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Vermont · Private foundation

Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$91k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
23
Grants FY2025
20
Organizations funded FY2024
20%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$2,500
Largest grant, FY2025
$25,000
Organizations funded a year
11 to 63
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
5
Total assets, FY2025
$2.1M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 20% of the organizations Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 31% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $16k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentArts & CultureAnimalsHealthEducationInternationalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving23$91k30%
FY202420$52k20%
FY202316$33k19%
FY202211$31k64%
FY202131$118k6%
FY202028$104k7%
FY201933$143k12%
FY201863$304k83%
98% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$210kArts & Culture$179kHealth$145kEnvironment$110kFood & Nutrition$93kHuman Services$57kRecreation & Sports$53kAnimals$47kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
VT
NH
NY
MA
CA
UT
MD
DC
AL
TX
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 74 grantees
All grantees of Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Village Health Works$105,00060%
Thetford Academy$105,00050%
Vermont Public Radio$67,50050%
Upper Valley Haven$55,00070%
Upper Valley Trails Alliance$46,00084%
President and Fellows of Middlebury College$36,00090%
Upper Valley Music Center Inc$34,00051%
Upper Valley Agricultural Association Inc$25,00013%
Vermont Foodbank$24,00040%
New Hampshire Public Radio Inc$18,00050%
Vermont Land Trust Inc$16,00070%
Vermont Institute of Natural Science Inc$15,00070%
Willing Hands Enterprises Inc$14,00060%
Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation$13,50030%
Upper Valley Land Trust Inc$13,00040%
Vermont Natural Resources Council Inc$12,50020%
Wild Earth Society Incorporated$12,50020%
Mountain Lake Public Telecommunications$11,50050%
Southern Poverty Law Center Inc$10,00010%
Northern Forest Center Inc$9,50050%
Vermont Journalism Trust Ltd$9,00040%
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc$8,50010%
Vermont Public Co$7,50020%
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College Foundation Inc$7,50030%
Montshire Museum of Science Inc$6,00040%
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health$5,50010%
Upper Valley Humane Society Inc$5,50040%
Dartmouth Health Home Care Inc$5,00040%
CraftStudies Inc$5,00012%
Multiplier$5,00010%
Hubbard Brook Research Foundation$3,75021%
Kind Inc$3,50010%
Vermont Law School$3,50040%
Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity Inc$3,00011%
Good Neighbor Health Clinic Inc$3,00020%
Cover Home Repair Inc$2,75020%
Sterling College$2,75020%
Gulf of Maine Research Institute$2,50030%
Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium$2,50040%
Hispanic Federation Inc$2,50010%
Town of Thetford$2,2101n/a
Headrest Inc$2,0002n/a
Alaska Wilderness League$1,50010%
The Trust for Public Land$1,50020%
Open Space Institute Inc$1,50010%
Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital$1,50010%
Houston Humane Society$1,50010%
Upper Valley Hostel Inc$1,50010%
The Kilham Bear Center Inc$1,25020%
Thetford Library Federation Inc$1,15021%
Vermont Woodlands Association$1,05050%
Northern Stage Company$1,00010%
Showing Up for Racial Justice Inc$1,00010%
Moving Windmills Project Inc$1,00010%
Humane Society of Ventura County$1,00010%
Hias Inc$1,00010%
Sanibel Sea School Inc$1,00010%
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc$1,00010%
Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc$1,00010%
Humane World for Animals International$1,00010%
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences$1,00010%
Lebanon Opera House Improvement Corp$90040%
The Family Place Inc$9002n/a
Medomak Valley Land Trust$50010%
Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society Inc$50020%
Midcoast Conservancy$50010%
Northeast Kingdom Astronomy Foundation Inc$5001n/a
David's House Inc$45020%
Safeline Inc$25010%
Natural Resources Defense Council Inc$25010%
Parish Players Inc$2251n/a
Norwich Historical Society$22510%
Atlantic Salmon Federation (US) Inc$15010%
Norwich Public Library Association$15010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 25 recipients with no EIN on record ($219k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetVillage Health Works: $105,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetThetford Academy: $105,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetVermont Public Radio: $67,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetUpper Valley Haven: $55,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetUpper Valley Trails Alliance: $46,000 over 8y, 3.6% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $36,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUpper Valley Music Center Inc: $34,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetUpper Valley Agricultural Association Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetVermont Foodbank: $24,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNew Hampshire Public Radio Inc: $18,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetVermont Land Trust Inc: $16,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetVermont Institute of Natural Science Inc: $15,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetWilling Hands Enterprises Inc: $14,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetPartners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: $13,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUpper Valley Land Trust Inc: $13,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetVermont Natural Resources Council Inc: $12,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWild Earth Society Incorporated: $12,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMountain Lake Public Telecommunications: $11,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetSouthern Poverty Law Center Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthern Forest Center Inc: $9,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetVermont Journalism Trust Ltd: $9,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc: $8,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVermont Public Co: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Vermont and State Agricultural College Foundation Inc: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMontshire Museum of Science Inc: $6,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDartmouth-Hitchcock Health: $5,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUpper Valley Humane Society Inc: $5,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDartmouth Health Home Care Inc: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCraftStudies Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetMultiplier: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHubbard Brook Research Foundation: $3,750 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetKind Inc: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVermont Law School: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUpper Valley Habitat for Humanity Inc: $3,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGood Neighbor Health Clinic Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCover Home Repair Inc: $2,750 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSterling College: $2,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGulf of Maine Research Institute: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFairbanks Museum & Planetarium: $2,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHispanic Federation Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAlaska Wilderness League: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trust for Public Land: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOpen Space Institute Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHouston Humane Society: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUpper Valley Hostel Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetThe Kilham Bear Center Inc: $1,250 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThetford Library Federation Inc: $1,150 over 2y, 0.7% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 69.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Vermont Community FoundationVT54.2× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Vermont Community Foundation · New Hampshire Charitable Foundation · The Couch Family Foundation · Mascoma Bank Foundation · Emily Landecker Foundation Inc · Hypertherm Hope Foundation Inc · Claremont Savings Bank Foundation · Ben & Jerry's Foundation Inc · Lane & Elizabeth C Dwinell Fdn · The Help for People Foundation · The Stannard & Dorothy Dunn Charitable Trust · Lintilhac Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Compare Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

About Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation

How much does Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation give?
Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation reported 23 grants totaling $91,200 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 63 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (21%), Arts & Culture (18%), Health (15%).
Who are Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Village Health Works ($105k), Thetford Academy ($105k), Vermont Public Radio ($68k).
Does Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 20% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Vermont Community Foundation, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, The Couch Family Foundation.
Where is Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation based?
Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation is based in VT.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 103 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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