Grants for Christian Schools 2026: 2,818 Funders
Updated 9 official sources
Quick Answer: If you're on the board or development staff of a Christian day school, most grant money you can win comes from private foundations, and the typical check is small.
Full answer and how we checked it
Grantsights analysis of 990-PF education grants pulled November 5, 2026 found 2,818 foundations that made 7,189 grants to Christian, Lutheran, Adventist, Baptist, Reformed and classical Christian schools and their foundations and tuition organizations, totaling $262,233,505. The median grant was $5,480. Texas (349 funders) and California (274) lead.
This guide is for the people who keep a Christian school funded: heads of school, business managers, development directors, board members, school foundations and tuition organizations at nondenominational, Baptist, Lutheran, Seventh-day Adventist, Reformed, Mennonite and classical Christian schools. Parents looking for tuition help won't find it here directly, since these gifts go to schools and scholarship organizations that then award the aid.
Data note: The Christian school counts come from a Grantsights search of 990-PF education grants, pulled November 5, 2026, for recipients named as Christian, Lutheran, Adventist, Baptist, Reformed, classical Christian or other Protestant schools, plus their foundations and tuition organizations. Catholic schools have their own count. Grantsights checked 40 matched recipients by hand, and 39 were Christian day schools, their foundations or tuition organizations; the one miss, a public high school in Pass Christian, Mississippi, has been left out of the count. One of the 40 was an employee volunteer-hours gift, which isn't used as an example here. State education totals in the "Why the Education List" section use an earlier Grantsights pull of every 990-PF education filing, dated October 29, 2026.
In this guide
- Grants for Christian Schools: What 990-PF Filings Show
- 6 Kinds of Funders Behind Christian School Grants
- Christian School Grants by State
- Why the Education List for Christian Schools
- Government Money: 6 Programs a Christian School Should Know
- Tuition Organizations and the 2027 Federal Credit
- What the Filings Don't Tell You About Christian School Funders
- Common Mistakes in Christian School Grant Requests
- Related Guides for Christian School Leaders
- FAQ: Common Questions
- Sources
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Foundations that fund this work
67,773 private foundations gave to schools, colleges, libraries and scholarship funds
From their own IRS Form 990-PF filings (tax years 2019 to 2025). Pick your state to see who gave there, with one foundation in full. About the list
Across the US, these foundations gave 910,376 grants totaling $52,923,004,605.
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Christian school source review, Grantsights, November 6, 2026: Grantsights checked the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) private school section at 20 U.S.C. 7881 (opens in a new tab), the E-Rate eligibility rule at 47 CFR 54.501 (opens in a new tab), the Arizona Department of Revenue page on school tuition organization credits (opens in a new tab) and the IRS list of states in the 2027 scholarship tax credit (opens in a new tab) against foundation filings that name Christian schools. Where official sources stop: none of those pages tells a classical Christian school which local family foundation already funds schools like it, whether a Lutheran foundation gives outside its synod, or how big a first request should be. The filings answer those.
Grants for Christian Schools: What 990-PF Filings Show
Grantsights analysis of 990-PF education grants pulled November 5, 2026 found 2,818 foundations that made 7,189 grants to 2,201 Christian schools, school foundations and tuition organizations, worth $262,233,505. According to IRS guidance on Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab), the return is where a private foundation reports its charitable distributions, so every grant below comes from a filed return.
Half of those grants were $5,480 or less. According to the same pull, the bottom quarter stopped at $1,500, the top quarter started at $20,000, and 3,555 of the 7,189 grants (49%) were $5,000 or under. The average, about $36,500, is almost 7 times the median, which tells you how lopsided the money is.
A few campaign gifts carry the total. According to the same filings, the 150 largest grants add up to $120.0 million, 46% of everything in the count, and the 38 grants of $1 million or more come to $64.9 million. One donor alone, Abba's Storehouse Foundation, gave Desert Christian Schools in Tucson $13,985,000 across 2 grants in 2023, about 5% of the national figure.
| Foundation | Christian school | State | Amount | What the filing says | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abba's Storehouse Foundation | Desert Christian Schools | AZ | $13,360,000 | General and unrestricted | 2023 |
| George and Lucy Malmberg Foundation | Day Spring Christian Academy | PA | $4,333,333 | Charity | 2025 |
| Doris and Bill Scharpf Foundation | Santiam Christian Schools | OR | about $2.4 million per entry, 3 entries | Health and education | 2024 (2) and 2025 (1) |
| J. Bulow Campbell Foundation | Wesleyan School | GA | $2,000,000 | Support of the school's exempt purpose | 2024 |
| Lettie Pate Evans Foundation | Greater Atlanta Christian School | GA | $1,500,000 | Student learning commons | 2025 |
| Carl H. and Edyth B. Lindner Foundation | Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy | OH | $1,170,000 | Stadium project | 2023 |
The Lettie Pate Evans Foundation also gave Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners $1,500,000 in 2024 for a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) building, and the J. Bulow Campbell Foundation gave North Cobb Christian School $1,200,000 in 2023. According to the state counts in the same pull, Georgia's 141 funders gave $17.6 million, and those 2 Atlanta foundations account for more than half of it through their largest gifts alone.
Private foundations are a main source for Christian schools, but tuition pays most of the bills. Churches that sponsor a school, families who give to the annual fund, auctions and booster clubs, and state tax-credit scholarship organizations all sit beside foundation money. A foundation grant usually pays for a project, a building phase or tuition aid that the budget can't cover.
6 Kinds of Funders Behind Christian School Grants
The 990-PF records show 6 types of funders, and each expects a different request. Grantsights grouped them in the first column; the examples are real filed grants.
| Funder type | Example from the filings | Amount | Tax year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denominational foundation | Siebert Lutheran Foundation to St. Marcus Lutheran School, Milwaukee (WI), special education and mental health | $144,210 | 2023 |
| Regional faith-based trust | M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to Westside Christian High School, Tigard (OR), engineering center | $150,000 | 2023 |
| Large private foundation initiative | Lilly Endowment to Colonial Christian School, Indianapolis (IN), Marion County K-12 education initiative | $50,000 | 2024 |
| Family foundation with one school | Christ Cares for Kids Foundation to Traverse City Christian School (MI), general fund | $1,150,000 | 2024 |
| Bank or company foundation | First Hawaiian Bank Foundation to Kauai Christian Academy (HI), pre-kindergarten playground | $25,000 | 2024 |
| Microgrant program | Stanley M. Herzog Charitable Foundation to Warriors Christian Academy, Cedar Park (TX) | $3,750 | 2023 |
Denominational funders give inside their own tradition. The Siebert Lutheran Foundation also gave Racine Lutheran High School $121,300 in 2023 for tuition assistance, a facility expansion and operating support, and Immanuel Lutheran School in Brookfield $50,000 in 2024 to expand special needs services. Versacare, California's free-preview sample, gives mostly to Seventh-day Adventist schools in several states. A Baptist school shouldn't send a cold letter to a Lutheran foundation without first seeing whether that funder has ever given outside its own churches.
Regional faith-based trusts fund buildings and staff. The Murdock trust gave Crosspoint Christian School in Klamath Falls, Oregon $250,000 in 2023 to finish its construction, and Summit Classical Christian School in Bellevue, Washington $43,250 in 2024 for new development staff. Paying for a development hire is an unusual ask, and Murdock has funded one more than once, including $26,000 to Western Mennonite School in Salem, Oregon in 2024.
Salary money exists. Ohio's free-preview sample, the Christ Foundation, filed an $85,000 salary grant to Hartville Christian School in 2024 and a $50,000 salary match grant to Heritage Christian School in Canton in 2023. Many foundations steer away from salaries, so a funder that pays them is worth finding early.
Microgrants open the door. The Herzog foundation is the free-preview sample in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri, and it gave Grand View Christian School in Des Moines a $9,000 microgrant in 2023. It has also made far larger gifts, including $594,075 to St. Joseph Christian School in Missouri in 2023.
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Christian School Grants by State
Texas's 349 funders lead the November 5, 2026 pull, and 49 states have 3 or more. The District of Columbia had 1 funder and Delaware had 2. This table counts grants by the state where the school sits.
| State | Funders | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 349 | 725 | $28,502,366 |
| California | 274 | 580 | $18,919,569 |
| Florida | 191 | 402 | $8,171,975 |
| Wisconsin | 162 | 484 | $15,517,109 |
| Pennsylvania | 161 | 407 | $16,262,349 |
| Illinois | 151 | 349 | $7,934,993 |
| Michigan | 151 | 424 | $19,426,432 |
| Georgia | 141 | 289 | $17,579,158 |
| Tennessee | 118 | 247 | $7,772,848 |
Michigan's total runs high for its funder count because a few family foundations each back one school heavily. The Christ Cares for Kids Foundation filed 3 grants to Traverse City Christian School worth $2,969,307 in 2024 and 2025, and the Jerry and Marcia Tubergen Foundation filed 4 grants of $500,000 or more to NorthPointe Christian Schools in 2023 and 2024, including $500,000 in 2024 for teacher salaries. Counting every cause tag, the same match covers 2,835 foundations and 7,256 grants worth $263,791,755 with a $5,500 median, so almost every Christian school gift in the filings already carries the education tag.
California's Christian school funders
California's 274 foundations made 580 grants worth $18,919,569, according to the November 5, 2026 pull. The free preview for California opens with Versacare Inc., whose filings say it takes requests and list what to send, deadlines, limits and a contact. Its California gifts are Adventist schools: Linda Vista Adventist Elementary School in Oxnard ($10,000, 2024), Paradise Adventist Academy ($10,000, 2023) and Redlands Adventist Academy ($10,000, 2024). Its largest sample row, $36,000 in 2023, went to North Dallas SDA Academy, a Texas Adventist school, through the Cares Learning Partnership, filed under an Oakland address. If your school isn't Adventist, Versacare is likely a poor fit, so read further down the list.
Other California gifts show the range. The Geweke Foundation gave St. Peter's Lutheran School in Lodi $1,000,000 in 2025 for school operations, the Stewardship Foundation gave Calvin Christian School in Escondido $310,000 in 2024, and the Rosey Grier Giant Step Foundation gave Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica $269,650 in 2024 for tutoring, mentoring and sports.
Why the Education List for Christian Schools
Nearly all of the 7,256 all-cause Christian school grants carry the education tag, 7,189 of them, so the education funder list is where these funders live. The table shows education giving in 6 states with large Christian school funder counts, according to Grantsights analysis of 990-PF education filings pulled October 29, 2026.
| State | Foundations making education grants | Number of education grants | Open to unsolicited requests | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 6,756 | 48,431 | 2,256 | $5,000 |
| Florida | 6,780 | 31,437 | 1,923 | $5,000 |
| Michigan | 4,592 | 23,185 | 1,422 | $4,000 |
| Georgia | 3,572 | 17,087 | 1,189 | $5,000 |
| Tennessee | 2,762 | 12,105 | 1,018 | $5,000 |
| Arizona | 2,192 | 9,542 | 808 | $4,800 |
These rows count all education giving, from colleges to public schools, so Christian schools are a fraction of each. Between 28% (Florida) and 37% (Arizona and Tennessee) of these funders say they accept requests, and a new Christian school should approach those first. The education funder list opens every state, not just your own, and if it doesn't help you can ask for your money back within 30 days.
Government Money: 6 Programs a Christian School Should Know
Six public programs reach Christian schools as of November 6, 2026, from a $300 million federal security fund to state tax credits, and only 3 put the school in direct contact with the program. Grantsights checked each against the statute or rule.
| Program | How it reaches a Christian school | Rule checked |
|---|---|---|
| Title II-A and Title IV-A | Services from the public school district after consultation | 20 U.S.C. 7881 (opens in a new tab) |
| Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) | District services for parentally placed students, no individual right | 34 CFR 300.137 (opens in a new tab) |
| E-Rate | Discount on internet and network services | 47 CFR 54.501 (opens in a new tab) |
| School meals | Per-meal reimbursement through the state agency | 7 CFR 210.2 (opens in a new tab) |
| Nonprofit Security Grant Program | Grant through the state for security upgrades | 6 U.S.C. 609a (opens in a new tab) |
| State tax-credit scholarships | Donors get a credit for gifts to scholarship organizations | Arizona Department of Revenue page (opens in a new tab) |
District services under ESSA. According to 20 U.S.C. 7881, a district receiving Title II-A (teacher training) or Title IV-A (student support and enrichment) money must consult private school officials and provide equitable services to their students and teachers, and those services must be secular, neutral and nonideological. The same section says a public agency keeps control of the money and title to anything bought with it. That rules out chapel programs or Bible curriculum, while subject-area teacher training can qualify.
Special education. Under 34 CFR 300.137, no child placed in a private school by a parent has an individual right to the services a public school would provide, and the district makes the final decisions after consultation. Christian schools that serve students with learning differences should show up to that meeting with numbers.
E-Rate. Under 47 CFR 54.501, schools run as for-profit businesses and schools with endowments over $50 million can't get E-Rate discounts. It's a discount on bills, not a grant, and the school technology guide covers what foundations add on top.
Meals. Under 7 CFR 210.2, a school for the lunch program can be under public or nonprofit private ownership, which includes nonprofit Christian schools of high school grade or under.
Security. Under 6 U.S.C. 609a, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants money through the states to 501(c)(3) groups at risk of terrorist attacks or other threats. According to FEMA's program page (opens in a new tab), last updated September 28, 2026, the FY 2026 round had $300 million and awards were announced that day. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program guide explains the state application.
Tuition Organizations and the 2027 Federal Credit
Tuition organizations sit between donors and families, and 2 public tax credits feed them. According to the Arizona Department of Revenue page on school tuition organization credits (opens in a new tab), Arizona gives tax credits for gifts to certified school tuition organizations that provide scholarships to students in Arizona private schools, with 2 separate nonrefundable credits for individuals and a credit for corporations. The Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization is among the recipients in the hand-checked sample. Arizona's 59 funders gave $17.7 million to Christian schools in the November 5, 2026 pull, about four-fifths of it from Abba's Storehouse.
The federal version starts later. According to IRS guidance on participating states (opens in a new tab), from January 1, 2027 individuals may claim a federal scholarship tax credit (FSTC) of up to $1,700, or $3,400 on a joint return, for cash gifts to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) in a state that has opted in. As of October 22, 2026, 30 states were on the list, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama and North Carolina. Arizona, California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois weren't. A Christian school in a participating state should find out which SGOs will serve its families before donors start asking in January.
What the Filings Don't Tell You About Christian School Funders
The 990-PF return has no box for a school's denomination, so the 7,189 grants in this guide were found by name, and 4 other gaps follow from how the forms are filled out.
- Purposes are often blank or vague. Filings like "charitable," "general support" or "support exempt purpose of the recipient organization" (the J. Bulow Campbell Foundation's wording on every gift) don't say what the money paid for. Read the funder's own guidelines, or ask, before guessing what it wants to fund.
- Church-run schools may be paid through the church. A school that operates under its congregation's tax exemption may see gifts listed under the church's name, which no school search catches. That's one reason the church grants guide and grants for small churches are worth reading for a church-run school.
- Repeat gifts hide in separate lines. The Scharpf Foundation's 3 entries to Santiam Christian Schools and the Tubergen Foundation's 4 entries to NorthPointe read as separate grants, but each is one family backing one school. Count funders, not lines, when you size up a state.
- Volunteer and matching gifts look like grants. One of the 40 hand-checked rows was a "Dollars for Doers" volunteer gift, and a few company foundations file employee-directed gifts under one office address. A red flag on any list is a big company foundation whose Christian school gifts are all a few hundred dollars across many states.
Common Mistakes in Christian School Grant Requests
Five mistakes cost Christian schools money, and most trace to asking the wrong funder.
- Asking for ministry when the funder pays for education. The Daniels Fund, Colorado's sample, paid Dayspring Christian Academy in Greeley $138,800 in 2024 for furniture to support an expansion and Arma Dei Christian Academy $50,000 in 2023 for tuition assistance. Neither filing mentions faith. Describe the classroom, students and cost.
- Underestimating facility funders. The Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation gave Seaside Christian Academy in Ocean City, Maryland $75,000 in 2025 toward a gym and classrooms, and the Gladys Brooks Foundation gave the Covenant School of Bridgeport $50,000 in 2025 for a 12-passenger van. Buildings and vehicles are fundable.
- Treating athletics as a frill. Two of the larger gifts paid for stadiums and athletic facilities (Lindner and the Kahr Foundation's $1,007,655 to Southwest Christian High School in Chaska, Minnesota in 2023). See grants for school athletics.
- Skipping a school foundation. One organization in Pennsylvania, the Delaware County Christian School Foundation, received $500,000 from the Malmberg Foundation in 2025. A separate foundation can hold an endowment and accept gifts some funders won't make to the operating school; grants for school foundations explains the setup.
- Ignoring small local funders. For example, Buffalo Christian School in Wyoming received $5,000 from the Ray and Kay Littler Trust in 2024 to buy recreational gear, and the John P. Cadle Foundation gave Danville Christian Academy in Illinois $8,000 in 2024 for operating and capital costs. These are the funders a new school can actually reach, and the honest place to start.
Related Guides for Christian School Leaders
Federal rules that apply to every nonprofit private school are laid out in grants for private schools, which pairs well with this guide's 2,818 Christian school funders. Catholic schools have a separate count and different funders in grants for Catholic schools.
A school that shares a building and a board with a congregation should also read grants for faith-based organizations, since many of its funders give to both. To look for open public grants by state, use the Grantsights grant database.
FAQ: Common Questions
Are there grants for private Christian schools? Yes. 2,818 foundations made 7,189 grants to Christian schools and their tuition groups in the November 5, 2026 pull.
How much does a typical Christian school grant pay? $5,480 at the median, and 3,555 of the 7,189 grants were $5,000 or less.
Can a Christian school get government grants? Mostly as district services, plus E-Rate discounts, meal reimbursement and FEMA security grants.
Do these funders help parents pay Christian school tuition? Only through the school or a tuition organization.
Which states have the most foundations funding Christian schools? Texas (349), California (274), Florida (191), Wisconsin (162) and Pennsylvania (161).
Does the 2027 federal scholarship tax credit help Christian schools? In the 30 states that opted in as of October 22, 2026, it can, through SGO scholarships starting January 1, 2027.
Sources
- 20 U.S.C. 7881: equitable services for private school students and teachers (govinfo, 2024 U.S. Code) (opens in a new tab)
- 34 CFR 300.137, equitable services determined (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
- 47 CFR 54.501, E-Rate eligibility (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
- 7 CFR 210.2, school lunch program definitions (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
- 6 U.S.C. 609a: FEMA Nonprofit Security Grant Program statute (govinfo, 2024 U.S. Code) (opens in a new tab)
- FEMA: Nonprofit Security Grant Program (opens in a new tab)
- Arizona Department of Revenue: Credits for contributions to certified school tuition organizations (opens in a new tab)
- IRS: Federal scholarship tax credit participating states (opens in a new tab)
- IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
Last updated November 6, 2026. Published by Grantsights from public sources. See our editorial policy, how we build and check guides, corrections and how we make money.
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