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Utah · Private foundation

Lightspark 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.

$413k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
41
Grants FY2025
38
Organizations funded FY2024
34%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$5,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$99,018
Organizations funded a year
9 to 38
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
5
Total assets, FY2025
$6.8M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 34% of the organizations Lightspark Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 40% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $133k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’23’24
Human ServicesArts & CultureCrime & LegalCivil RightsInternationalEnvironmentOther
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 arriving41$413k24%
FY202438$328k34%
FY202338$317k97%
FY20219$548k100%
FY202022$53kn/a
98% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Food & Nutrition$559kArts & Culture$217kPublic Benefit$175kCivil Rights$140kYouth Development$122kCommunity Improvement$87kCrime & Legal$62kHuman Services$59kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
MO
VA
AZ
NC
DC
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Impact Guild Inc$149,018325%
Wasteless Solutions Inc$30,00031%
The Other Side Academy$30,00020%
Women of the World$25,04831%
Chicanos Por la Causa Inc Cplc$25,00010%
Strategic Victory Fund Ie PAC$25,0001n/a
The Creative Coalition$25,00012%
Focus for Democracy Fund$25,00010%
Utah Clean Energy Alliance Inc$20,83430%
Veterans for All Voters$20,00012%
Show all 40 grantees
All grantees of Lightspark Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Impact Guild Inc$149,018325%
Wasteless Solutions Inc$30,00031%
The Other Side Academy$30,00020%
Women of the World$25,04831%
Chicanos Por la Causa Inc Cplc$25,00010%
Strategic Victory Fund Ie PAC$25,0001n/a
The Creative Coalition$25,00012%
Focus for Democracy Fund$25,00010%
Utah Clean Energy Alliance Inc$20,83430%
Veterans for All Voters$20,00012%
O2 Utah Foundation$20,00034%
The Road Home$15,00030%
Utah Investigative Journalism Project$15,00026%
Immigrant Legal Services$15,00031%
Utah Donor Collaborative$15,0001n/a
International Rescue Committee INC$14,00020%
Salt Lake Academy of Music$14,00031%
Young Women's Christian Association of Utah$11,00030%
Catholic Community Services of Utah$10,5003n/a
Wasatch Homeless Health Care$10,50030%
Sound Support Foundation$10,0001n/a
Urban Rural Action$10,00011%
Equality Utah$10,0002n/a
Comunidades Unidas$7,50020%
American Civil Liberties Union of Utah$7,50031%
Spy Hop Productions$7,00030%
Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah$6,50030%
Utah Food Bank$6,00030%
And Justice for All$6,00030%
Critical Resistance$6,00030%
En Garde Arts Inc$5,00011%
Contentment Foundation$5,00010%
OTV Open Television Inc$5,00012%
Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection$5,00010%
Wasatch Community Gardens$5,00010%
Salt Lake Community College$3,5002n/a
Utah Children$3,0001n/a
Westminster University$2,50010%
Columbus House Inc$2,50010%
Community Initiatives$1,00010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 51 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.0M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Lightspark Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 33 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetImpact Guild Inc: $149,018 over 3y, 25% of budgetWasteless Solutions Inc: $30,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetThe Other Side Academy: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWomen of the World: $25,048 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetChicanos Por la Causa Inc Cplc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Creative Coalition: $25,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetFocus for Democracy Fund: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUtah Clean Energy Alliance Inc: $20,834 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetVeterans for All Voters: $20,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetO2 Utah Foundation: $20,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetThe Road Home: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUtah Investigative Journalism Project: $15,000 over 2y, 6.2% of budgetImmigrant Legal Services: $15,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $14,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSalt Lake Academy of Music: $14,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetYoung Women's Christian Association of Utah: $11,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWasatch Homeless Health Care: $10,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUrban Rural Action: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetComunidades Unidas: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Utah: $7,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetSpy Hop Productions: $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHealthy Environment Alliance of Utah: $6,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetUtah Food Bank: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAnd Justice for All: $6,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCritical Resistance: $6,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetEn Garde Arts Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetContentment Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetOTV Open Television Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetCache Refugee and Immigrant Connection: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWasatch Community Gardens: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWestminster University: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetColumbus House Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCommunity Initiatives: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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 33.

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.

Sorenson Legacy FoundationUT31.6× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sorenson Legacy Foundation · The Community Foundation of Utah · George S and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation · McCarthey Family Foundation · Larry H Miller and Gail Miller Family Foundation · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Hemingway Foundation · Lawrence & Janet Dee Foundation · Kanter Family Foundation · Willard L Eccles Charitable Foundation · Intermountain Community Care Foundation Inc · David Kelby Johnson Memorial Foundation

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 Lightspark Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Lightspark Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Lightspark 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 Lightspark Foundation

How much does Lightspark Foundation give?
Lightspark Foundation reported 41 grants totaling $413,018 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 38 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does Lightspark Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Food & Nutrition (34%), Arts & Culture (13%), Public Benefit (11%).
Who are Lightspark Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Impact Guild Inc ($149k), Wasteless Solutions Inc ($30k), The Other Side Academy ($30k).
Does Lightspark Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 34% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Lightspark 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 Lightspark Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Sorenson Legacy Foundation, The Community Foundation of Utah, George S and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation.
Where is Lightspark Foundation based?
Lightspark Foundation is based in UT.

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 91 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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