Our Grants
Our active grantees are listed below, updated monthly. We hope you will engage with and support these inspiring organizations.
Past Year of Giving
$300+M
Active Grants
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Annual giving numbers updated as of 12/31/24. New grants made in 2025 are added each month and shown below. Please note that we cannot accept unsolicited grant applications.
Search Grants:
Impact Area:
Behavioral Health grants strengthen the systems within behavioral health care, providing scholarships and training to build the workforce necessary to meet increasing need, and integrating behavioral health into the education system so that more children, families, and communities can access high-quality mental health care.
Ballmer Group’s first grants centered on the child welfare system – a network of services whose purpose is to ensure child safety and to strengthen permanency in families. These grants continue to support affected families and kids and to transform systems in order to improve prevention and to reduce racial disparities in care.
Our Community Impact grants strengthen local Place-Based Partnerships, including building leadership pipelines, to help communities working to address complex issues and achieve measurable results.
Early Childhood & Families grants build systems of support and care for our littlest ones in the most critical point of their brain development by promoting equity in prenatal and maternal health, as well as helping all families access high quality childcare and early education.
K-12 Education grants seek to reduce and eliminate inequities that shortchange student achievement, by strengthening both the in-school academic experience as well as wrap-around and afterschool support. We believe that all neighborhoods deserve strong schools and a more representative, racially diverse workforce of teachers and school leaders.
Public Safety grants support leaders and organizations working to advocate for and scale effective public safety initiatives.
Region:
Our National Impact grants focus on opportunities to strengthen impact across the country, and partners with regional teams to advance key issues.
In the Ballmers’ home state of Washington, our grants focus on public systems transformation, with deep investments in child welfare, behavioral health, and education as levers for change.
In the home of the Clippers, the Los Angeles County grants support building more equitable public systems, focusing on education, criminal justice, and a community-led vision of safety.
The Southeast Michigan grants works across the tri-county area surrounding Steve Ballmer’s hometown, bringing philanthropy, government, and business together to tackle economic mobility, and focusing on education and community development.
Grantees
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aiEDU
Beeck Center for Social Innovation and Impact
The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation improves systems that are the foundation for daily life by using data, design, technology, and policy as instruments for equitable societal change. Its Digital Benefits Network supports government in delivering public benefits services and technology that are accessible, effective, and equitable in order to ultimately increase economic opportunity.
CareMessage
CareMessage provides a digital platform for health care providers to engage with patients via text messaging, aiming to improve patient outcomes and access to care by delivering educational content and personalized support. Our grant enables the organization’s research and development into utilizing AI and SMS communication to address health care disparities among underserved populations; specific objectives include AI implementation to alleviate clinic staffing shortages, advancing health equity, and enhancing patient outcomes.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that advances federal and state policies to help build a nation where everyone—regardless of income, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ZIP code, immigration status, or disability status—has the resources they need to thrive and share in the nation’s prosperity. Our grant enables the institute’s work on advancing access to SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid through process improvements.
Code for America Labs
Code for America Labs uses insights and ideas from real people to guide solutions that break down barriers to meet community needs and improve government in meaningful ways. Our grant enables the organization’s work in advancing economic mobility by simplifying and streamlining the tax filing process.
Code Org
Code.org expands access to computer science in schools and increases participation by young women and students from other underrepresented groups, so everyone has an opportunity to learn computer science in K 12. Our grant will increase the participation and achievement of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups on AP computer science exams.
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. Our grant supports the organization’s work to close the digital divide and help lower-income families access reliable, high-speed internet.
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan creates permanent, positive change in southeast Michigan through thoughtful philanthropy. Our grant enables the organization’s transformation of its core IT infrastructure to better support its philanthropic efforts.
Council Of Chief State School Officers
Council of Chief State School Officers is composed of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. It is committed to ensuring that all students participating in the public education system—regardless of background—graduate prepared for college, careers, and life. Our grant supports the organization’s ongoing operations and expansion of its Digital Equity Collaborative Community, which is focused on topics including broadband infrastructure, sustainable implementation of federal funding, and the establishment of digital equity measurement and data standards.
Data For Good Fund
UpMetrics’ cohort-based programs, in partnership with Data for Good Fund, provide nonprofits with tools and training to collect and use data more efficiently to measure, improve, and report on their impact. Our grant provides a cohort of 30 nonprofits serving Southeast Michigan free access to UpMetrics’ data platform, professional services, and peer-to-peer learning sessions to drive and accelerate social change.
Digital Harbor Foundation
Digital Harbor Foundation unlocks opportunities and access by disrupting the root causes of the digital divide in our communities. Our grant supports Digital Harbor’s management of the Safety Net Product Studio, which seeks to source, support, and scale AI tools that improve access to and delivery of public benefits programs.
Economic Security Project
Economic Security Project advocates for ideas that build economic power for all Americans, focusing on three key areas of work: 1) cash tax credits, 2) guaranteed income, and 3) shaping markets. Our grant supports its efforts to elevate awareness and usage of Direct File.
Fast Forward
Fast Forward mobilizes the resources tech nonprofits need to create positive impact at scale. They operate three main programs, and several smaller programs as part of this work. The core programs include a Startup Accelerator focused on early-stage organizations, a Growth Accelerator focused on scaling promising organizations that have moved beyond the “startup” stage and can expand their impact with additional capital, and a light-weight “Pitch Camp” focused on helping organizations sharpen their storytelling and operations in the interest of more effectively raising funds. Our grant enables its support of economic mobility tech nonprofits through its Economic Mobility Portfolio.
Foundation For Excellence In Education Inc
ExcelinEd supports state leaders in transforming education to unlock opportunity and lifelong success for every child. Our grant supports and advances state policies that bridge the digital divide – students’ and teachers’ lack of access to the internet and digital devices – which will offer students, schools, and teachers expanded learning and professional development opportunities.
Measures for Justice
Measures for Justice is changing the future of criminal justice by developing tools that help communities, including the institutions that serve them, reshape how the system works. It partners with multiple organizations to lead the charge toward a criminal justice system that is fully transparent, accountable, and accessible.
National Digital Inclusion Alliance
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance advances digital equity by supporting community programs and equipping policymakers to act. Our grant supports Network Effect, a consortium of six organizations in the broadband and digital inclusion field focused on community-based grassroots advocacy and support for affordable internet access. Network Effect partners will strengthen national, state, and local digital equity ecosystems where local voices, community needs, and real solutions are prioritized and elevated in policymaking and program implementation.
New America Foundation
The New Practice Lab at New America partners with government to improve service delivery, solution implementation, and policy design for traditional safety net programs, specifically tax credits and unemployment insurance, as well as adjacent programs like paid family leave and access to childcare.
No Kid Hungry by Share Our Strength
Share Our Strength is dedicated to ending childhood hunger in the US by partnering with schools, community groups, and local governments to improve access to meals, provide nutrition education, and advocate for policies that strengthen food programs. A new, permanent benefits program called Summer EBT has the potential to radically reduce childhood hunger by providing families with money for groceries during the summer months. Our grant will bolster Share Our Strength’s critical role in supporting the successful launch and implementation of Summer EBT, working closely with state agencies administering the program and centering the perspectives of eligible kids and families.
Open Research Lab Inc.
OpenResearch draws on the strengths of traditional academic research and the creativity and problem-solving characteristics of startups by asking big, open-ended questions and gathering comprehensive data to fill pivotal knowledge gaps. Our grant helps disseminate learnings from its study of unconditional cash transfers, which will enhance understanding of economic insecurity in America, gaps in the existing social safety net, and how to promote a more equitable distribution of benefits.
Partners for Rural Washington
Partners for Rural Washington (PRWA) works with rural communities to develop their capacity to create prosperous and sustainable futures. Our grant supports PRWA in the expansion and construction of fiber broadband service to rural towns and populated areas in Eastern Washington.
Recidiviz Inc
Recidiviz is a tech nonprofit that modernizes criminal justice data, so that agencies can safely, equitably, and permanently reduce incarceration. Their tools identify the thousands of people who are currently stuck in the system, despite being eligible for release, and surface the thousands more who could be eligible with targeted support. Our grant supports the organization’s aim to scale its proven solution to 40 states – reaching over 80% of the incarcerated population and creating a smaller, more equitable criminal justice system.
Regents of the University of California
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) and works to promote the economic and social well being of children, families, and communities across the nation. Our grant supports the design, implementation, and operationalizing of an open data strategy for ACF for internal and external use, as well as the development of an infrastructure and process that can be replicated across other HHS agencies and state level offices, which has the potential to inform and improve effective social policy and human service program delivery.
Regents of the University of Michigan
The American Opportunity Study is an initiative to use the U.S. Census Bureau’s linked data infrastructure to enable new research on social and economic mobility. Our grant supports the creation of a longitudinal dataset based on publicly available census data and covering nearly all Americans over the past 70 years that will serve as a public good for evidence based policymaking.
Student Freedom Initiative
Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) focuses on expanding access to education and economic mobility for the African-American community. SFI addresses the wealth gap by promoting affordable access to higher education, offering hands-on professional and life training opportunities, delivering integrated student services, and enhancing technological resources. Our grant will support SFI in partnership with ConnectHumanity to work with communities anchored by HBCUs through the process of bringing high-speed broadband infrastructure to the schools and surrounding communities.
TalkingPoints
TalkingPoints uses accessible technology to close education gaps and improve connections between schools, teachers, and families. Their technology platform eliminates barriers—including language, time, and capacity—to strengthen family engagement and increase students’ academic success. The platform has been proven to positively impact underserved student populations where English is not the primary language.
TechCongress
TechCongress places computer scientists, engineers, and other technologists to serve as technology policy advisors to members of Congress, bridging the divide of knowledge and experience between D.C. and Silicon Valley for better outcomes for both. Our grant supports the organization’s AI Safety Fellowship to support AI safety efforts in the executive branch and catalyze future federal investment in AI safety.
The Aspen Institute Inc
The Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program helps illuminate and solve the most critical financial challenges facing American households, aiming to build a more inclusive economy with shared prosperity. Our grant supports creating a network of state leaders working to improve public benefit delivery, to help drive and scale best practices, and to develop tools.
The Families and Workers Fund
The Families and Workers Fund is a national, multi-donor pooled fund dedicated to assisting low and middle-income workers and their families. Our grant enables its Benefits Access and Equity Initiative to drive collective action on benefits access.
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts addresses the challenges of a changing world by illuminating issues, creating common ground, and advancing ambitious projects that lead to tangible progress. Our grant supports its Broadband Access Initiative, which works with state and federal policymakers, researchers, and other partners to accelerate the nation’s progress toward universal, affordable high-speed internet service by 2030.