The nonprofit sector in the US is estimated to constitute around 5% of GDP representing over $2T in revenue. Likewise, globally philanthropy from direct cash giving alone is nearly 3% of GDP, reaching $550B annually. Despite this there has been limited efforts on understanding the large-scale patterns of philanthropic funding. Here we detail our efforts to collect and disambiguate over 10 million grants listed on the tax returns of over 700,000 non-profit organizations in the United States from 2010-2023. The data for this effort comes from the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) release of electronically formatted filings. We highlight how this data can be used to form the network of grants between funders and recipients, enabling the application of tools from network science. We characterize several key aspects of the network. First, we observe clear inequalities in the network with a long-tailed distribution in f the amounts and number of grants given and received. Indeed, some funders and recipients give or receive thousands of grants totaling billions of dollars, while most are involved with much more modest amounts. At the level of specific grants, we identified the strong impact of locality on grants with over 60% of donors’ dollars going in the same state as the donor. We also identified strong inertia in giving with 70% of grants repeating one year later. Finally, we show how the network can be used to predict potential future funding, offering recipients and donors to better identify one another to advance their missions.

This study examines interlocking board memberships between corporate and nonprofit sectors using network analysis and data from LittleSis. Findings reveal structural differences: corporate boards are more insular, reinforcing sector-specific governance, while nonprofit boards, particularly in the arts and philanthropy, exhibit greater cross-sector connectivity. Board interlocks show strong geographic clustering, with governance networks aligning with regional economic ecosystems. Despite some overlap, corporate and nonprofit boards largely operate independently, with financial institutions playing a central role in business interlocks. Sectoral diversity analysis using Shannon entropy indicates that art organizations have the most diverse board connections, while finance boards remain more homogeneous. These insights highlight the role of board interlocking in shaping governance, influencing decision-making, and reinforcing elite networks. The study contributes to research on organizational networks, governance structures, and the intersection of business and nonprofit leadership, with implications for policy, transparency, and cross-sector collaboration.

Mirroring corporate boards, university trustees oversee governance, set budgets, shape public image, and make key hiring decisions---including presidential appointments and faculty promotions to tenure. As gatekeepers of institutional power, they operate within networks of influence that shape leadership pipelines and policy decisions. Yet, despite extensive research on academic leadership, the link between board composition, professional networks, and research outcomes, remains understudied. Here, we investigate how university boards' composition and social embeddedness influence their selection of presidents. Analyzing data from 179 American universities from 1999 to 2018, we find that institutions with greater women representation on their boards are more likely to appoint women presidents, even after controlling for institutional factors such as university rank, student demographics, faculty composition, and board size. Furthermore, universities with boards that have more interlocking directorates demonstrate a higher likelihood of selecting women presidents. These findings challenge the presumption of autonomous selection processes in university leadership appointments, and illuminate the interconnected nature of gender dynamics in academic governance. Our results further reveal institutional mechanisms that either promote or hinder gender diversity in university administration. By demonstrating how leadership diversity can reinforce or constrain itself within organizational structures, this research offers insights that extend beyond academia, informing broader discussions on gender representation in leadership across sectors.

This study examines the evolution and patterns of direct philanthropic donations in the Chilean school system over the past two decades (2003–2023) through a Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach. While philanthropy in education has traditionally focused on major foundations and policy-level influences, this study focuses on direct financial contributions made by individuals and private organizations to schools and intermediary bodies. Using data from the Central Registry of State Collaborators and Municipalities, we identify trends in donation volumes, donor-recipient relationships, and thematic priorities.

Findings reveal a concentration of donations among fewer actors over time, with an increasing shift from private organizations to individual donors. The analysis also highlights a predominance of donations targeting infrastructure and equipment, though recent years show diversification toward teacher training, psychosocial support, and student retention initiatives. Donations remain spatially concentrated, with a disproportionate share allocated to select regions, raising concerns about potential inequities in philanthropic giving.

These findings contribute to the broader discussion on philanthropy and education privatization, demonstrating how direct donations reflect market-based dynamics and evolving policy incentives. The results suggest that philanthropic giving is highly sensitive to legislative and fiscal changes, reinforcing the need for policy frameworks that ensure greater equity and transparency in educational donations. By applying SNA, this study underscores the role of philanthropy as a structural force shaping educational opportunities, offering insights for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders involved in educational funding.

This presentation analyzes an international network of organizations engaged in fostering the rise of “indigenous philanthropy” abroad. It examines efforts by American foundations aimed at creating this kind of institution in countries without their own modern national foundations, as was the case in Brazil from the 1990s to the 2000s. While the role of international philanthropy in shaping scientific networks abroad has been well documented, its role in nationalizing philanthropic associations remains largely undiscussed. To fill this gap, this presentation proposes a network analysis of roughly 110 organizations, attributing edges according to four criteria: funding, joint projects, interconnected boards and committees, and the displacement of actors between organizations. Based on documentary research on these organizations and interviews with the actors involved in these networks, the discussion highlights how American foundations transplanted their institutional model of action — namely, donation not as charity, but as an investment for social innovation — to Brazil. The network reveals two positions as the main sources of resource and idea flows. On the one hand, the Kellogg Foundation established connections with economic elites and their new foundations. On the other hand, the Ford Foundation established connections with non-government organizations and social science research centers. In doing so, the Kellogg Foundation focused on training grantmakers, while the Ford Foundation was interested in preparing grantees and advisers to receive and manage funding. Thus, the network constitutes a division of labor, as the main positions have structural equivalence but are opposed to one another.