About Special Olympics
We are helping to make the world a better, healthier and more joyful place—one athlete, one volunteer, one family member at a time.
Focus Areas
sportsinclusive healthyouth and educationleadership developmentadvocacy for inclusion
Who They Fund
not specified/unspecified
Funding Style
program support (project-specific assistance)implementation/service delivery fundingshort-term/programmatic grants
Topics
unspecified program assistance (topic not provided)general program delivery support
About Special Olympics
Special Olympics Inc channels its grantmaking into Special Olympics programs that support athletes, volunteers, families, and local program delivery. The largest recent awards in the data are program assistance grants to state programs such as Special Olympics Texas at $2,606,538 in 2025 and Special Olympics Michigan at $2,451,540 in 2023, showing a funding pattern built around operating support for affiliated programs rather than external, unaffiliated grantees. The portfolio also includes repeated grants to the same state organizations across multiple years, including Florida, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Southern California. That repetition points to ongoing support for program continuity, not isolated project-by-project awards. The foundation’s work sits within Special Olympics’ broader focus areas of sports, inclusive health, youth and education, leadership development, and advocacy for inclusion. Recent grants extend across U.S. state programs and demonstrate an emphasis on implementation-focused assistance, with recipients receiving funds to carry out programming at scale within their local and state operations. Washington, DC is the headquarters, but the grantmaking footprint is national and concentrated in Special Olympics program affiliates.
What Special Olympics Funds
In sports and program delivery, Special Olympics Inc gave $2,374,404 to Special Olympics Florida for program assistance and $2,102,162 to Special Olympics Illinois for the same purpose. Those awards show support for state-level organizations that run athlete programming on the ground. Inclusive health also appears through the foundation’s active Healthy Communities Grants program, which supports access to health care, screenings, training, and wellness services for people with intellectual disabilities. In education and youth leadership, Project UNIFY is a U.S. Department of Education-funded demonstration that uses Unified Sports and related youth leadership activities to build more inclusive school communities. The foundation also funds fitness programming through its Fitness Grants, which are designed to expand ongoing wellness and physical activity opportunities in communities served by Special Olympics programs.
How Special Olympics Gives
Typical grant size is substantial: the p25 is $347,032, the median is $610,028, and the p75 is $1,131,412. The recent grant list shows repeated awards to the same state affiliates across 2023, 2024, and 2025, indicating recurring support rather than one-time-only relationships. Special Olympics Inc is a regular funder and does not fund individuals. The grants shown are program assistance and implementation-focused, aligned with running and sustaining Special Olympics programming rather than unrestricted public solicitation. The recipient pattern is steady and operational, with support routed to affiliated program entities over multiple years.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$55.2M
Total Assets
$164.2M
Total Revenue
$186.4M
Total Expenses
$168.5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $347K and $1.1M, with a median of $610K.
25th Percentile
$347K
Median
$610K
75th Percentile
$1.1M
Geographic Reach
National53 states funded
About 3% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
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