GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

US Ignite Inc

Washington, DC · EIN 45-3943413. Reported 61 grants totalling $31.5M to 35 organizations across tax years 2022-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

35organizations funded
$138,025median reported grant
$31.5Mgranted, 2022-2024
57%of grantees funded again the next year
26%of dollars to its largest recipient

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:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For US Ignite Inc, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B90) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 35 distinct organizations, with 26% 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.
  3. How much its list changes. 57% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $138,025. Half of what it reported fell between $53,000 and $453,180; the smallest was $6,619 and the largest $3,292,978. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
4 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
9 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
16 grants
$250,000 Or More
22 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
University of UtahSalt Lake City, UT$8,224,194332024
Iowa State University of Science and TechnologyAmes, IA$6,717,171332024
North Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, NC$6,288,601332024
Northeastern UniversityBoston, MA$2,315,328332024
William Marsh Rice UniversityHouston, TX$1,780,943332024
Wireless Research Center of North CarolinaWake Forest, NC$909,765332024
Zylinium Research LLCAtlanta, GA$869,538222023
Rutgers the State UniversityPiscataway, NJ$784,624332024
Mississippi State UniversityMs State, MS$581,578332024
Regents of the University of CaliforniaOakland, CA$324,156332024
DigitalcCleveland, OH$251,843112022
Allied Media Projects IncDetroit, MI$234,077112022
Keysight TechnologiesSanta Rosa, CA$229,584112022
Westchester County Association IncWest Harrison, NY$226,405112022
City of Las VegasLas Vegas, NV$209,383112023
The Ohio State UniversityColumbus, OH$197,057332024
Texas Southern UniversityHouston, TX$180,042332024
Libraries Without BordersNew York, NY$136,460112022
Regents of the University of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI$130,652112022
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, NC$128,037222023
National Instruments CorporationAustin, TX$126,324112022
Onward EugeneEugene, OR$105,958112022
Computers for Children IncBuffalo, NY$81,087112022
United Electric Cooperative IncDubois, PA$76,681112022
City of San JoseSan Jose, CA$75,000112024
Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT$67,028112022
Juganu USA IncNew York, NY$53,000112023
University of South CarolinaColumbia, SC$50,000222023
Trustees of Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN$49,897222023
International Computer Science InstituteBerkeley, CA$44,217112024
Worcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcester, MA$39,407112022
Missouri S&t ArRolla, MO$23,811112022
Open Mobility FoundationWoburn, MA$10,000112022
Techconnect LLCDanville, CA$9,500112022
Enterprise Center IncChattanooga, TN$7,608112022

15 of 35 (43%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

It also reported 4 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 15 of 35 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.

Education
6 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Science & Technology
1 org
Youth Development
1 org
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org
Arts & Culture
1 org
Health Care
1 org
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202231$12.7M$130,652
202317$8,551,001$230,283
202413$10.2M$102,725

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

26% of its giving went to organizations in Utah. 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.

Utah
$8.2M
North Carolina
$7.3M
Iowa
$6.7M
Massachusetts
$2.4M
Texas
$2.1M
Georgia
$870K
New Jersey
$785K
California
$682K

Down to the city

Salt Lake City, UT
$8.2M
Ames, IA
$6.7M
Raleigh, NC
$6.3M
Boston, MA
$2.3M
Houston, TX
$2.0M
Wake Forest, NC
$910K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund7 shared recipientsCornell University5 shared recipientsCarnegie Mellon University5 shared recipientsAmerican Chemical Society5 shared recipientsAmerican Heart Association Inc5 shared recipientsTulsa Community Foundation5 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. 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.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $138,025 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Utah.
  4. 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

Foundations funding education in North CarolinaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from US Ignite Inc'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 13 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: 1150 18TH Street Nw 750, Washington, DC, 20036.

EIN 45-3943413 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.