California · Private foundation
Helen Sperry Lea Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $134k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 11
- Grants FY2025
- 11
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 27%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $30,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 15
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 4
- Total assets, FY2025
- $1.6M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 27% of the organizations Helen Sperry Lea Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 19% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $22k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 11 | $134k | 0% |
| FY2024 | 11 | $113k | 27% |
| FY2023 | 12 | $125k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 13 | $144k | 0% |
| FY2021 | 14 | $124k | 7% |
| FY2020 | 15 | $128k | 20% |
| FY2019 | 15 | $128k | 27% |
| FY2018 | 13 | $115k | 15% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Wooden Floor for Youth Movement | $211,377 | 9 | 1% |
| Project for Pride in Living Inc | $143,576 | 9 | 0% |
| Second Harvest Heartland | $122,320 | 9 | 0% |
| Simpson Housing Services Inc | $114,576 | 7 | 0% |
| Music Academy of the West | $98,000 | 9 | 0% |
| Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc | $70,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Center for Teaching Peace Inc | $35,377 | 5 | 20% |
| Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts | $29,035 | 6 | 0% |
| Urban Boatbuilders Inc | $19,100 | 7 | 0% |
| Walk-In Counseling Center Inc | $17,500 | 9 | 1% |
Show all 17 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Wooden Floor for Youth Movement | $211,377 | 9 | 1% |
| Project for Pride in Living Inc | $143,576 | 9 | 0% |
| Second Harvest Heartland | $122,320 | 9 | 0% |
| Simpson Housing Services Inc | $114,576 | 7 | 0% |
| Music Academy of the West | $98,000 | 9 | 0% |
| Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc | $70,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Center for Teaching Peace Inc | $35,377 | 5 | 20% |
| Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts | $29,035 | 6 | 0% |
| Urban Boatbuilders Inc | $19,100 | 7 | 0% |
| Walk-In Counseling Center Inc | $17,500 | 9 | 1% |
| Esalen Institute | $13,116 | 4 | 0% |
| St Paul Academy and Summit School | $10,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Friends of the Mississippi River | $8,071 | 5 | 0% |
| Venice Family Clinic | $6,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Juxtaposition Arts Inc | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Lange Foundation | $2,704 | 2 | 0% |
| Heal the Bay | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 11 recipients with no EIN on record ($227k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Helen Sperry Lea Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The K Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Fr Bigelow Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Helen Sperry Lea Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Helen Sperry Lea 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 Helen Sperry Lea Foundation
- How much does Helen Sperry Lea Foundation give?
- Helen Sperry Lea Foundation reported 11 grants totaling $133,509 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 15 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Helen Sperry Lea Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (33%), Housing & Shelter (23%), Food & Nutrition (11%).
- Who are Helen Sperry Lea Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: The Wooden Floor for Youth Movement ($211k), Project for Pride in Living Inc ($144k), Second Harvest Heartland ($122k).
- Does Helen Sperry Lea Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 27% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Helen Sperry Lea Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Helen Sperry Lea Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The K Foundation, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation.
- Where is Helen Sperry Lea Foundation based?
- Helen Sperry Lea Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on Helen Sperry Lea’s filings →