Funding search
Find who already funds work like yours.
Private foundations don’t post open calls, so nobody can search them. We read IRS filings instead — 9.6 million grants from 174,053 foundations and grantmaking charities, searchable by what the money was actually for.
12 funders with a record of paying for “biographical”
Where the money went
Heritage Harbor FoundationEast Providence, RI
3 matching grants · $143,500 · through 2024Largest: $101,000 to RHODE ISLAND HERITAGE HALL OF FAME — for hof biographical research projec
Largest: $46,750 to New York Genealogical & Biographical Society — making available new online records from the society's physical collections
Dragonfly FundGrand Rapids, MI
4 matching grants · $20,000 · through 2025Largest: $5,000 to BIOGRAPHERS INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOUNDATION — general operating support
Hawk Rock FoundationFort Lauderdale, FL
3 matching grants · $120,000 · through 2024Largest: $40,000 to NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY — charitable / general purpose
N W Dible FoundationMarina Del Ray, CA
4 matching grants · $5,000 · through 2025Largest: $2,000 to BIOGRAPHERS INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION — literary arts
Largest: $85,660 to NEW YORK GENEOLOGICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY — phase i and phase ii of the digitize new york
Largest: $31,500 to New York Genealogical & Biographical Society — new netherland settlers project
Largest: $5,000 to NY GENEALOGICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY — schlorship/education
Largest: $49,999 to Northeastern University — biographical disruption? transitions from college to adulthood amid the pandemic and its aftermath: a longitudinal study
Largest: $69,035 to WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY — the archival lives of lewis thomas: a biographical inquiry
Largest: $150,000 to CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — biographic program
Minnesota Historical SocietySaint Paul, MNCharity · may take applications
1 matching grant · $201,426 · through 2021Largest: $201,426 to Board Of Regents University Of Minnesota — partnership grant for mn historical biographical database, partnership to sustain heritage landscapes, oral history collection, documenting sources
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Source: IRS Form 990-PF Part XV and Form 990 Schedule I, tax years 2019–2025. These are grants already paid, a record of what an organization funds rather than an open call. Private foundations rarely accept unsolicited applications and the route in is usually a program officer; grantmaking charities and associations more often run real application cycles, so check their website. How this data is built, and its limits →