Sesame Workshop

About Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop’s recent giving is dominated by large program-implementation grants for international early childhood work and learning resources, including a $16,469,152 grant to the International Rescue Committee in 2023 and a $3,724,018 grant in 2024. Those grants sit alongside six- and seven-figure support for internal Sesame Workshop entities, showing a funder that uses philanthropy to run its own educational mission rather than to distribute small external awards. The organization’s stated purpose is to help children grow smarter, stronger, and kinder through research-driven educational media and learning resources for children, families, and communities. Its grantmaking aligns with that mission across early childhood education, language and literacy, social-emotional skills, health and hygiene, family support, autism and special needs resources, and digital well-being. Recent awards also show support for university-based program work, media partnerships, and general operating support within the Sesame Workshop network. The largest grants point to crisis-response and humanitarian education, while smaller awards extend the same child-centered agenda into media, research, and convening work. The foundation’s latest filings show substantial assets and annual grant volume, but the pattern of giving is more important than breadth: the grants are concentrated around a small set of mission-aligned organizations and long-running program partnerships.

What Sesame Workshop Funds

A major thread in Sesame Workshop’s giving is humanitarian early childhood education. It awarded $16,469,152 to the International Rescue Committee in 2023 and $3,724,018 in 2024 for program implementation, reflecting sustained support for crisis-affected children. The foundation also backed New York University with $4,211,308 in 2023 and $3,125,853 in 2024 for program implementation, pointing to research- or education-linked work tied to its learning mission. Smaller grants extend into media and convening activities. WNET - Thirteen received $127,345 in 2023 for program implementation, while Concordia Summit Inc received $10,000 in both 2023 and 2024 for general support. Sesame Workshop also made general support grants to Sesame Workshop International Inc, indicating funding that supports organizational infrastructure as well as program delivery. Across these awards, the common thread is child development content, educational reach, and mission execution.

How Sesame Workshop Gives