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 “pens”
Where the money went
Largest: $425,000 to PEN AMERICAN CENTER INC — to support the work of pen america on preserving and promoting academic freedom and improving the climate for free expression on college campuses
Largest: $9.0M to MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM FOR THE BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL — pen-plus expansion
Largest: $11,500 to TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PEN — program/operating support
Largest: $750,000 to PEN AMERICAN CENTER INC — to support expansion of the prison and justice writing program
Largest: $135,000 to PEN AMERICAN CENTER — to fund the recipient's operating budget
John Templeton FoundationWest Conshohocken, PA
4 matching grants · $863,400 · through 2024Largest: $420,000 to PEN AMERICAN CENTER INC — pen americas free speech for a rising generation project
Largest: $250,000 to PEN AMERICAN CENTER INC — to support pen america's florida office expansion supporting their nonpartisan efforts to better protect first amendment rights of free expression in the state.
National Endowment for DemocracyWashington, DCCharity · may take applications
5 matching grants · $1.1M · through 2023Largest: $488,260 to PEN AMERICAN CENTER INC — education, communication, & culture
Largest: $39,041 to University of Houston — scholarships for lauren nguyen ($5,000), mario patino acevedo ($5,000), prince pen ($5,000), inti perez ($2,179), xuan-hoai pham ($5,000), jaqueline pineda ($9,500), abigail reyna …
Largest: $500,000 to PEN AMERICA — general operating support
Largest: $3,000 to PEN America — to support the 2024 pen america freedom to learn summit in washington, d.c.
Largest: $25,000 to PEN FAULKNER — general operating funds
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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 →