About International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
To represent and advance the interests, safety, training, and working conditions of electrical workers across North America and to promote professionalism and quality in the electrical industry.
Focus Areas
Education / ScholarshipsWorkforce development & trainingLabor rights and representation
Funding Style
programmatic support (restricted program funding)direct service / program delivery fundingproject-level grants
Topics
program deliveryimplementation supportservice operations
About International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers directs most of its recent grantmaking toward labor-adjacent organizations, workforce initiatives, and public-policy groups, while also making a very large programmatic grant to Development Now for Chicago. That 2025 award of $5,000,000 is far larger than the rest of the recent grants list and sits alongside a second major pattern: repeated support for labor and training organizations such as Electrical Workers Without and the Union Sportsmens Alliance. The foundation’s grantmaking also reaches scholarship and professional-development work through the IBEW Founders' Scholarship, an annual competitive scholarship for working members studying at accredited colleges or universities in approved fields. Recent grants show a mix of union-related advocacy, workforce development, and community-facing programs rather than a single-issue profile. The foundation’s structure and purpose align with representing electrical workers, improving working conditions, and promoting professionalism in the electrical industry, and its recent awards reflect that mandate through programmatic support to organizations connected to labor, training, and education.
What International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Funds
Education and professional development appear through the IBEW Founders' Scholarship, which offers annual awards for study at accredited colleges or universities toward an associate’s, bachelor’s, or postgraduate degree in an approved field. In workforce development, the foundation gave $40,000 to the University of Illinois Foundation in 2025 and $35,000 to the Council on Competitiveness the same year, both as programmatic support. Labor-oriented advocacy is also visible in the $25,000 grants to Laborlab in 2025 and the Economic Policy Institute in both 2024 and 2025. The foundation also backs union and trade-worker networks, including $20,000 to the Union Veterans Council Afl Cio in 2024 and $10,000 to the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in 2025.
How International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Gives
Typical grant size sits at $10,000 at the 25th percentile, $15,000 at the median, and $37,500 at the 75th percentile. The recent list also includes a much larger outlier, showing that the foundation can make grants well above its usual middle range. The foundation is a regular funder rather than a donor-advised fund, and the grants shown are programmatic support rather than individual awards. Recipients appear across multiple years in several cases, including Economic Policy Institute, Tvtlc-tva Labor Management Conference, Cmrave, Jobs to Move America Campaign Contribution, and Electrical Workers Minority Caucus (ewmc), which points to recurring support for selected organizations.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$4.5M
Total Assets
$950.5M
Total Revenue
$224.1M
Total Expenses
$196.5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $10K and $38K, with a median of $15K.
25th Percentile
$10K
Median
$15K
75th Percentile
$38K
Geographic Reach
National12 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
KENNETH W COOPER
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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