Grants for Private & Independent Schools
If you run a private or independent school, this page is your starting point. Bespoke Grants tracks 3,799 foundations that fund private & independent schools — together $55.84B in recent grants. Below are the most active funders. Every one links to a full giving profile, and Bespoke Grants will rank all 3,799 against your organization's specific mission and location, free.
Foundations that fund private & independent schools
Ranked by total recent giving. Click any funder for its full profile — giving history, grant recipients, focus areas, and how to apply.
This list is ranked by size. Yours should be ranked by fit.
The funders above are the biggest — not necessarily the right ones for your private & independent schools. Bespoke Grants ranks all 3,799 against your actual mission, service area, and budget, and shows you why each matches. Free, no credit card.
Match my organization to funders →How private & independent schools should approach these funders
A long list of funders is only useful if you approach them well. Three things matter more than the size of your private & independent schools: fit, evidence, and the first contact. Fit means the funder's stated priorities, the population they serve, and the geography they fund genuinely overlap with your work — funders reject far more proposals for poor fit than for weak programs. Evidence means a specific, concrete description of the need you address and what your funding will change. And the first contact is rarely a full proposal: most private foundations prefer a brief letter of inquiry, and many fund only organizations they already know — so a warm introduction or a short, well-targeted note is the realistic way in.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I find grants for private & independent schools?
- Start with foundations that already fund private & independent schools — our index lists 3,799. Match them to your specific mission, location, and budget, then approach the best fits with a brief letter of inquiry rather than a cold full proposal.
- How many foundations fund private & independent schools?
- Bespoke Grants tracks 3,799 foundations that fund private & independent schools, representing $55.84B in recent grants.
- Do these foundations accept unsolicited applications?
- Some do; many do not. Each foundation's profile shows what is known about its application process. Where a funder does not accept unsolicited proposals, relationship-building is still the path in — it is rarely a dead end.