OVERVIEW: The PayPal Giving Fund supports a wide variety of causes in the United States and around the world, including health, education, the environment, LGBTQ, veterans, global development, humanitarian relief, immigrants and refugees, and community development.
IP TAKE: The PayPal Giving Fund is not a traditional funder in any sense of the word. Because PayPal acts as both an intermediary for donors and makes its own grants, it can be difficult to tell which grants come from the Giving Fund and which from its users. This funder lacks transparency in several key areas, not least of which is its own internal grantee selection process, but it does provide access to several years of financial statements at the bottom of the About page. That said, PayPal invests in a broad range of giving areas. While traditional grantmaking will be more challenging to receive here, one crucial way to get on their radar is via the employee giving program, which requires you network with a PayPal employee to back your work. This is a particularly successful strategy for grassroots and smaller outfits, as PayPal itself tends to choose its own nonprofits to fund at the national and global levels. Reach out to customer support via the PayPal contact page.
PROFILE: Established in 2011, the PayPal Giving Fund is the philanthropic arm of PayPal, the online financial company, which was created by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek in 1998 as Confinity. The company rebranded as PayPal in 2001 after merging with X.com, a similar company created by Elon Musk and others. It is currently one of the largest corporations in the United States. The Giving Fund seeks to help “people support their favorite charities online.” It utilizes an unusual giving model in that it redistributes donations from its users to the PayPal accounts of charities that have enrolled in its giving program. It also makes its own grants, but the funding priorities and selection process for these internal grants is unclear.
According to tax filings, it broadly supports health, education, the environment, LGBTQ, veterans, global development, humanitarian relief, immigrants and refugees, and community development.
Grants for Health, Food Security, Reproductive and Maternal Health
While the PayPal Giving Fund does not appear to have clearly defined focus areas or grant programs, tax records show that a significant amount of support goes to health, healthcare, and health-related human services organizations.
- Grants here invest in local, national, and global nonprofits and focus on everything from community mental health, reproductive health, and other types of local medical care to organizations addressing a wide variety of health concerns across several continents.
- Organizations working to prevent, treat, or increase awareness of specific diseases also see support. Grantmaking is purposefully broad in order to fund a wide range of projects.
- Grants in the public health space cover everything from regional hospitals and other large providers of in-patient medical care to local community clinics and medical centers to service animal providers and practitioners of alternative medicine. Paypal also gave $3.1 million for nutrition and food security in 2023-2024.
- PayPal Giving’s grantmaking in reproductive health includes support for abortion and reproductive rights groups, in addition to conception counseling and family planning organizations. Past grantees here include Planned Parenthood chapters throughout the U.S., Northwest Abortion Access Fund, Carolina Abortion Fund, Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, and Westside Family Health Center.
- Support for maternal health includes funding for mother and baby healthcare, both during pregnancy and after birth. The types of groups that see support range from Groups receiving grants include those focused on neonatal health and breastfeeding advocacy.
- Previous grantees include Crisis Pregnancy Center of Gainesville, Harrisonburg Crisis Pregnancy Center, Boulder Pregnancy Resource Center, and Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association. Past grantees also include Black Women For Wellness, South Shore Health System, Alliance for Health Policy, and Health Science Center at Brooklyn Foundation, and Syrian American Medical Society-Midwest Foundation, among others.
Grants for Neuroscience and Diseases
The fund supports a wide range of organizations focused on brain health research and treatment, as well as groups working to raise awareness and correct misconceptions concerning diseases and conditions, such as ALS, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and spinal cord and brain injuries.
- These grants most often go to larger national organizations; however, smaller local groups frequently see support as well.Previous grantees in this area include Hydrocephalus Association, The Brain Aneurysm Foundation, Epilepsy Foundation of Missouri & Kansas, and American Parkinson Disease Association, among others/
PayPal Giving also supports all kinds of cancer related organizations, including those focused on research, prevention, and treatment.
- Grants have gone to American Cancer Society, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Prevent Cancer Foundation, Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation, Stomp the Monster, Tell Every Amazing Lady About Ovarian Cancer Foundation, and Prayers From Maria Foundation.
Grants for Mental Health
Mental health grants go to organizations focused on care and treatment, as well as mental health crisis intervention services, community health, and addition prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, and long-term lifestyle counseling. Grantees in mental health include Wounded Warrior Project, Black Mental Health Alliance for Education & Consultation, Safe and Sober, Mental Health America, and Asian Mental Health Project, among others.
Grants for Global Health
Global health grants do not demonstrate a priority for one part of the world over another and have responded to health concerns in Eastern Europe, central and South America, parts of the Caribbean, and both North and sub-Saharan Africa. Nonprofits serving parts of the Middle East and Asia have seen support as well.
- Previous grantees include Aarogya Seva Global Health Volunteer Alliance, Haitian Health Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, Ukraine Children’s Aid Fund, Habibi International, Vision Nicaragua, and Bumi Sehat Foundation International.
- Additionally, the fund’s global health grants support clean water around the world and see a clear connection between clean water and the overall health in a community. Water grantees include charity: water, Water.org, Water for South Sudan, Water First International, Water Access Now, Pure Water for The World, Innovation: Africa, and Global Water Challenge.
Grants for Education
The PayPal Giving Fund’s support for education is primarily focused on providing access to higher education for those who may be left out, funding projects at elementary, middle, and high schools, and supporting organizations that provide education services, such as tutoring and mentorship to both youth and adult learners.
- General education grantees include organizations that work in education more broadly and those that may not focus exclusively on education, but that operate one or more education programs.
- Grant recipients include the Tim Tebow Foundation, Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations, Congregation Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe, The Prison Scholar Fund, The Marine Mammal Center, The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, Behind Every Door Ministries, Every Child a Reader, Saddle Up and Read, and Indian Land Athletic Booster Club.
Grants for Higher Education
While many higher education grants do support institutions of higher learning throughout the United States, many more of these grants invest in scholarship and education assistance funds, such as Kevin M Eidt Scholarship Fund, American Indian College Fund, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and United Negro College Fund.
Grants for K-12 Education
Primary and secondary school groups see a lot of support as well. These grants primarily go to individual schools and local school districts, with smaller numbers of grants going to education support organizations that serve students in this age group.
- Past grants have gone to Evergreen School District in Washington, Eastside College Preparatory School in California, Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota, and Margolin Hebrew Academy-Yeshiva of the South in Tennessee.
- Support organization grantees include American Family Education, California Congress of Parents Teachers Students, and The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation.
Grants for STEM Education
Without clear focus areas, it is difficult to tell how much importance the fund places on support for STEM education.
- Tax records show that it does make grants in this area; however, it tends to receive less support than other types of education funding.
- Many of these grants go toward promoting equity and increasing diversity in the sciences.
- Previous grantees include Python Software Foundation, Code.org, Black Girls Code Inc, Friends of Girls Academic Leadership Academy, and Free Software Foundation.
Grants for the Environment, Wildlife Conservation, and Animal Rescue
Environment grants tend to intersect several interests, with a heavy focus on wildlife and animal rescue. This area of giving prioritizes restoration of natural resources, supporting wildlife biodiversity, and domesticated animal welfare, rather than prioritizing environmental justice or mitigating climate change.
- PayPal Giving funds groups of all sizes here, from local nonprofits to larger national and international organizations, although grants for the latter tend to have more zeros.
- Environment and preservation of natural resources grantees include Sierra Club Foundation, Ocean Conservancy, and the National Parks Conservation Association, among others, while Wildlife conservation and biodiversity grantees include the World Wildlife Fund, North American Butterfly Association, and Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research Education and Conservation.
- Animal rescue grantees include Best Friends Animal Society, Wags and Walks, Paws Crossed Animal Rescue, Iowa Farm Sanctuary, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Grants for LGBTQ
The PayPal Giving Fund’s support for LGBTQ+ causes primarily centers on advocacy and policy groups and local organizations that serve communities in their geographic region.
- This funding area lacks more extensive giving strategies, preferring to fund this focus area more broadly.
- Grantees include a mix of grassroots and mid-sized outfits, such as The LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert, Deaf Queer Resource Center, Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, and Transgender Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering.
Grants for Veterans and Military
The fund broadly invests in veterans and military families throughout the United States through grants to a variety of organizations focused on returning soldiers, wounded veterans, and military families of different kinds.
- The fund supports wounded soldiers with long-term assistance that includes physical, mental, and emotional healthcare. Returning veterans can receive job and skills training, access to education resources, wellness and lifestyle mentorship, and community integration assistance.
- Families of current service members and recently returned veterans often receive support for education, basic needs, and access to healthcare of all kinds.
- Grant recipients that support veterans and military families include the Wounded Warrior Project, The Heroes Journey, Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, and Veterans of Foreign wars Foundation.
Grants for the Arts
Arts and culture organizations see limited support in contrast to other focus areas; however, grantmaking can be significant nevertheless. This focus area invests in both grassroots, local organizations, as well as mid-sized and national organizations.
- Nonprofits that broadly promote and advocate for art and artists receive the most support, as do organizations actively engaged in providing local communities with arts education.
- Many arts grantees here of general arts grants are not focused exclusively on the arts, but they have a program or project that centers arts advocacy or arts education.
- Grantees that have seen significant support include Down Syndrome Society of Rhode Island, Pro Arts Inc, Made in Her Image, Light Industry Cinema Projects,Asian Hall of Fame, Women in Animation, and Center for Indian Cultural Education.
Grants for Cultural Preservation
In addition to the arts, the Giving Fund provides support to historical and cultural heritage and preservation organizations. These are typically nonprofits focused on one aspect of local history or working to preserve a culturally significant area, building, tradition. Grantees include National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, The Clan Currie Society, and Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park.
Grants for Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Theater
Music grants tend to invest in local and national organizations that are center on symphonies, institutes, musician assistance work, and music festivals.
- Past music grantees includeMusiCares, The ASCAP Foundation, School of Honk, The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, Save The Music Foundation, California Bluegrass Association, and Seattle Jazzed.
- Dance grants are similarly broad and invest in grassroots and local outfits that seek to improve outreach and dance training. Past dance grantees includeSyren Modern Dance, Abundance Academy of the Arts, Bruce Wood Dance Co, Indigenous Roots, Kids Dance Outreach, Minnesota Dance Theatre & School, and Fort Lauderdale Children’s Ballet Theatre.
- Theater grants invest in local and regional theater groups that address the needs of both local actors and children looking to get into theater. Past theater grantees include the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Notch Theatre Company, Chopin Theatre Productions, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Rooftop Theatre Collaborative, and Chandler Youth Theatre.
- Visual arts groups that receive support from PayPal Giving are often museums or cultural and historical heritage organizations that have special collections or exhibits. Performing arts grants can go to any type of group that advocates for and promotes different types of artistic performances, with music, dance, and theater being the most common.
- Less common are grants to nonprofits that provide direct assistance to artists or performers in financial need or in a time of crisis; however, these groups see support from time to time.
- Grantees in the visual arts include Piedmont Railroad Museum & Library, Frick Art & Historical Center, and theRome Art and Community Center, among others.
Grants for Global Humanitarian Aid, Immigrants and Refugees
The Giving Fund supports development and assistance programs worldwide, especially those focused on hunger and famine relief, humanitarian and disaster response, and aid for refugees as well as other displaced peoples.
- It also makes grants to smaller, local nonprofits that work to help immigrants, refugees and other new arrivals to the United States adjust to their new communities.
- Groups in this space include World Central Kitchen, Congregation Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe, YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, International Prisoners Family Conference, Beit El Baraka, and Alabama Interfaith Refugee Partnership.
Grants for Community Development, Housing and Homelessness
PayPal Giving’s community development and human services support generally invests in groups that address community improvement and beautification projects, as well as to organizations that focus on serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness and food insecurity.
- Many of these are smaller groups that operate at the local level and serve specified populations within a clearly defined geographic area, including community foundations, neighborhood associations, and nonprofits that provide direct aid, such as homeless shelters, food banks, and other basic needs service centers.
- Grantees in this space include Keep Austin Beautiful, The Park People of Milwaukee County, Adopt One Block, Friends of Francis William Park, Neighborhood Land Power Project, and Somerville Homeless Coalition.
Other Grant Opportunities
PayPal also operates an employee giving program, where it matches employee donations up to $2,500 annually.
Important Grant Details:
Grant amounts typically run between $5,000 and $5 million, but most grants remain near the lower end of that range. The fund gave over $345 million in grants in a recent year and held more than $70 million in assets.
- The Giving Fund does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding.
- Instead, it invites grantseekers to enroll with its user donation program, which allows donors to give via PayPal, eBay, and other online platforms.
- PayPal Giving acts as the intermediary and provides donors with a receipt and disburses the funds to the selected charities’ PayPal accounts.
Direct general questions to PayPal’s online contact form.
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