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Robert R Sprague Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Robert R Sprague 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.

$1.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
19
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$160k
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$1.2MHealth$1.1MPhilanthropy$528kHuman Services$453kArts & Culture$450kHousing & Shelter$390kInternational$175kAnimals$165kOther$0
02FY2025 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k10 grants · $174k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $845k
$30,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION ORANGE COUNT$160,000
CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$110,000
THE UCLA FOUNDATION$100,000
MANHATTAN BEACH EDUCATION FOUNDATIO$100,000
THE GUIBOARD CENTER$100,000
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVER$100,000
HOUSING WORKS$75,000
THE MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDAT$50,000
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES$50,000
HERMOSA BEACH EDUCATION FOUNDATION$30,000
CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY - PASADENA$20,000
PACIFIC ELEMENTARY$20,000
MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER$20,000
SURFRIDER FOUNDATION$20,000
KING HARBOR YOUTH FOUNDATION$20,000
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 (FY21–23, $105k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JACARANDA FOUNDATION: $25k → 17%JACARANDA FOUNDATION: $25k → 17%JACARANDA FOUNDATION: $25k → 17%PEACE4KIDS: $10k → 14%PEACE4KIDS: $10k → 14%WALK WITH SALLY: $10k → 14%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.
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.7M · 26 repeat orgs$203k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
9

Total granted

$3.7M
$173k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+5%

Still filing today

65%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
HealthInternationalHuman ServicesEducationAnimalsPhilanthropyOther
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

  • HW
    HOUSING WORKS
    5× · 2021–2025 · $375k · revenue +65%
  • CH
    Children's Hospital Los Angeles
    5× · 2021–2025 · $250k · revenue +34%
  • MB
    MANHATTAN BEACH EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $160k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +5%
  • GLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -40%
  • COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -6%
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
University of California Irvine Foundation

The mission of the university of california, irvine foundation (uc irvine foundation) is to raise and manage private funds to support uc irvine's broader mission of excellence in teaching, research and public service. to this end, the uc…

Education
2
Uc Santa Barbara Foundation

The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…

Education
3
California Healthcare Foundation

Chcf is dedicated to advancing meaningful, measurable improvements in the way the health care delivery system provides care to the people of california, particularly those with low incomes and those whose needs are not well served by the…

—
4
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
5
League of California Community Foundations

The league of california community foundations promotes and strengthens community foundations in california. through collaboration and shared learning among member foundations and building partnerships with private and public entities, we…

Philanthropy
6
Uc Riverside Foundation

To support educational, research and public functions and programs of the riverside campus of the university of california.

Education
7
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.

—
8
California Ocean Science Trust

California ocean science trust (ost) is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress towards a healthy and productive ocean future for california. created by state legislation, ost bridges the gap between cutting-edge…

Environment
9
The Ocean Foundation

As the only community foundation for the ocean, The Ocean Foundation's 501(c)(3) mission is to improve global ocean health, climate resilience, and the blue economy. We create partnerships to connect people in the communities in which we…

Environment
10
South Central Family Health Center

To improve the quality of life for the diverse communities we serve providing affordable and comprehensive healthcare and education in a welcoming multi-cultural environment.

Health
11
California State University Long Beach Research Foundation

Serves the mission of the university by supporting and engaging in research, entrepreneurship, community service, sponsored programs and the acquisition of private resources.

Education
12
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is California Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Jacaranda Foundation 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

28 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 28 of the 39 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)
28/28
Grantees still filing
17/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVER: $500,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERTHE GUIBOARD CENTER: $450,000 · OtherTHE GUIBOARD CENTERMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OCINLAND EMP: $337,500 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OCINLAND EMPTHE MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDAT: $250,000 · OtherTHE MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATAMERICA FOUNDATION SUICIDE PREVENTI: $100,000 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH GREATER LOS ANGELES: $95,000 · OtherKING HARBOR YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $80,000 · Other+17 more: $547,000 · Other+17 moreMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF ORANGE COUNTY AND THE INLAND EMPIRE INC: $320,000 · HealthMAKE-A-WISH FO…Children's Hospital Los Angeles: $250,000 · HealthChildren's Hos…BLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $40,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER U…+1 more: $10,000 · HealthUCLA FOUNDATION: $350,000 · EducationUCLA FOUNDATI…MANHATTAN BEACH EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $160,000 · EducationMANHATTAN BEA…ECHOES OF HOPE: $30,000 · EducationECHOES OF HOP…SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $20,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $525,000 · PhilanthropyCALIFORNIA C…+2 more: $17,500 · PhilanthropyHOUSING WORKS: $375,000 · Housing & ShelterANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL INC US: $85,000 · AnimalsMARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER LOS ANGELES: $80,000 · AnimalsTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $110,000 · Environment
Other$2,359,500Health$620,000Education$560,000Philanthropy$542,500Housing & Shelter$375,000Animals$165,000Environment$110,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $525,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHOUSING WORKS: $375,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $350,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF ORANGE COUNTY AND THE INLAND EMPIRE INC: $320,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $250,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMANHATTAN BEACH EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $160,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $110,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL INC US: $85,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetMARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER LOS ANGELES: $80,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetKING HARBOR YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $80,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetJACARANDA FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetHERMOSA BEACH EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $70,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetCANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY GREATER SAN GABRIEL VALLEY: $60,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetECHOES OF HOPE: $30,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetTHE PAINTED TURTLE: $30,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEACE 4 KIDS: $20,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSKID ROW HOUSING TRUST: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWALK WITH SALLY: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCRYSTAL COVE CONSERVANCY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYOUNG & HEALTHY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSOUTH BAY FRIENDS FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 5.1% 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.

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.

California Community …Pasadena Community Fo…The Ralph M Parsons F…The Annenberg Foundat…Sempra FoundationThe Rose Hills Founda…The Ahmanson Foundati…Greater HorizonsThe William C Bannerm…S Mark Taper Foundati…Kayne Anderson Capita…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…
California Community FoundationCA20.8× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · Pasadena Community Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · Sempra Foundation · The Rose Hills Foundation · The Ahmanson Foundation · Greater Horizons · The William C Bannerman Foundation · S Mark Taper Foundation · Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 Robert R Sprague Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Robert R Sprague 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 39 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 Robert R Sprague’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