Biswas Family Foundation

The Biswas Family Foundation operates as a tightly focused, invitation-only private foundation with a philosophy rooted in the tech-sector ethos of its founders: identify breakthrough science capable of scaling to population-level impact, then fund it aggressively and at significant size. Co-Presidents Sanjit and Hope Biswas — both uncompensated officers — established the foundation in 2023 and have moved quickly, growing assets from $1.66 million at the end of FY2022 to $60.4 million by FY2024 through ongoing personal contributions.

The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Its grantmaking model relies on announced RFPs managed through institutional partners, and on invited applications from vetted research teams. The March 2024 Transformative Computational Biology Grant Program, co-managed with the Milken Institute, exemplifies the model: the foundation issued an RFP through a trusted intermediary, evaluated multidisciplinary teams across a competitive review process, and awarded up to $1 million per team over two years to five institutions (MIT, Stanford, Harvard Medical School, and Gladstone Institutes), with the Arc Institute also receiving supplemental funding under the same $15 million commitment.

Organizational types the foundation favors include leading academic research institutions, well-resourced research institutes, and mission-aligned nonprofits at the intersection of computational science and global health. Khushi Baby Inc — a community health worker technology nonprofit — received a $35,000 general support grant in FY2023, confirming that the foundation also funds global health implementation organizations, not exclusively research institutions, though at meaningfully different scale.

The typical relationship progression runs: (1) subscribe to foundation communications and submit a concise 'Funding' inquiry via the contact form at biswasfamilyfoundation.org/connect; (2) await an announced RFP or fellowship cohort that aligns with your work; (3) submit a formal application through the designated process, often managed via a partner institution such as the Milken Institute or MIT HEALS; (4) undergo peer review evaluating multidisciplinary team composition, computational methodology, and scalability of proposed impact; (5) receive a multi-year award.

First-time applicants should internalize three principles before reaching out. Scale: the foundation explicitly targets research affecting 'millions to billions of people,' not incremental single-disease advances. Interdisciplinarity: all five March 2024 grants involved teams spanning three to nine researchers across computer science, genomics, and clinical medicine. Open science: a public data sharing commitment is required as a condition of award, not a preference. Organizations unable to demonstrate all three will struggle to compete regardless of scientific merit.

The Biswas Family Foundation's giving history is brief but illuminating. In FY2021 (its organizational year), assets were a nominal $1. By FY2022, contributions of $1.62 million brought total assets to $1.66 million, with no grants paid. FY2023 marked the first year of meaningful grantmaking: contributions of $20.5 million raised total assets to $21.7 million, and the foundation paid $35,000 in grants to Khushi Baby Inc for general support, with total giving (including program expenses) of $366,757. FY2024 saw another massive capitalization event — $33.4 million in revenue pushed total assets to $60.4 million, though FY2024 990 grant data is not yet publicly available.

The gap between disclosed 990 grants ($35,000 in FY2023) and the March 2024 Milken Institute announcement of approximately $14 million in Transformative Computational Biology grants reflects the timing difference between multi-year grant commitments and actual cash disbursements. The foundation's true giving commitments are substantially larger than 990 data alone suggests, making this an instance where 990-based grant databases significantly understate actual funder scale.

Known grant sizes span a wide range by program area. Global health implementation: $35,000 (Khushi Baby Inc, general support). Transformative Computational Biology grants: up to $1 million per team over two years, awarded to five teams in March 2024. Named center grants: approximately $5 million, per coverage of the Biswas Center for Transformative Computational Cancer Biology at Gladstone Institutes (Katherine Pollard, PhD). Fellowship program: four-year postdoctoral salary positions at MIT HEALS, estimated at $280,000-$400,000 per position for five positions per annual cohort — representing a multi-million dollar multi-year commitment when structured over four cohort cycles.

Geographic concentration is heavily weighted toward California (MIT, Stanford, Gladstone Institutes, Arc Institute) and the Massachusetts research corridor (Harvard Medical School). The foundation's San Francisco headquarters and founders' roots in the Bay Area tech ecosystem align naturally with West Coast research infrastructure. International data collection is funded indirectly — the MAIDA Initiative at Harvard collected chest X-rays and CT scans globally — but direct international grantees have not yet appeared in 990 filings.

Program area distribution from available data: approximately 90% of commitment value flows to computational biology, AI, and translational research; roughly 10% supports global health implementation organizations at the $25,000-$100,000 range. The total capitalized grant commitment since inception, across all programs, is estimated at $15 million or more.

The following table compares the Biswas Family Foundation to four asset-comparable private foundations in the NTEE T20 (Private Grantmaking Foundations) category:

The Biswas Family Foundation is a pronounced outlier among its asset-comparable peers in two critical dimensions. First, its mission is unusually specific — computational biology, artificial intelligence, and global health — whereas most private foundations at this asset level maintain diffuse grantmaking mandates under the broad Philanthropy & Grantmaking category, with little public disclosure of giving priorities. Second, the foundation is newly capitalized and actively scaling, with assets growing nearly 40-fold in three years, while its peer foundations have mature, stable asset bases. This rapid growth reflects ongoing founder contributions that typically presage accelerating grant volumes. For applicants, this means the foundation's grantee network is still forming — establishing relationships now, before the field grows more competitive, is a time-sensitive strategic advantage that organizations in the computational health sciences should not defer.

The most significant recent development is the launch and first-cohort announcement of the MIT HEALS Biswas Postdoctoral Fellowship. Announced on July 7, 2025 (MIT News), the program selected five inaugural research teams for four-year postdoctoral salary positions, with plans to award five additional positions annually across four cohort cycles — the first cohort beginning in early 2026. On February 13, 2026, MIT HEALS published profiles of the inaugural Biswas Fellows, detailing their early-stage health and life sciences research.

In June 2025, Forbes published a profile of Sanjit Biswas titled 'Tech Billionaire Sanjit Biswas Is Funding Research On AI And Healthcare,' increasing public visibility for the foundation's priorities. Also in July 2025, the CURE-Bench competition — administered through foundation grantee Marinka Zitnik's lab at Harvard Medical School — opened to international applicants, marking the foundation's first open-access engagement mechanism for researchers outside its existing network.

The foundation's landmark grant activity to date remains the March 12, 2024 announcement with the Milken Institute: approximately $14 million distributed to five research teams at MIT, Stanford, Harvard Medical School, and Gladstone Institutes through the Transformative Computational Biology Grant Program. Katherine Pollard at Gladstone Institutes separately received an approximately $5 million grant to establish the Biswas Center for Transformative Computational Cancer Biology.

No leadership changes have been reported. Sanjit and Hope Biswas remain Co-Presidents with no paid staff or officers, and total assets reached $60.4 million in FY2024 — nearly tripling from FY2023's $21.7 million — reflecting continued active family capitalization of the endowment.

Because the Biswas Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, the entire strategy for grant seekers must center on positioning and relationship-building rather than direct application submission. The following guidance is specific to this funder's documented practices.

Subscribe and monitor first. Visit biswasfamilyfoundation.org/connect and subscribe specifically to the 'Funding Opportunities' category. This is the foundation's own designated alert channel for new RFPs. Also follow @biswasfamilyfdn on X and the foundation's LinkedIn page, both of which have been active during major program announcements.

Submit a funding inquiry through the contact form. The form at biswasfamilyfoundation.org/connect accepts 'Funding' category inquiries. A concise message of 2-3 paragraphs describing how your organization leverages science or technology to improve global health at population scale is the appropriate format for initial contact. Do not attach a full proposal. Treat this as a relationship-opening communication — the goal is to be on staff radar when the next RFP cycle opens.

Build institutional alignment proactively. The foundation's revealed preference is for teams embedded within or formally partnered with research universities, particularly MIT, Stanford, Harvard Medical School, and Gladstone Institutes. If your organization lacks an existing academic partnership, establishing a co-investigator or formal collaboration with a researcher at one of these institutions will materially increase your RFP competitiveness.

Align language to the foundation's exact criteria. The phrases 'millions to billions of people,' 'multidisciplinary teams,' 'computational tools,' and 'public data sharing' are not marketing language — they are evaluation criteria visible across every major grant announcement. Introductory contacts and eventual proposals must use these frames explicitly and demonstrate how your work meets each.

Observe the 15% indirect cost ceiling rigorously. This is a hard requirement. Institutions accustomed to 50-60% F&A rates must negotiate a modified sponsored research agreement in advance. Budgets that exceed this ceiling are disqualifying regardless of scientific quality.

Participate in open competitions. The CURE-Bench international competition (launched July 2025) is a rare open-access mechanism connected to the foundation's grantee network. Strong performance in such competitions can establish credibility with program staff reviewing future RFPs.

Time outreach to the calendar year cycle. The March 2024 Transformative Computational Biology announcement suggests the foundation may favor Q1 RFP releases. Relationship-building contacts sent in Q4 of a calendar year — ahead of potential Q1 announcements — are better positioned to be timely.