Arizona · Private foundation
John Sperling Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $3.8M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 19
- Grants FY2024
- 19
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 16%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $100,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $1,000,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 2 to 25
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 7
- Total assets, FY2024
- $80M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 16% of the organizations John Sperling Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 1% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $43k 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 16 | $3.6M | 25% |
| FY2023 | 19 | $3.1M | 16% |
| FY2022 | 19 | $3.1M | 42% |
| FY2021 | 25 | $2.5M | 56% |
| FY2020 | 14 | $2.2M | 100% |
| FY2017 | 2 | $167k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earthjustice | $4,200,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Western Environmental Law Center | $2,500,000 | 5 | 14% |
| American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc | $1,700,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Center for Science in the Public Interest | $1,500,000 | 5 | 2% |
| Environmental Working Group | $900,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Inc | $550,000 | 5 | 2% |
| Institute of Noetic Sciences | $465,000 | 5 | 4% |
| National Forest Foundation | $450,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Civic Nation | $250,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Feeding America | $225,000 | 2 | 0% |
Show all 41 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 4 recipients with no EIN on record ($185k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
John Sperling Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 40 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
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 New York Community Trust · The Ford Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Susan Crown Exchange Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Tides Foundation · New Venture Fund · The Chicago Community Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to John Sperling Foundation?
Find your warmest path to John Sperling 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 John Sperling Foundation
- How much does John Sperling Foundation give?
- John Sperling Foundation reported 19 grants totaling $3,755,000 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 25 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does John Sperling Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Environment (56%), Food & Nutrition (17%), Civil Rights (11%).
- Who are John Sperling Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Earthjustice ($4.2M), Western Environmental Law Center ($2.5M), American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc ($1.7M).
- Does John Sperling Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 16% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does John Sperling 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 John Sperling Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The New York Community Trust, The Ford Foundation, Marin Community Foundation.
- Where is John Sperling Foundation based?
- John Sperling Foundation is based in AZ.
Play a game based on John Sperling’s filings →