What Bayer Fund does

Bayer Fund is the U.S. corporate philanthropic foundation of Bayer AG, operating as a 501(c)-style grant-making entity. Originally established in 1964 as the Monsanto Fund, it was renamed Bayer Fund in 2019 following Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto and consolidated with the activities of the former Bayer USA Foundation (founded 1953) in January 2020. The foundation focuses exclusively on U.S. communities, with primary concentrations in St. Louis, Missouri and Northern New Jersey, and a stated reach into 18 U.S. states and Puerto Rico through eligibility within approximately 55 miles of eligible Bayer site locations.

The foundation operates an invitation-only grant platform with two semi-annual application windows (February and July). Its portfolio consists of four interconnected programs: Food & Nutrition Grants (roughly 40% of giving, targeting malnutrition and food insecurity), Health & Wellness Grants (roughly 25% of giving, focused on cancer and cardiovascular disease), a Matching Gifts Program that benefits 1,757 nonprofit organizations through employee contributions, and a newly introduced Macro Grant program launched in 2025. In 2025, the foundation disbursed $3.4 million in grants to more than 100 charities and nonprofit organizations. A separate capital deployment is the anchor investment in the AWE Evergreen Philanthropic Fund (EPF), an evergreen pooling vehicle targeting gender-equitable solutions in healthcare, climate resilience, and sustainable agriculture in India.

The business model is funded entirely by its parent Bayer rather than external fundraising; as a result, the entity has no traditional revenue mechanics. It is staffed by a small team (1–10 employees) consisting of Bayer employees serving in foundation governance and program roles. Distribution is managed directly through the foundation's website (fund.bayer.us), with PR coverage of grant recipients providing secondary awareness. There is no proprietary technology, no API surface, no pricing model, and no commercial product — the foundation's "product" is grant capital deployed against defined focus areas aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Name

Bayer Fund

Legal name

Bayer Fund

Website

https://fund.bayer.us

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Bayer Fund is the U.S. corporate philanthropic foundation of Bayer AG, awarding grants to nonprofit organizations focused on food security, nutrition, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and education in U.S. communities where Bayer employees live and work.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Philanthropy / Grant-making Foundation

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Foundations & CSR Grantmaking (BPAGAKAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Nutrition & Food Security (Global Health) NGOs (HLAJAKAH), Community Health & Prevention Program Funding (HLAJALAF)

Keywords

• Corporate philanthropy
• Grant-making foundation
• Community investment
• Nonprofit funding
• Charitable giving programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Leverkusen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Disbursement: Bayer Fund receives funding from Bayer and distributes grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. As a philanthropic entity, it does not generate revenue from product or service sales.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Bayer Fund is the philanthropic arm of Bayer in the United States that distributes grants to qualified nonprofit organizations tackling food insecurity, malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Its core offerings include Food & Nutrition Grants, Health & Wellness Grants, a Matching Gifts Program for employee community engagement, and a Macro Grant initiative introduced in 2025. All programs are administered through invitation-only application windows open to organizations within approximately 55 miles of eligible Bayer site communities.

Product overview

Bayer Fund is a philanthropic arm of Bayer in the United States that operates as a unified grant-making platform offering multiple interconnected giving programs. The core portfolio consists of Food & Nutrition Grants (supporting malnutrition and hunger alleviation), Health & Wellness Grants (focused on cancer and cardiovascular disease education/prevention), and a Matching Gifts Program (enabling employee community engagement through matched charitable donations). A new Macro Grant initiative was introduced in 2025. All programs are administered through invitation-only applications, with geographic focus on St. Louis, Missouri and Northern New Jersey, and support for rural and underserved communities nationwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• $3.4 million awarded to 100+ charities in 2025
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves2 records

Direct peers

• Johnson & Johnson Foundation: Corporate foundation of Johnson & Johnson, another global healthcare peer. Conducts strategic philanthropy across health equity, education, and community development, with a focus on health workforce capacity and patient/caregiver support that mirrors Bayer Fund's Health & Wellness pillar.
• Merck Foundation: Corporate foundation of Merck & Co., a U.S. pharmaceutical peer to Bayer's life sciences business. Funds health equity, medical education, and disaster response, with a comparable structure of pillar-based giving, matching gifts, and grant programs serving U.S. communities near employee sites.
• AbbVie Foundation: Corporate foundation of AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical peer to Bayer. Funds health equity, education, and community resilience, with a similar site-community giving model anchored to AbbVie employee locations and a strong emphasis on patient/caregiver support programs.
• Pfizer Foundation: Corporate foundation of Pfizer, a global pharmaceutical peer to Bayer. Operates grant programs focused on global health, patient access, and STEM education, with similar pillar-based architecture and matching-gift-style employee engagement programs.
• Bayer Foundation: Global philanthropic arm of Bayer, operating as the international counterpart to Bayer Fund. Directly comparable as a corporate foundation under the same parent, with overlapping mission (life sciences, sustainability, social innovation) and complementary geographic scope outside the U.S.
• Amgen Foundation: Corporate foundation of Amgen, a biotechnology peer. Funds STEM education, patient health access, and disaster relief, with matching-gift and employee-volunteer programs comparable in structure to Bayer Fund's matching-gift platform.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation: Corporate foundation of Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical peer. Focuses on cancer and cardiovascular health equity — directly overlapping with Bayer Fund's Health & Wellness pillar — and operates multi-year, place-based grant programs with measurable health outcomes.
• Cargill Foundation: Corporate foundation of Cargill, an agricultural and food-system peer to Bayer's crop science business. Funds food security, nutrition, and rural community development — directly mirroring Bayer Fund's Food & Nutrition pillar — and operates place-based giving in agricultural communities where Cargill operates.

Broad incumbents

• Walmart Foundation: Corporate foundation of Walmart, a much larger, broadly-focused retail philanthropy vehicle. Funds food security, workforce, and economic opportunity, with a comparable Food & Nutrition program targeting hunger and nutrition education. Operates at a substantially larger scale and broader geographic footprint than Bayer Fund.
• Google.org: Philanthropic arm of Google/Alphabet, representing a much larger, tech-sector corporate philanthropy model. Funds education, economic opportunity, and inclusion through a mix of unrestricted grants, impact investments, and direct product donations — a broader, more diversified model that is structurally analogous as a corporate philanthropic vehicle, though at vastly different scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments4 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bayer Fund