North Carolina · Private foundation
Sterling 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.
- $64k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 25
- Grants FY2025
- 21
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 52%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $2,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $8,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 5 to 21
- FY2020 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 13
- Total assets, FY2025
- $468k
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 52% of the organizations Sterling Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 45% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 55% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $67k 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 25 | $64k | 56% |
| FY2024 | 21 | $148k | 52% |
| FY2023 | 14 | $40k | 29% |
| FY2022 | 10 | $32k | 40% |
| FY2021 | 9 | $17k | 67% |
| FY2020 | 5 | $15k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
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, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Linn Haven Inc | $54,200 | 3 | 4% |
| Mountainside Lutheran Church | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Sports Quest | $32,500 | 6 | 2% |
| Africa Inland Mission International Incorporated | $23,000 | 5 | n/a |
| Reaching Avery Ministry | $18,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Concordia Theological Seminary | $16,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Samaritan's Purse | $8,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Lutheran Bible Translators Inc | $6,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Purpose Driven Connection DBA Pastor Ricks Daily Hope | $4,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Linc Ministries International Inc | $4,000 | 4 | n/a |
Show all 29 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Linn Haven Inc | $54,200 | 3 | 4% |
| Mountainside Lutheran Church | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Sports Quest | $32,500 | 6 | 2% |
| Africa Inland Mission International Incorporated | $23,000 | 5 | n/a |
| Reaching Avery Ministry | $18,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Concordia Theological Seminary | $16,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Samaritan's Purse | $8,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Lutheran Bible Translators Inc | $6,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Purpose Driven Connection DBA Pastor Ricks Daily Hope | $4,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Linc Ministries International Inc | $4,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Onehope Inc | $4,000 | 1 | n/a |
| St Labre Indian School | $3,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Children's Cup | $3,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc | $3,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Multiplication Network Ministries | $2,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Missio Christi Network | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Children's Hunger Fund | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Hope and Care Outreach | $2,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Christian Aid Mission | $1,500 | 1 | n/a |
| Open Doors With Brother Andrew Inc | $1,500 | 2 | n/a |
| Bread of Life Rescue Mission | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
| American Bible Society | $1,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Childcare Worldwide | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
| There's Hope for the Hungry Inc | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Compassion International Incorporated | $1,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Prison Alliance Inc | $1,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Good Shepherd India | $1,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Slavic Gospel Association | $1,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Crossnore Communities for Children | $500 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 15 recipients with no EIN on record ($67k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Sterling Foundation supplied at peak.
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 Bolick Foundation · Servant Foundation · Thrivent Charitable Impact & Investing · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Thrivent Financial for Lutherans · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sterling Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sterling 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 Sterling Foundation
- How much does Sterling Foundation give?
- Sterling Foundation reported 25 grants totaling $64,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 5 and 21 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
- What does Sterling Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Religion (47%), Recreation & Sports (27%), Human Services (7%).
- Who are Sterling Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Camp Linn Haven Inc ($54k), Mountainside Lutheran Church ($50k), Sports Quest ($33k).
- Does Sterling Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 52% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Sterling 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 Sterling Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Bolick Foundation, Servant Foundation, Thrivent Charitable Impact & Investing.
- Where is Sterling Foundation based?
- Sterling Foundation is based in NC.
Play a game based on Sterling’s filings →