Nonprofits are slowly taking over the United States, from state political media to insurance to healthcare. In this article, we use subjective expert opinion together with quantitative metrics such as revenue and audience/membership size to rank nonprofits by the amount of influence they have. Below are the 38 nonprofits with the most power in the U.S.
1. Harvard University
Harvard was founded in 1636 (long before the United States was even a country!). Many of the most powerful politicians, lawyers, judges, and corporate leaders in the U.S. are Harvard alums which is why Harvard ranks as the most influential nonprofit in the country. Notable Harvard (undergrad and/or grad school) alumni include:
- U.S. President John Adams
- U.S. President John Quincy Adams
- U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes
- U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
- U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- U.S. President John F. Kennedy
- U.S. President George W. Bush
- U.S. President Barack Obama
- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Overall, 43 Fortune 500 CEOs are Harvard alumni (almost twice the number of any other university). Additionally, both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg attended Harvard before dropping out to found Microsoft and Facebook, respectively.
Yet Harvard’s influence doesn’t stop at graduating the country’s leaders. It also educates masses of undergrads (many with wealthy parents) who will go on to spread Harvard-taught social values throughout the country. And the university produces research in innovative STEM fields as well as social sciences.
Harvard also has a $53 billion endowment fund which is the largest of any school, and Harvard is the most prolific publisher of any U.S. research institution.
| Harvard | Answer | Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 8 | 1st |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 43 | 1st |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $53 Billion | 1st |
2. Yale
Yale is a somewhat small but highly elite private nonprofit university. In spring 2023, the school had 11,904 total undergrad, grad, and professional students. However, the school churns out U.S. presidents, senators, and judges, and it has the second largest endowment of any university.
| Yale | Answer | Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 5 | 2nd |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 5 | 27th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $42 Billion | 2nd |
3. Stanford University
Stanford is THE major university of Silicon Valley. Larry Page and Sergey Brin (the founders of Google), Sundar Pichai (the CEO of Alphabet & Google), Reed Hastings (the founder of Netflix), Jensen Huang (cofounder & CEO of Nvidia), and Pat Gelsinger (the CEO of Intel) are just a few of the tech giants who are also Stanford alumni.
Stanford was the 3rd most published U.S. research university, according to a 2018 study.
| Stanford | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 1 | 6th (Tie) |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 22 | 3rd |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $38 Billion | 3rd |
4. Princeton
The research articles published by Princeton faculty continuously steer the course of technological innovation in the U.S. Many alumni such as Jeff Bezos and Steve Forbes have gone on to create and lead world-changing companies. Additionally, the current or previous chairmen or CEOs of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Ford, Chrysler, Progressive Insurance, Avon, Google, and Vanguard all attended Princeton.
| Princeton | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 2 | 4th |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 7 | 18th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $37 Billion | 4th |
5. University of Pennsylvania
Despite what the name might suggest, the University of Pennsylvania is a private school. It also happens to be the second best school in the country for churning out alumni who become Fortune 500 CEOs.
| University of Pennsylvania | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 1 | 6th (Tie) |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 23 | 2nd |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $21 Billion | 6th |
6. LDS Church
The Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints (also known as the LDS Church or the Mormon Church) has over 16 million members as of 2023. The church also owns a $100 billion investment fund and nearly 2 million acres of land across the U.S.
Notable members of the LDS Church include David Neeleman (the founder of JetBlue), Willard Marriott (the founder of the Marriott hotel chain), Nolan Bushnell (the creator of Atari), Ed Catmull (the former president of Pixar), and Clayton Christensen (a Harvard professor and author of the book “The Innovator’s Dilemma”).
7. AARP
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is a nonprofit interest group that aims to make life better for people over 50. The organization has nearly 40 million members, and the magazine and bulletin it sends to its members are the two largest circulation publications in the United States.
8. Columbia University
Perhaps most well-known for graduating Barack Obama, Columbia has also graduated numerous other powerful politicians, judges, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Many billionaires, politicians, and media company editors have graduated from Columbia.
| Columbia University | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 1 | 6th (Tie) |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 18 | 5th |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $13 Billion | 12th |
9. Northwestern University
Northwestern is a business school powerhouse whose alumni go on to be executives at the most powerful companies across the U.S.
| Northwestern University | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 20 | 4th |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $15 Billion | 10th |
10. Johns Hopkins University
John Hopkins is 2nd most published research institution (behind Harvard) according to a 2018 analysis. That manifests as massive influence over the direction of both STEM innovation, medical innovation, and political policy making in the U.S.
| Johns Hopkins | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 1 | 6th (Tie) |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 3 | 44th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $9 Billion | — |
11. Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is a nonprofit news agency that was founded in 1846. The AP has 3,300 employees and is cited as an authority by every other mainstream media company in the U.S. AP news reports are the backbone of American media and as such have a massive impact on the country.
12. Georgetown University
Georgetown has a much smaller endowment than many universities on this list, but the school is located in Washington DC and its graduates include many of the lawyers, lobbyists, political consultants, and judges that define the distribution of political power in the U.S.
| Georgetown | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 1 | 6th (Tie) |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 7 | 18th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $3 Billion | — |
13. Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit healthcare company founded in 1945. The organization operates 39 hospitals, 724 medical offices, and has over 300,000 employees (including doctors & nurses). It also generated over $95 billion in revenue in 2022, although true to its nonprofit designation, it’s profit was negative $1.3 billion.
As of 2022, the nonprofit had 12.6 million health plan members.
14. Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit healthcare and research company that derives its power partly from its size (generating over $16 billion of revenue in 2022) and partly from its publications which influence both everyday people (through their website) and healthcare professionals.
15. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation has an endowment of $70 billion with tens of billions more promised in future years by Bill Gates and his billionaire friends. The Gates Foundation funds various human health, human development, and climate initiatives both in the U.S. and around the world.
16. University of Chicago
Notable alumni of the University of Chicago include Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Carl Sagan, Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Oracle founder & CEO Larry Ellison, and numerous other influential politicians, FBI directors, economists, and business executives.
| University of Chicago | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 15 | 6th |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $10 Billion | — |
17. MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a driver of American innovation. Students and faculty of MIT invented the core technologies of the internet and many other technologies. Many of the advances in quantum computing, fusion power, and robotics that we see 10 years from now will be the result of research currently happening at MIT.
| MIT | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 4 | 35th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $27 Billion | 5th |
18. Cornell
Cornell’s alumni list includes 3 Nobel laureates in chemistry, 8 Nobel laureates in physics, 2 Nobel laureates in economics, 2 Nobel laureates in literature, and 1 Nobel laureate in peace. To date, no U.S. president has graduated from Cornell, but several presidents and leaders of other countries have. In particular, leaders of Taiwan and the Czech Republic seem to like attending Cornell. However, many high level U.S. politicians and political advisers have also attended Cornell (just not a U.S. president).
| Cornell | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 10 | 8th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $10 Billion | — |
19. Duke University
The largest company in the U.S. by market cap is Apple, and the CEO of Apple (Tim Cook) is a Duke alum. Duke is also the 8th most prolific publisher of all schools in the U.S., and its publications influence the direction of science, policy, and medicine in the U.S.
| Duke | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 3 | 44th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $12 Billion | 11th |
20. Battelle Memorial Institute
Battle is a massive nonprofit research organization that manages many national labs on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. Battelle manages:
- Brookhaven National Lab
- Idaho National Lab
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab
- Los Alamos National Lab
- Oak Ridge National Lab
- National Renewable Energy Lab
- Pacific Northwest National Lab
- Savannah River National Lab
Battelle also manages the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center on behalf of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
21. Linux Foundation
Linux is the operating system that runs the world behind the scenes. Roughly 96% of internet servers use the Linux operating system. Android is the most common mobile phone operating system, and Android is a version of Linux. And Linux is an open source software maintained by the Linux Foundation.
22. University of Notre Dame
Numerous presidents of other universities have graduated from Notre Dame, as have 2 Nobel laureates (in physics and biology), and many members of Congress.
| University of Notre Dame | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 4 | 35th |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $19 Billion | 7th |
23. Dartmouth College
Did you know Mr. Rogers went to Dartmouth? So did Dr. Seuss. Many other actors and politically powerful people also graduated from Dartmouth.
| Dartmouth College | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 10 | 8th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $8 Billion | — |
24. Boston College
Boston College alumni include U.S. senators, ambassadors, executives at companies ranging from the Campbell Soup Company to Goldman Sachs, and actors & athletes that helped define U.S. popular culture.
| Boston College | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 9 | 11th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $3 Billion | — |
25. NYU
New York University influences America through its research, cultural movements, and hundreds of thousands of alumni.
| NYU | Answer | University Rank |
| Number of Alumni who became U.S. Presidents | 0 | n/a |
| Number of Grad School Alumni who are CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies | 8 | 12th (Tie) |
| Endowment Size (2022) | $5 Billion | — |
26. OpenAI
OpenAI changed the course of history with its development of AI models such as ChatGPT and GPT-4. It is currently the leading AI company and may possibly be the first to create general AI that can replace the work done by hundreds of millions of humans.
ChatGPT already had more than 100 million users within a few months of launch, making it the fastest adopted technology in human history.
27. CommonSpirit Health
CommonSpirit Health is a nonprofit health care company that operates 142 hospitals and nearly 2,200 care sites in 21 states. The nonprofit also generated $34 billion of revenue in 2022.
28. UPMC
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is a global nonprofit health care and research organization with 92,000 employees and 40 hospitals. UPMC has tens of billions of dollars worth of assets.
29. Ascension
Ascension is one of the largest private healthcare organizations in the U.S. Ascension operates 142 hospitals, 40 senior living facilities, and more than 2,600 total health care sites. The organization generated close to $30 billion of operating revenue in 2022.
30. Feeding America
Feeding America (founded in 1979) operates a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feeds tens of millions of Americans through partnerships with food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other community organizations. The nonprofit generated over $3.5 billion in revenue in 2021.
Since 2005, the nonprofit has operated an internal economy with a synthetic currency called “shares” which it uses to more efficiently allocate its resources to various communities around the country.
31. Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation is a nonprofit that supports and manages a large number of open source software projects that are critical to internet infrastructure.
32. Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is a nonprofit that hosts and manages the Wikipedia website which gets billions of monthly visits and has educated almost every person in the U.S. on multiple topics.
33. NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is a nonprofit media company headquartered in Washington D.C. It operates through a national network of over 1,000 public radio stations across the U.S. and is listened to by millions of Americans on a regular basis.
34. Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports (CR) is a nonprofit dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, and consumer-oriented research, public education, and advocacy. The company generates hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly revenue and operates 50 testing labs.
35. C-SPAN
The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) is a nonprofit cable and television network created in 1979 to cover U.S. federal government and other public affairs. C-SPAN is funded by its cable and satellite affiliates. It does not have ads on any of its networks or radio stations.
36. The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent nonprofit that conducts nonpartisan political and demographic research (among other things). The organization has a significant amount of influence because its research studies and data are used as sources that are quoted by many mainstream media outlets on a regular basis.
37. ProPublica
ProPublica is a nonprofit investigative journalism company that is staffed by world class reporters and editors from places like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The company has more than 100 employees and has embarked on some multi-year research projects that have led to results like ProPublica’s national pollution map that highlighted toxic hotspots being created by various industrial companies.
38. Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an LGBTQ advocacy and political lobbying organization. The HRC pursues various legislative initiatives.
The HRC Foundation is a related nonprofit that works with the HRC.