Grantmakers › District of Columbia
US Russia Foundation for Economic
Washington, DC · EIN 01-0732928. Reported 224 grants totalling $151.8M to 79 organizations across tax years 2021-2025, 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 US Russia Foundation for Economic, the IRS classifies it under international affairs rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE Q32) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 79 distinct organizations, with 88% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is extreme concentration. A grantmaker sending three quarters of its money to one organization is in practice a support fund for that organization, whatever its classification says, and an unsolicited request is very unlikely to go anywhere.
- How much its list changes. 72% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $67,785. Half of what it reported fell between $42,000 and $115,000; the smallest was $5,500 and the largest $133.2M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
1 of those grants was non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $133.2M in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund | Chicago, IL | $133.2M | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cerge-Ei Foundation | New York, NY | $761,894 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Polar Bear Video Ventures Inc | Redwood City, CA | $735,551 | 6 | 5 | 2025 |
| Wild Salmon Center | Portland, OR | $734,032 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Free Russia Foundation | Washington, DC | $614,367 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| George Washington University | Ashburn, VA | $609,640 | 6 | 5 | 2025 |
| University of Wisconsin | Madison, WI | $577,623 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Foundation for Democratic Development | Washington, DC | $574,810 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| American Councils for International Education Actr Accels Inc | Washington, DC | $569,809 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Bard College | Annandale, NY | $553,071 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Yale University | New Haven, CT | $540,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Pilnet | New York, NY | $531,705 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Russian-American Science Association Corp | Chapel Hill, NC | $449,099 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative | Washington, DC | $415,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| New York University | New York, NY | $409,725 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Indiana University | Bloomington, IN | $401,747 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Pen American Center Inc | New York, NY | $359,116 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Center for European Policy Analysis | Washington, DC | $350,164 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| University of Kansas Center for Research Inc | Lawrence, KS | $348,758 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Association for Slavic East European and Eurasian Studies Inc | Pittsburgh, PA | $340,034 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| International Documentary Association Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $338,617 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Stanford, CA | $335,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Eurasianet Inc | New York, NY | $318,701 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | $304,638 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University | Tempe, AZ | $290,246 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| University of Arizona | Tucson, AR | $276,171 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Aatseel | Boulder, CO | $271,154 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Pure Land LLC | Brooklyn, NY | $269,001 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Trustees of Tufts College | Medford, MA | $262,500 | 5 | 3 | 2023 |
| University of South Florida Foundation Inc | Tampa, FL | $261,045 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Howard University | Washington, DC | $234,648 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Trustees of Columbia University | New York, NY | $229,630 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, OH | $229,211 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| University of Maine School of Law Foundation | Portland, ME | $227,686 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Utah Valley University | Orem, UT | $222,225 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Impact Hub | Vashon, WA | $194,265 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Supporters of Civil Society in Russia Inc | Saint Louis, MO | $180,959 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill, NC | $166,029 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | Cambridge, MA | $163,571 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Street Law Inc | Silver Spring, MD | $154,235 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Emory University | Atlanta, GA | $149,735 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Regents Univ of California | Los Angeles, CA | $145,743 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Tamizdat Project Inc | Astoria, NY | $142,290 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR | $135,207 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars | Washington, DC | $132,542 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| School of Molecular and Theoretical Biology Inc | Brentwood, CA | $130,750 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani | Yarmouth, ME | $130,643 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Post Truth Inc | Torrance, CA | $130,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Aesf Production Inc | Long Island City, NY | $127,808 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| New Times Foundation USA Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $126,730 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Wayusa Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $125,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Center for Independent Social Research Inc | Odenton, MD | $124,183 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Eurasia Foundation Inc | Washington DC, DC | $122,308 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Neo Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | $120,656 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fort Ross Conservancy | Jenner, CA | $116,735 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Uarzazat Media Inc | Palo Alto, CA | $116,600 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Indigenous Peoples Rights Inc | W Boothby Hbr, ME | $115,035 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Ohio State University | Columbus, OH | $108,276 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| American Business Association of Russian-Speaking Professionals | Palo Alto, CA | $105,100 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Pacific Sound and Vision Foundation Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $103,980 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Washington, DC | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Fordham University | Bronx, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Institute of Current World Affairs Inc | Washington, DC | $100,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| World Justice Project | Washington, DC | $99,204 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Georgia Tech Research Corporation | Atlanta, GA | $89,935 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Astrea LLC | Chevy Chase, MD | $81,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Regents of the University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $80,569 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Order Group | Wilmington, DE | $70,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Alaska | Fairbanks, AK | $66,618 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| American Bar Association | Chicago, IL | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Freedom House Inc | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Great Lakes Community Action Partnership | Fremont, OH | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| International Law Institute | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Trustees of Amherst College | Amherst, MA | $48,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Russian America for Democracy in Russia Inc | Washington, DC | $45,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Rebuild for Peace Inc | Harvest, AL | $44,725 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Depaul University | Chicago, IL | $31,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania | Bloomsburg, PA | $18,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Council for US-Russia Relations | Seattle, WA | $17,734 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
62 of 79 (78%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 56 of 79 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- 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 | 47 | $2,713,476 | $50,000 |
| 2022 | 54 | $4,046,612 | $66,102 |
| 2023 | 51 | $138.0M | $78,604 |
| 2024 | 40 | $3,997,161 | $78,335 |
| 2025 | 32 | $2,951,802 | $70,550 |
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
88% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. 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.
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
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 $67,785 -- 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 Illinois.
- 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 US Russia Foundation for Economic's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 28 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 4 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: 500 Lenfant Plaza Sw 1025, Washington, DC, 20024.
EIN 01-0732928 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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