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Sdsn Association Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Sdsn Association Inc

The SDSN Association works to mobilize the world's universities for action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement; empower societies through free online education; and translate scientific evidence and ideas into solutions and accountability.

$917k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$519k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Sdsn Association Inc’s FY2025 grant dollars went to The Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

2
’17
3
’18
5
’19
2
’20
2
’21
1
’22
0
’23
0
’24
0
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$3.1MHealth$985kEnvironment$985kInternational$164kScience & Tech$21kCommunity Improvement$7kHousing & Shelter$5k
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $518,899, the rows itemized in this filing. The $916,690 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $397,791 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$518,899
Median grant
1
States reached
$6.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Columbia University$518,899
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%EVOLVED ENERGY RESEARCH: $16k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO: $76k → 11%MAYOR'S FUND FOR LOS ANGELES: $5k → 14%MILLENNIUM PROMISE ALLIANCE INC: $66k → 17%COMMUNITY SYSTEMS FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%YALE UNIVERSITY: $149k → 12%CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $21k → 7%OPEN DATA WATCH INC: $8k → 8%EVOLVED ENERGY RESEARCH: $5k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO: $68k → 11%MILLENNIUM PROMISE ALLIANCE INC: $64k → 17%COMMUNITY SYSTEMS FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%YALE UNIVERSITY: $114k → 12%CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $12k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO: $5k → 11%Millennium Promise Alliance Inc: $24k → 17%YALE UNIVERSITY: $95k → 12%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 17%YALE UNIVERSITY: $76k → 12%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $897k → 17%Columbia University: $519k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $502k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $484k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $359k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $335k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $314k → 17%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.

Grants abroad, by region: $398k on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 4 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$336k · 84% · 5 grants

Stated purpose: IIASA - will support the activities of the consortium, including, but not limited to, the technical assistance, training, and development of the FABLE tools, analysis, and products · Agreement with PAS to host 4 events in support of the Fraternal Economy of Integral and Sustainable Development initiative · To undertake the following specific activities as part of the Pathfinder 2 project: (1) Mapping and Analysis; (2) Identification of Complementarity and Gaps; (3) Stakeholder Engagement; and (4) Scale Up and Dissemination.

East Asia and the Pacific$39k · 10% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: IKI long-term strategies project

Central America and the Caribbean$16k · 4% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: Provide technical and analytical support to the Ethiopian government, specifically the FDRE Ministry of Planning and Development, for updating their NDC (NDC 3.0).

North America (Canada and Mexico)$7k · 2% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: World Happiness Report

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 59% of Sdsn Association Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 87% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 29%.

Sdsn Association Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 46% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
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.
$366k · 5 repeat orgs$20k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2022, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
3

Total granted

$366k
$20k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+134%

Still filing today

60%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22
InternationalEnvironmentEducationPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TM
    THE MILLENNIUM PROMISE ALLIANCE INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $154k · revenue -61%
  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO
    3× · 2020–2022 · $148k
  • CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION
    2× · 2020–2021 · $33k · revenue +94%

Funded once

  • OD
    OPEN DATA WATCH INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $8k · revenue +134%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK
    one grant, 2017 · $7k
  • TM
    THE MAYOR'S FUND FOR LOS ANGELESgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +45%
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
05the grantee network

7 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. 7 of the 10 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
7/7
Grantees still filing
6/7
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $4,420,851 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORKYale University: $433,548 · EducationYale University+1 more: $8,250 · EducationREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO: $148,318 · OtherEVOLVED ENERGY RESEARCH LLC: $21,400 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $6,664 · OtherTHE MILLENNIUM PROMISE ALLIANCE INC: $154,002 · InternationalCOMMUNITY SYSTEMS FOUNDATION: $9,870 · InternationalCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $32,750 · EnvironmentTHE MAYOR'S FUND FOR LOS ANGELES: $5,000 · Philanthropy
Education$4,862,649Other$176,382International$163,872Environment$32,750Philanthropy$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $4,420,851 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetYale University: $433,548 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MILLENNIUM PROMISE ALLIANCE INC: $154,002 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $32,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOPEN DATA WATCH INC: $8,250 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetTHE MAYOR'S FUND FOR LOS ANGELES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Sdsn Association Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sdsn Association Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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.

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 10 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 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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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