About Aircast Foundation
AirCast Foundation Inc concentrates its philanthropy almost exclusively on orthopedic research and professional support for the orthopedic surgery community. Its grants are large and targeted, funding national specialty societies and research-focused organizations that advance surgical techniques, trauma care, and musculoskeletal research. The foundation’s giving is highly focused rather than broadly distributed, privileging established professional organizations and research programs in orthopedics.
Focus Areas
Orthopedic research funding (clinical and translational)Support for professional orthopedic associations and specialty societiesOrthopedic trauma care and surgical technique advancement
Who They Fund
clinical and academic researchers in orthopaedicspatients with musculoskeletal conditionshealthcare providers/clinicians in orthopaedics
Giving Approach
Highly concentrated giving: a small number of very large grants, often repeated to the same national orthopedic organizations; focused, mission-aligned investments rather than many small or geographically diverse awards.
About Aircast Foundation
Aircast Foundation Inc centers its philanthropy on orthopaedic research, with a visible preference for peer-reviewed, specialty-driven work that serves surgeons, investigators, and professional societies. In the recent grant record, the largest awards went to OREF and AOSSM, including a $500,000 grant to OREF in 2025 and a $402,500 grant to AOSSM in 2024, both for orthopaedic research. Those awards sit alongside additional support for the Orthopedic Trauma Association, Duke Health, and other orthopaedic institutions, showing a pattern of funding established organizations rather than broad public programs. The foundation’s named collaboration programs reinforce that emphasis. Through OREF-administered grants, Aircast supports resident research and research agenda programs, while its partnerships with AAOS, OTA, and AOSSM point to a long-running role in specialty-society research infrastructure. Its grantmaking also reaches individual support in a limited way, including a scholarship at Duke Health.
What Aircast Foundation Funds
A core theme is orthopaedic research infrastructure. Aircast Foundation Inc gave $500,000 to OREF in 2025 and $291,000 to OREF in 2024, both tagged for orthopaedic research. It also supported the American Academy of Orthopedic Surg with $15,000 in 2025 and $10,000 in 2024, again for orthopaedic research. Another area is trauma and post-injury care. The foundation gave $100,000 to the Orthopedic Trauma Association in 2023 and $80,000 in 2024 for orthopaedic research, with the OTA collaboration focused on treatment and prevention of post-traumatic arthritis after articular fractures. Sports medicine is also present. Aossm received $402,500 in 2024 and $195,000 in 2025 for orthopaedic research, reflecting the foundation’s backing of return-to-play and outcomes-oriented studies. Smaller grants also reached Duke Health and Rush University Medical Center for orthopaedic research.
How Aircast Foundation Gives
Recent awards cluster around a median grant size of $10,000, with a p25 of $10,000 and a p75 of $80,000. At the top end, the record includes several six-figure research grants, including $500,000 and $402,500 awards. The pattern is repeated over multiple years and through recurring institutional partners, especially OREF, AOSSM, the Orthopedic Trauma Association, and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surg. The foundation uses both direct grantmaking and collaborative, peer-reviewed channels, including OREF-administered awards and named society partnerships. It also accepts unsolicited applications in some programs, including the general research grants and several collaborative tracks. Aircast Foundation Inc is an operating foundation by behavior, funding project-specific research rather than operating support across a broad set of nonprofits.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$822K
Total Assets
$8.4M
Total Revenue
$351K
Total Expenses
$1M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $10K and $80K, with a median of $10K.
25th Percentile
$10K
Median
$10K
75th Percentile
$80K
Geographic Reach
National5 states funded
About 9% of grants go to recipients in IL.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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