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Norman F Sprague Jr Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Norman F Sprague Jr 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.

$684k
Granted FY2025still arriving
49
Grants FY2025still arriving
11
States reached
$66k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Education$1.5MPhilanthropy$913kHealth$486kArts & Culture$275kYouth Development$90kEnvironment$86kFood & Nutrition$65kInternational$37kOther$0
02FY2025 · 49 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k22 grants · $104k
  • $10k–50k24 grants · $399k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $180k
$10,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$11M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CATE SCHOOL$66,000
HARVARD WESTLAKE SCHOOL$64,333
SAINT JOHN'S HEALTH CENTER FOUNDATION$50,000
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES$40,000
BANDON SCHOOL DISTRICT$35,000
GREAT BEGINNINGS MONTESSORY SCHOOL$30,000
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART$25,000
HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE$25,000
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION$20,000
LAS MADRINAS$20,000
GOOD NEIGHBORS FOOD BANK$20,000
Individual grant recipient$16,750
GABRIELLA CHARTER SCHOOL$15,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$15,000
MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL$13,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY25–25, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HAVEN: $5k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
MT
IL
NY
MA
OR
WY
OH
CT
CA
DC
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.6M · 51 repeat orgs$159k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +12% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

51 repeat relationships: 42 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

51
12

Total granted

$2.6M
$140k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+5%

Still filing today

65%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyEnvironmentRecreation & SportsOther
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • CATE SCHOOL
    4× · 2022–2025 · $404k · revenue +17%
  • CH
    Children's Hospital Los Angeles
    4× · 2022–2025 · $154k · revenue +23%
  • THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER
    3× · 2023–2025 · $109k · revenue +18%

Funded once

  • TH
    THE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOL
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +5%
  • THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +1%
  • AI
    ATULA INSTITUTE FOR ARTS
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Pitzer College

Pitzer College produces engaged socially responsible citizens of the world through an academically rigorous, interdisciplinary liberal arts education emphasizing social justice, intercultural understanding and environmental sensitivity.…

Education
2
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
4
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
Western University of Health Sciences

To produce, in a humanistic tradition, health care professionals and biomedical knowledge that will enhance and extend the quality of life in our communities.

—
7
Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University prepares individuals to be leaders for positive change in the world. Unique in its transdisciplinary approach, the University is dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and application of new knowledge and…

Education
8
The Waverly School

The waverly school is a nonsectarian, coeducational, college preparatory progressive day school that spans preschool through high school. it is fully accredited by the western association of school and colleges and the california…

Education
9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
10
Explorer West an Independent Middle School

We empower young people to explore and grow their unique intellectual, ethical, and creative capabilities, and to treasure diversity and growth in others.

Education
11
The Buckley School

The buckley school is a dynamic, nurturing learning community committed to equity and inclusion. our innovative teachers and challenging programs inspire creativity, courage, and collaboration. by promoting a balanced development of mind,…

—
12
Association of California School Administrators

The association serves its members by creating resources that enable california school administrators to develop and apply creative leadership and management skills and in turn, improve the educational process for all students.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Saint John's Health Center Foundation; the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 70 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/44
Grantees still filing
29/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CATE SCHOOL: $403,500 · EducationCATE SCHOOLHARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL: $231,266 · EducationHARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOLHarvey Mudd College: $168,283 · EducationHarvey Mudd CollegeTHE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER: $108,500 · EducationTHE COLLEGE OF WOOSTERMARLBOROUGH SCHOOL: $48,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $47,000 · EducationGABRIELLA CHARTER SCHOOLS: $45,000 · Education+7 more: $114,000 · Education+7 moreLAS MADRINAS: $145,000 · OtherLAS MADRINASBANDON SCHOOL DISTRICT: $140,000 · OtherBANDON SCHOOL DISTRICTIndividual grant recipient: $75,350 · OtherIndividual grant recipientGOOD NEIGHBORS FOOD BANK: $65,000 · OtherGOOD NEIGHBORS FOOD BANKGREAT BEGINNINGS MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $50,500 · OtherSPRAGUE COMMUNITY THEATER: $40,000 · OtherCOOS HISTORY MUSEUM: $40,000 · OtherCOAST COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER: $40,000 · OtherWASHED ASHOREARTULA INSTITUTE FOR ARTS: $35,000 · OtherST MATTHEW'S PARISH SCHOOL: $33,000 · Other+27 more: $311,967 · Other+27 moreChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $154,000 · HealthChildren's…SAINT JOHN'S HEALTH CENTER FOUNDATION: $57,000 · HealthSAINT JOHN…Southern Coos Health Foundation: $40,000 · HealthSouthern C…STRIPPING FOR A CURE: $15,000 · HealthSTRIPPING …GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $95,000 · PhilanthropyCURRY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $30,000 · PhilanthropyTHE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 · PhilanthropyEagle Mount: $10,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $50,000 · Arts & CulturePORTLAND ART MUSEUM: $41,000 · Arts & CultureOREGON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: $32,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL MUSEUM OF WILDLIFE ART OF THE UNITED STATES: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $1,167 · Arts & CultureBandon Community Youth Center Inc: $40,000 · Recreation & SportsFOUR WINDS: $28,500 · Recreation & SportsGALLATIN VALLEY LAND TRUST: $33,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $25,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE BRIDGER-TETON: $10,000 · Environment
Education$1,165,549Other$975,817Health$266,000Philanthropy$160,000Arts & Culture$149,167Recreation & Sports$68,500Environment$68,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCATE SCHOOL: $403,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetHARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL: $231,266 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetHarvey Mudd College: $168,283 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $154,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLAS MADRINAS: $145,000 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetTHE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER: $108,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $95,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetSAINT JOHN'S HEALTH CENTER FOUNDATION: $57,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREAT BEGINNINGS MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $50,500 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMARLBOROUGH SCHOOL: $48,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $47,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGABRIELLA CHARTER SCHOOLS: $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPORTLAND ART MUSEUM: $41,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBandon Community Youth Center Inc: $40,000 over 4y, 7.3% of budgetSouthern Coos Health Foundation: $40,000 over 4y, 8.1% of budgetGALLATIN VALLEY LAND TRUST: $33,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetOREGON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: $32,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCURRY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetTHRIVE SCHOLARS: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFOUR WINDS: $28,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF WILDLIFE ART OF THE UNITED STATES: $25,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSt Anne School: $22,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBIG SKY YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT INC: $21,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $17,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUPWARD BOUND HOUSE: $15,300 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSTRIPPING FOR A CURE: $15,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEagle Mount: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE BRIDGER-TETON: $10,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBRIGHT PROSPECT: $7,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $6,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBozeman Deaconess Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHP 11-99 FOUNDATION: $3,700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION: $1,167 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds CATE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds Harvey Mudd College ↗
  • Who funds Children's Hospital Los Angeles ↗
  • Who funds LAS MADRINAS ↗
  • Who funds THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER ↗
  • Who funds GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SAINT JOHN'S HEALTH CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GREAT BEGINNINGS MONTESSORI SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM ASSOCIATES ↗
  • Who funds MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds GABRIELLA CHARTER SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds PORTLAND ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds Bandon Community Youth Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds Southern Coos Health Foundation ↗
  • Who funds GALLATIN VALLEY LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds OREGON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY ↗
  • Who funds CURRY HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THRIVE SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds FOUR WINDS ↗
  • Who funds THE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WILDLIFE ART OF THE UNITED STATES ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND ↗
  • Who funds St Anne School ↗
  • Who funds BIG SKY YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds International Rescue Committee INC ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY ↗

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.

Caryll M & Norman F S…The Bessemer Giving F…The Oregon Community …California Community …The San Francisco Fou…Community Foundation …The Annenberg Foundat…Orange County Communi…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…United Way WorldwideGs Donor Advised Phil…
Caryll M & Norman F Sprague Jr FoundationCA26.3× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Caryll M & Norman F Sprague Jr Foundation · The Bessemer Giving Fund · The Oregon Community Foundation · California Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Community Foundation of Jackson Hole · The Annenberg Foundation · Orange County Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · United Way Worldwide · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Norman F Sprague Jr Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Norman F Sprague Jr Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Oregon Museum of Science and Industry: 4% of income from government
  • The Oregon Community Foundation: 2% of income from government
  • Bandon Community Youth Center Inc: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
  • Portland Art Museum: 1% of income from government
  • Great Beginnings Montessori School: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Norman F Sprague Jr Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Norman F Sprague Jr 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.

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 70 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

Play a game based on Norman F Sprague Jr’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home