Data / Foundation grants / The Lemelson Foundation
The Lemelson Foundation: 71 grants to organizations, $19.7 million (tax year ended December 2024)
The Lemelson Foundation, a private foundation in Portland, OR, paid 71 grants to organizations totaling $19,714,696 in its tax year ended December 2024, according to its Form 990-PF filed with the IRS on November 14, 2025. The largest was $2,959,932 to National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance in Hadley, MA for to support inventive mindsets and skillsets among higher education students and to foster institutional conditions that nurture such students.
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- EIN
- 880391959
- Based in
- Portland, OR
- Assets
- $414,428,200
- Grants paid
- $19,714,696
- Tax year ended
- December 2024
Grants paid, tax year ended December 2024
From the Form 990-PF filed November 14, 2025, IRS object ID 202543189349103069. It reported $19,714,696 in grants paid; 71 grants to organizations are listed.
| Recipient | Location | Purpose | Cause | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance | Hadley, MA | To support inventive mindsets and skillsets among higher education students and to foster institutional conditions that nurture such students | Education | $2,959,932 | apps.irs.gov |
| National Science Foundation | Alexandria, VA | To enable innovative collaborative research on sustainability by fostering efforts to transform engineering education to prepare graduating engineers to address environmental and social sustainability | $1,650,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy Inc | Washington, DC | To support pre-development activities necessary to support tribes seeking to develop renewable energy projects on their lands | Environment | $1,250,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | To (1) support the lemelson-mits invention education work in developing the next generation of inventors, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (2) advance the field of invention educa | Education | $1,150,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Rocky Mountain Institute | Boulder, CO | To source, select, support, and scale promising startups through rmis third derivative and climate-aligned industries programs focused on decarbonizing three heavy industries: cement and concrete, pet | $1,000,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc | New York, NY | To be used by rockefeller philanthropy advisors as fiscal sponsor for the urban movement innovation fund | Philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations | $750,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| William Marsh Rice University | Houston, TX | To increase capacity and partnerships in kenyan higher education institutions to strengthen kenya's innovation system | Education | $600,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Climate Breakthrough Inc | Berkeley, CA | For general operating support | Human services | $500,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Kenya Impact Innovations Foundation | Nairobi, KE | To support business incubation activities, develop a pipeline of invention-based enterprises, and strengthen an inclusive innovation ecosystem that will increase access to quality healthcare and other | $500,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Oil Change International | Washington, DC | For general operating support | Public and societal benefit | $500,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Rockefeller Family Fund Inc | New York, NY | To support industry accountability for cleanup and decommissioning of methane-leaking infrastructure | Philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations | $500,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Seeding Justice | Portland, OR | To be used for bridge funding to support the establishment of the oregon community climate investments fund | Philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations | $500,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Sustainable Energy for All Verein Fur Nachhaltige Energie | Wien, AU | For general operating support | $500,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Clearpath Inc | Washington, DC | To continue support of the clean industrial technology campaign to accelerate the decarbonization of domestic industrial sectors | Environment | $400,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Selco Foundation | Bangalore, IN | To support a climate-focused, inclusive technology innovation and incubation program and knowledge center | $395,740 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Villgro Innovations Foundation | Chennai, IN | To support the incubation and launch of high-impact, highly scalable, invention-based enterprises in india that improve lives of the poor as well address systemic barriers these ibes face in preparing | $375,594 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Windward Fund | Washington, DC | To scale up cost-effective solutions in methane mitigation | Environment | $360,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Action for the Climate Emergency Inc | Charlestown, MA | For general operating support | $350,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Portland State University Foundation | Portland, OR | To support the invent oregon program activities and to implement statewide collegiate invention and prototyping competition in oregon | $334,045 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated | New York, NY | To support methanesat, an orbital eye in the sky that could monitor industrial methane leaks all over the planet | Environment | $300,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| New Venture Fund | Washington, DC | To support the catalytic capital community to strengthen disadvantaged communities, expand economic opportunity, and support innovation that advances the well-being of people and the planet in the uni | Environment | $300,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Clean Air Task Force Inc | Boston, MA | To support civil society organizations in africa working to address methane emissions | Environment | $250,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| National Public Radio Inc | Washington, DC | For general operating support | Arts, culture and humanities | $250,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Society for Science and the Public | Washington, DC | To support a multi-point engagement strategy with middle school students to inspire and educate them through science fairs held across the country | Science and technology | $225,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| The Edison Institute Inc | Dearborn, MI | To support the integration of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in their invention education work, in addition to sustaining a national network of invention convention affiliate programs | Arts, culture and humanities | $205,907 | apps.irs.gov |
| Tie Oregon Foundation | Portland, OR | To continue the tie young entrepreneurs program and expand tie oregon's capacity through third-party evaluators | $203,177 | apps.irs.gov | |
| American Society for Engineering Education | Washington, DC | To support the integration of engineering for one planet learning outcomes in diverse engineering courses and programs by supporting faculty curricular development efforts | $192,206 | apps.irs.gov | |
| The Edison Institute Inc | Dearborn, MI | To increase access to and inclusivity in the invention convention worldwide program, particularly for young women, black americans, latinx, and american indian communities | Arts, culture and humanities | $180,463 | apps.irs.gov |
| Portland State University Foundation | Portland, OR | To support the evolution and growth of current programmatic offerings and to develop a new strategic approach to integrate invention education into the school day | $162,500 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Smithsonian Institute | Washington, DC | To support the lemelson center for the study of invention and innovation with the installation of a new exhibition, change your game, and to develop education outreach programs | Arts, culture and humanities | $150,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| The Aspen Institute Inc | Washington, DC | To support the aspen network for development entrepreneurs (ande) to build climate change capacity and expertise so ande can advocate for and support climate entrepreneur support organizations in addr | Social science | $150,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Realize Impact | Bainbridge Island, WA | To support the development and launch of a program designed to support african and female climate tech innovators | Human services | $125,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Stem Next Opportunity Fund | San Diego, CA | To support the placement of senior policy fellows in federal government agencies to advance stem, invention, and equity at the federal level | Education | $125,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Villanova University | Villanova, PA | To (1) increase adoption of the engineering for one planet framework in diverse institutions, (2) develop models for faculty training, and (3) develop a flexible model for institutionalization | Education | $125,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Editorial Projects in Education Inc | Bethesda, MD | To support the development and dissemination of new education research focused on identifying the needs of diverse students in stem and invention education | Arts, culture and humanities | $120,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Impact Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation | Wilmington, DE | To support a global network of entrepreneur support organizations with increased capacity and resources to foster invention-based enterprises that address the sustainable development goals and are sel | $115,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| African Venture Philanthropy Alliance | Nairobi, KE | To support the mobilization of investment within sub-saharan african countries into enterprises offering climate adaptation solutions for vulnerable populations | $113,068 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Oregon State University Foundation | Corvallis, OR | To provide invention education to diverse and rural youth in grades k-12 throughout oregon and research and test teaching approaches | Education | $101,500 | apps.irs.gov |
| Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association Inc | Arlington, VA | To expand invention education programming adopted during the school day by building sustainable pathways for teachers serving underrepresented groups and teaching non-stem subjects | Arts, culture and humanities | $100,044 | apps.irs.gov |
| Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association Inc | Arlington, VA | To support the integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the associations invention education work | Arts, culture and humanities | $100,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Library Foundation of Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | To support the "no prior art" exhibition | Education | $100,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Kenya Impact Innovations Foundation | Nairobi, KE | To pilot the concept of lean start-up venture studio in kenya that aims to help entrepreneurs to ideate and invent health solutions targeted at improving the health of low-income and underserved popul | $99,520 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Kenya National Innovation Agency | KE | To (1) bring together nonprofit institutions, educational institutions, and research institutions in kenya that do not have tech transfer offices to pilot the creation of a shared tech transfer office | $98,850 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc | New York, NY | To support the pre-pilot phase of an entrepreneur mentorship pilot initiative in india | $98,613 | apps.irs.gov | |
| The Asme Foundation Inc | New York, NY | To (1) support the asme innovation showcase (ishow) in india, kenya, and the united states, and (2) pilot models for strengthening ecosystems in regions where ishow is held | Science and technology | $96,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Kennesaw State Unversity Research and Service Foundation Inc | Kennesaw, GA | To integrate engineering for one planet learning outcomes in diverse engineering courses across multiple departments | Education | $94,845 | apps.irs.gov |
| Regents of the University of Michigan | Dearborn, MI | To integrate engineering for one planet learning outcomes in diverse engineering courses and programs | $81,286 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Community Initiatives | Oakland, CA | To continue to develop a formally structured network of philanthropic funders to inspire entrepreneurship, strengthen entrepreneurs, and support 2024 - 2025 programming for members | Philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations | $75,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | To prepare and retain excellent k-12 stem teachers so that black, latinx, and native students can thrive in stem | Human services | $75,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| The University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX | To support ut arlington's integration of engineering for one planet learning outcomes in diverse engineering courses and programs | $66,978 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Stem Next Opportunity Fund | San Diego, CA | To support the placement of diverse senior policy fellows in federal government agencies to advance stem, invention, and equity at the federal level | Education | $62,500 | apps.irs.gov |
| Art Center College of Design | Pasadena, CA | To foster the integration of engineering for one planet learning outcomes through the modification of courses at artcenter and the introduction of courses at pasadena city college | Education | $59,850 | apps.irs.gov |
| Trustees of Indiana University | Bloomington, IN | To conduct research to identify the capacities youth need to be inventive problem-solvers | $55,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| American Society for Engineering Education | Washington, DC | To foster the integration of engineering for one planet learning outcomes in diverse engineering courses and programs by supporting faculty curricular development efforts | $50,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Black Inventors Hall of Fame | Wharton, NJ | To convene visionary individuals of color to help define the educational foundation of stem and invention education programs across the stem ecosystem | Arts, culture and humanities | $50,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Nature Conservancy | Seattle, WA | To support the connecting canopies project, which aims to create a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable urban forestry model in the portland-metro area through a workforce development program fo | $50,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| University of Maryland Eastern Shore | Princess Anne, MD | To train engineering faculty to integrate learning outcomes from the engineering for one planet framework into multiple engineering specializations | $49,918 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Drones Doing Good Alliance | Linz Am Rhein, GM | To (1) provide support to pilot a program in which the grantee will test how its drone hardware can be leveraged by local businesses in kenya who offer services to smallholder farmers, an impoverished | $49,594 | apps.irs.gov | |
| African Centre for Technology Studies | Nairobi, KE | To support acts's role as a collaborator in the national entrepreneurial institutions framework, to strengthen commercialization systems in kenya to increase capacity for local innovation to meet soci | $39,324 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Collaborative for Frontier Finance | Washington, DC | To assess the feasibility of and design for a new investment facility intended to mobilize more investment within african countries into local enterprises developing solutions to meet the needs of vul | $35,261 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester, NY | To enhance environmental and social sustainability in the skillset of students at rochester institute of technology and california state university, fresno using the engineering for one planet framewo | Education | $32,092 | apps.irs.gov |
| Oregon Community Foundation | Portland, OR | To reassess the purpose, data sources, assessment methods, and use of the oregon capital scan | Philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations | $20,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| The Aspen Institute Inc | Washington, DC | To be used by aspen institute in support of the aspen network of development entrepreneurs (ande) to build climate change capacity and expertise so that ande can enable enterprises and support organiz | Social science | $19,977 | apps.irs.gov |
| Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc | Baltimore, MD | To recognize innovative approaches to integrating sustainability in abet-accredited programs and gain visibility for engineering for one planet with priority target audiences | Education | $15,000 | apps.irs.gov |
| Society for Science and the Public | Washington, DC | To gather a group of invention education practitioners to identify the invention competition ecosystem and its members and begin planning to expand this ecosystem | Science and technology | $13,278 | apps.irs.gov |
| Moco Kidsco Inc | Bethesda, MD | To gather a group of invention education practitioners for the pre-planning of a convening that will bring together invention education researchers and practitioners | Arts, culture and humanities | $12,938 | apps.irs.gov |
| New Mexico Mesa Inc | Albuquerque, NM | To gather a group of invention education practitioners to begin planning how to advance the adoption of invention education curriculum in mesa chapters across the ten states in which mesa operates | $10,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Stanford, CA | To support health innovation enterprises and management of the national health authoritys market access program | $10,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, UT | To integrate learning outcomes from the engineering for one planet framework in courses within four engineering departments to positively impact students | $10,000 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Portland State University Foundation | Portland, OR | To gather a group of invention education practitioners to define the challenges that keep invention education from being integrated into the classroom | $9,696 | apps.irs.gov | |
| Lords Education & Health Society | New Delhi, IN | To develop and pilot a health innovation unit within two indian states and evaluate whether this reduces barriers to adopt innovations | $5,000 | apps.irs.gov |
Causes funded
From grants whose recipient has a cause.
| Cause | Granted |
|---|---|
| Education | $5,425,719 |
| Environment | $2,860,000 |
| Philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations | $1,845,000 |
| Arts, culture and humanities | $1,169,352 |
| Human services | $700,000 |
| Public and societal benefit | $500,000 |
| Science and technology | $334,278 |
| Social science | $169,977 |
States funded
| Recipient state | Granted |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $4,709,932 |
| District of Columbia | $3,895,722 |
| Virginia | $1,850,044 |
| New York | $1,776,705 |
| Oregon | $1,330,918 |
| California | $1,007,350 |
| Colorado | $1,000,000 |
| Texas | $666,978 |
Also on SpecStream
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- Who funds environment in District of Columbia
- Who funds philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations in New York
- Who funds education in Texas
- Who funds human services in California
- Who funds philanthropy, voluntarism and grantmaking foundations in Oregon
Updated November 14, 2025. Read from IRS Form 990-PF e-file data. Public domain (U.S. government work). Grants are as each foundation reported them to the IRS on its Form 990-PF. Grants to individuals are left out. A grant has a cause only where the recipient's name and city match one organization in the IRS Business Master File, and the cause is that organization's NTEE major group. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0. Spot a wrong value? Write to [email protected] with the link to this page.