990-PF

The annual return a private foundation files with the IRS. It is the source of foundation giving history — who received money, how much, in what year — and it lags 12 to 18 months behind the giving it reports, so every figure drawn from one is published with its filing year attached.

Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.

Also called Form 990-PF · Private foundation return

In detail

A 990-PF is the only systematic public record of what a private foundation actually funded, as opposed to what it says it funds. The grants schedule inside it names recipients and amounts, which is the evidence behind any honest answer to "who has this funder given money to".

The lag is structural. A foundation files months after its fiscal year closes, the filing is then processed and published, and the result is a picture of giving that is routinely a year and a half old by the time anyone can read it.

A funder page with no parsed filing shows no giving total at all. An absent total is a gap; a total drawn from an unstated year is a number that will be quoted without its caveat.

Against a current grants program

A 990-PF is history, not an opportunity. It tells you a foundation gave $2.4m to twelve organisations in a stated fiscal year. It does not tell you the foundation is accepting applications now, and a giving history rendered as though it were an open program would be the most misleading page on a funding site.

How GrantTrove stores it

  • Every foundation figure is published with its filing year beside it. A year is not optional context on this data; it is part of the number.
  • Foundation filings are not connected in this build, and the data sources page says so rather than showing a stale cadence.

Common questions

How far behind is 990-PF data?

Typically 12 to 18 months between the giving and the readable filing. That is why we publish the filing year with every figure derived from one.

Does a past grant mean the foundation will fund me?

It is evidence about fit, not about an open program. A giving history and an open application window are separate things.

Can I see who won a specific grant?

Not yet. Recipient histories are not connected in this build, and the data sources page lists that gap rather than hiding it.