The purpose of this study was to determine how accessible private and corporate grant-making foundations were to private institutions of higher education. Tax returns for 1975 were examined from 312 foundations, and a total of 2,878 grants to institutions of higher education amounting to $126,920,000 was identified. Private institutions of higher education were divided into five types: research, doctoral, comprehensive, liberal arts, and two-year. In addition, separate classifications were made of public and predominantly black institutions. Grants were analyzed by these distinguishing characteristics of foundations: type; total dollar amount of grants awarded; asset size; categories of aid supported; geographic orientation; and geographic location. Results showed foundations were not equally accessible to each type of institution, either in dollar amounts or number of grants awarded. Private research universities received the largest foundation dollar support, while private two-year colleges received the smallest average grants. Based on data from these analyses, a set of variables was obtained that higher education institutions could use to measure their potential success in obtaining funding from foundations: that is, an index of accessibility. (Author/MSE)