Mozilla Foundation
San Francisco, CA · EIN 20-0097189. Reported 110 grants totalling $8,082,584 to 82 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Mozilla Foundation, the IRS classifies it under science & technology rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE U40) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 82 distinct organizations, with 11% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 16% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $50,000. Half of what it reported fell between $25,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $8,500 and the largest $375,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Venture Fund | Washington, DC | $875,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Women Win Foundation Inc | Belleair Blf, FL | $450,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Women's March Network | Los Angeles, CA | $225,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Riverside, CA | $214,800 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Trustees of Columbia University | New York, NY | $204,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Northeastern University | Boston, MA | $203,866 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Howard University | Washington, DC | $199,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Stillman College | Tuscaloosa, AL | $199,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Winston-Salem State University Foundation Incorporated | Winston Salem, NC | $199,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, UT | $162,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Access Now | New York, NY | $160,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Regents of the University of Colorado | Denver, CO | $153,538 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Adelphi University | Garden City, NY | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bucknell University | Lewisburg, PA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Consumer Reports Inc | Yonkers, NY | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Foundation of the State University of New York at Binghamton Inc | Binghamton, NY | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Michigan State University Foundation | East Lansing, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Prairie View a & M University National Alumni Association | Prairie View, TX | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Regents of the University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| San Jose State University Research Foundation | San Jose, CA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Notre Dame Du Lac | Notre Dame, IN | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Western Michigan University | Kalamazoo, MI | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Article 19 Inc | New York, NY | $140,100 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Aspiration | San Francisco, CA | $110,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Action Research Collaborative | New York, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Code for Science and Society Inc | Portland, OR | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Datakind | Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Drivers Seat Cooperative | Portland, OR | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Dtwo Ltd | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New America Foundation | Washington, DC | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Stonier Scholarship Inc | Towson, MD | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Thisisplace Foundation | Bethesda, MD | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Tidepool Project | Palo Alto, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Whose Knowledge Question Mark | San Diego, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Association for Progressive Communications | San Francisco, CA | $75,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Start Somewhere LLC | New York, NY | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Allegheny College | Meadville, PA | $64,800 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bowdoin College | Brunswick, ME | $64,800 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Georgetown University | Washington, DC | $64,800 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Maryland Baltimore County | Baltimore, MD | $64,800 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bemidji State University | Bemidji, MN | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Georgia Tech Research Corporation | Atlanta, GA | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Miami Dade College | Miami, FL | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | Cambridge, MA | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College | Santa Clara, CA | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Research Foundation for the State University of New York | Albany, NY | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Washington University | St Louis, MO | $54,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Duniacom Group LLC | Baltimore, MD | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Earth Genome | Los Altos, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology Welfare Benefit Plans T | Cambridge, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Spelman College | Atlanta, GA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Colby Community College Endowment Foundation | Colby, KS | $49,991 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Prairie View A&m University | Prairie View, TX | $49,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Washington | Chicago, IL | $49,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Brown University of Providence | Providence, RI | $48,600 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Rhizomatica Communications | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Betacamps Inc | New York, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Good Mirrors Aren't Cheap LLC | Brooklyn, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mc Technical Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Processing Foundation | Brooklyn, NY | $28,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Center for Democracy and Technology | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Data Nutrition Project Inc | Jersey City, NJ | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Eleutherai Institute | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Indigigenius | Spokane, WA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ai for Peace LLC | Sheridan, WY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Changing Expectations Corp | Round Rock, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Creative Commons Corporation | Mountain View, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Dondo LLC | Middletown, DE | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Equip Mozambique | Rolla, MO | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Fair Trials Americas | Washington, DC | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Future Society Inc | Boston, MA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Samesame Inc | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sivio Institute | Sanford, NC | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Lucy Parsons Labs | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Opencollective Foundation | Covina, CA | $14,989 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Dream Hampton | Vineyard Haven, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pioneer Works Art Foundation | Brooklyn, NY | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
19 of 82 (23%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- New Venture Fund
PHILANTHROPIC COLLAB TO ADVANCE PUBLIC INTEREST IN DIGITAL AGE. - Women's March Network
PROJECT SUPPORT TO INTEGRATE RESPONSIBLE COMPUTING AND ETHICS. - University of Utah
RESPONSIBLE COMPUTER SCIENCE - Adelphi University
PROJECT SUPPORT FOR INTEGRATING RESPONSIBLE COMPUTING AND ETHICS. - Howard University
PROJECT SUPPORT TO IMPROVE AND EXPAND JURIS APP EDUCATIONAL CONTENT. - Michigan State University
EVENT SPONSORSHIP FOR SAN FRANCISCO SUMMIT.
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 61 of 82 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | $2,602,004 | $57,000 |
| 2022 | 19 | $983,600 | $50,000 |
| 2023 | 41 | $3,784,980 | $100,000 |
| 2024 | 18 | $712,000 | $44,500 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
18% of its giving went to organizations in New York. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $50,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Mozilla Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 16 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 3 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 149 New Montgomery Street 4TH Floo, San Francisco, CA, 94105.
EIN 20-0097189 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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