The Spencer Foundation
Annual Giving
$24.3M+21% YoY
Grants
214
Median Grant
$75K
Organizations Funded
228
Is this foundation right for you?
SciRise maps the network of who funds whom to surface your next funders. Enter your nonprofit to check your fit.
Foundation Overview
Mission
The Spencer Foundation invests in research to improve education, broadly conceived. We seek to support scholarship that develops new foundational knowledge that may also have a lasting impact on policy-making, practice, or educational discourse with the goal to transform educational systems for equity.
Focus Areas
Grant Types
Funded Initiatives
Small Research Grants up to $50,000 for 1-5 years; Large Research Grants $125,000-$500,000 for 1-5 years across three funding tiers; Vision Grants $75,000 for collaborative planning; Transformative Research Grants up to $3.5 million annually; NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship; Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship.
How to Apply
Begin with Intent to Apply form for access to Full Proposal application in online portal. Large Research Grants accept Intent to Apply twice yearly by 12:00pm Central Time. Small Research Grants accept applications three times per year (currently closed). All proposals must be submitted by administering organization, not individuals. International proposals accepted in English with US dollar budgets.
Does Not Fund
PIs/Co-PIs restricted from holding more than one active research grant at a time; may not submit more than one research proposal at a time; projects may not exceed 5 years duration; most institutional infrastructure costs not includable (office rent, grants office expenses, administrative expenses, IT expenses, accounting and legal services).
Based on publicly available information from the foundation's 990 filings and website.
Giving History
$24.3M
Grants
214
Median
$75K
States
38
$20.0M
Grants
254
Median
$50K
States
36
$24.9M
Grants
284
Median
$50K
States
39
Grant Size Distribution
$75K
Typical Grant (Median)
$5K
Smallest
$50K
25th Pctile
$117K
75th Pctile
$2.5M
Largest
Excludes grants ≤ $5K. Half fall between $50K and $117K.
Largest Recent Grants
$2.5M
2024
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF EDUCATION
DC · NATIONAL ACADEMY OF EDUCATION/SPENCER POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS (COHORTS 24-25, 25-26, 26-27)
$1.8M
2024
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF EDUCATION
DC · NATIONAL ACADEMY OF EDUCATION/SPENCER DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS (COHORTS 24-25, 25-26, 26-27)
$650K
2024
WILLIAM T GRANT FOUNDATION
NY · SUPPORT FOR THE 2025 INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE GRANT PROGRAM AT THE WILLIAM T. GRANT FOUNDATION
$650K
2024
WILLIAM T GRANT FOUNDATION
NY · SUPPORT FOR THE 2024 INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE GRANT PROGRAM AT THE WILLIAM T. GRANT FOUNDATION
$594K
2024
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
NY · SPENCER EDUCATION JOURNALISM FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, 2024 - 2028
Geographic Focus
Top states by total grant dollars. Based on IRS filing data.
Financial Overview
Grants paid shown as percentage of total assets
Data sourced from IRS 990 and 990-PF filings and publicly available foundation websites. Grant data, financial figures, and organizational details reflect historical filings and may not represent current operations or funding priorities. Verify directly with the foundation before applying. See an issue? Let us know.