

    Support for the lincc analysis framework: an open, scalable system for science with the lsst

View all 794 grants →

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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.