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Sunstone Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sunstone Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$946k
Granted FY2024still arriving
102
Grants FY2024still arriving
27
States reached
$174k
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Education$935kHuman Services$319kYouth Development$147kArts & Culture$99kHealth$58kRecreation & Sports$50kCommunity Improvement$41kEnvironment$31kOther$0
02FY2024 · 102 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k80 grants · $231k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $409k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $306k
$3,789
Median grant
27
States reached
$474k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP$173,759
BOOK FAIRIES INC$77,185
GOVERNORS EARLY LITERACY FOUNDATION$55,000
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL PITTSBURG$35,000
TREEHOUSE$35,000
LAMBERT HOUSE$29,612
READING QUEST$25,000
BAND TOGETHER$25,000
SPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTH CAROLINA INC$25,000
SHADOW PROJECT$25,000
EVERYONES DREAM COME TRUE$25,000
NORTH CAROLINA BUSINESS LEADERS FOR EDUCATION$25,000
PROMISING PAGES$25,000
PEAK EDUCATION$20,000
WHERE LOVE GROWS INC$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 (FY22–24, $328k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 35% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WATSON CHILDRENS SHELTER INC: $5k → 9%OLIVIA S HOUSE-A GRIEF AND LOSS CENTER FOR CHILDRE: $4k → 9%CHILDRENS BOOK PROJECT: $13k → 10%LIVE AGAIN FRESNO: $17k → 19%BOOK FAIRIES INC: $77k → 6%IDEAS FOR US: $15k → 13%LEAD TO READ INC: $5k → 8%READY KIDS FOR SCHOOL: $18k → 8%BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE OF GREENSBORO IN: $227 → 16%A PRECIOUS CHILD INC: $2k → 5%FAMILY TREE INC: $2k → 7%HOPE CENTER INC: $4k → 12%NEVADA KIDS FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 10%STEM LIBRARY LAB: $5k → 15%FOSTER THE LOVE LOUISIANA INC: $10k → 17%NATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE INC: $6k → 8%WATSON CHILDRENS SHELTER INC: $328 → 9%OLIVIA S HOUSE-A GRIEF AND LOSS CENTER FOR CHILDRE: $1k → 9%BOOK FAIRIES INC: $40k → 6%NOTE IN THE POCKET INC: $3k → 8%THE COUNCIL ON AGING OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY INC: $2k → 12%FAMILY TREE INC: $2k → 7%HOPE CENTER INC: $328 → 12%NEVADA KIDS FOUNDATION INC: $1k → 10%STEM LIBRARY LAB: $2k → 15%FOSTER THE LOVE LOUISIANA INC: $6k → 17%NATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE INC: $5k → 8%BOOK FAIRIES INC: $10k → 6%CHILDRENS CABINET INC A CHILD AND FAMILY RESOURCE: $6k → 10%BOOK FAIRIES INC: $4k → 6%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: $27k → 14%COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA INC: $1k → 8%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: $959 → 14%KIDS CROSSING INC: $3k → 9%SURE PASSAGE: $173 → 9%READ AND FEED: $15k → 8%COLORADO LITERACY & LEARNING CENTER: $3k → 9%READ AND FEED: $5k → 8%READ AND FEED: $1k → 8%READ AND FEED: $682 → 8%READ AND FEED: $328 → 8%READ AND FEED: $170 → 8%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

WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

57%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 46 repeat orgs$746k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +24% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

46 repeat relationships: 46 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 31 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

46
56

Total granted

$1.0M
$250k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+4%

Still filing today

83%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $496k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureHealthPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • BF
    BOOK FAIRIES INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $131k · revenue +86%
  • SPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTH CAROLINA INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $50k · revenue +24%
  • LF
    LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
    3× · 2022–2024 · $47k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • RK
    READY KIDS FOR SCHOOL
    one grant, 2023 · $18k · revenue -33% · 80% of their budget
  • IH
    I HAVE A DREAM FOUNDATION - LOS ANGELESgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $17k · revenue +303%
  • LA
    LIVE AGAIN FRESNOgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $17k · revenue +119%
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
Bring Me a Book St Louis

Support childhood literacy

Youth Development
2
Rollins Reading Company
—
3
Read Early and Daily Read

Empower families to foster empathy, curiosity, and self-confidence in their young children through the joy of reading together every day. Provide new, quality, mirror and window books to babies and young children.

Education
4
BookSpring

Bookspring's mission is to build early literacy in children and families through healthcare, education, and the community. Please visit our website at www.bookspring.org for up-to-date information.

Education
5
Reading Results

Reading results partners with schools to support students from systemically excluded communities in becoming successful readers. we believe that literacy is a basic human right, and we work to increase access and break down barriers…

—
6
Reach Out and Read Inc

To give young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.

Education
7
Between the Pages

Between the pages empowers children to discover a life-long love of reading using books as tools to immerse economically disadvantaged and avid readers in an engaging recreation of their favorite books, fostering literacy, creative play,…

Youth Development
8
Readers 2 Leaders

To equip students for success through the power of reading.Readers 2 Leaders envisions a world where all students have equitable opportunities to thrive as readers and leaders, but it will require energy and collaboration from across the…

Youth Development
9
Read to a Child Inc

Read to a child's mission is to foster a love of reading, improve literacy skills and support socio-emotional well-being in students from under-resourced communities.

Education
10
African American Childrens Book Pro

To promote child literacy rate

Philanthropy
11
Start Lighthouse

Founded nbsp;in nbsp;bronx nbsp;ny nbsp;start nbsp;lighthouse nbsp;is nbsp;a nbsp;501(c)3 nbsp;nonprofit nbsp;dedicated nbsp;to nbsp;advancing nbsp;childhood nbsp;literacy nbsp;through nbsp;a nbsp;social nbsp;justice nbsp;lense nbsp;start…

Education
12
Team Read

Year-round, one-to-one tutoring program provided at Title 1 schools to students not at grade-level proficiency in reading. Tutors are area teens recruited and trained to deliver reading support.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Read and Feed; the most unlike its peers is New Hope New Beginnings. 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

109 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. 109 of the 134 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
107/109
Grantees still filing
65/109
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STOREHOUSE FOR TEACHERS D/B/A THE EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP: $173,759 · EducationSTOREHOUSE FOR TEACHERS D/B/A THE EDUCATION PARTNE…GOVERNOR'S EARLY LITERACY FOUNDATION: $100,000 · EducationGOVERNOR'S EARLY LITERACY FOUNDATIONLITTLE FREE LIBRARY: $46,949 · EducationLITTLE FREE LIBRARYTHE SHADOW PROJECT: $42,365 · EducationTHE SHADOW PROJECTREADING IS FUNDAMENTAL PITTSBURGH: $37,099 · EducationREADING QUEST: $30,959 · EducationMake Way For Books: $30,328 · Education+36 more: $314,970 · Education+36 moreBOOK FAIRIES INC: $130,799 · Human ServicesBOOK FAIRIES INCASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: $27,659 · Human ServicesASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF L…EVERYONES DREAM COME TRUE: $25,000 · Human ServicesEVERYONES DREAM COME T…READ AND FEED: $22,589 · Human ServicesREAD AND FEEDREADY KIDS FOR SCHOOL: $17,503 · Human ServicesLIVE AGAIN FRESNO: $16,500 · Human ServicesFOSTER THE LOVE LOUISIANAINC: $16,211 · Human ServicesIDEAS FOR US INC: $14,500 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S BOOK PROJECT: $12,559 · Human Services+17 more: $69,521 · Human Services+17 moreSPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTH CAROLINA INC: $50,000 · OtherSPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTH C…LAMBERT HOUSE: $30,609 · OtherLAMBERT HOUSEPromising Pages Inc: $30,012 · OtherPromising Pages IncWHERE LOVE GROWS INC: $28,298 · OtherWHERE LOVE GROWS INCEPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF ATLANTA INC: $26,032 · OtherEPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF ATL…JERSEY CITY CONNECTIONS INC: $25,328 · OtherJERSEY CITY CONNECTIONS …BAND TOGETHER: $25,000 · OtherBAND TOGETHERTime Out Youth Inc: $15,088 · Other+37 more: $156,923 · Other+37 moreTREEHOUSE: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentFirst Gen Success: $28,588 · Youth DevelopmentYOUNG BLACK AND LIT: $13,791 · Youth DevelopmentReading Ready Pittsburgh: $8,376 · Youth DevelopmentBrookline Teen Outreach: $4,800 · Youth DevelopmentSPREAD THE WORD NEVADA: $3,628 · Youth Development+2 more: $1,016 · Youth DevelopmentKID SMART: $46,686 · Arts & CultureDEEP CENTER INCORPORATED: $20,360 · Arts & CultureNEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureDRAWCHANGE INC: $4,000 · Arts & CultureEdventure Inc: $3,204 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $3,155 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $32,328 · Community ImprovementI HAVE A DREAM FOUNDATION - LOS ANGELES: $16,896 · PhilanthropyTURNING THE PAGE: $9,509 · PhilanthropyTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION: $5,131 · Philanthropy
Education$776,429Human Services$352,841Other$387,290Youth Development$95,199Arts & Culture$82,405Community Improvement$32,328Philanthropy$31,536

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 budgetSTOREHOUSE FOR TEACHERS D/B/A THE EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP: $173,759 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBOOK FAIRIES INC: $130,799 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetGOVERNOR'S EARLY LITERACY FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTH CAROLINA INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLITTLE FREE LIBRARY: $46,949 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetKID SMART: $46,686 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetTHE SHADOW PROJECT: $42,365 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetREADING IS FUNDAMENTAL PITTSBURGH: $37,099 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetTREEHOUSE: $35,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $32,328 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetREADING QUEST: $30,959 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetLAMBERT HOUSE: $30,609 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetMake Way For Books: $30,328 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetPromising Pages Inc: $30,012 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetFirst Gen Success: $28,588 over 2y, 34% of budgetWHERE LOVE GROWS INC: $28,298 over 2y, 10% of budgetASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: $27,659 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetEVERY CHILD A READER IN ESCAMBIA INC ECARE: $25,739 over 2y, 7.8% of budgetJERSEY CITY CONNECTIONS INC: $25,328 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetEVERYONES DREAM COME TRUE: $25,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA BUSINESS LEADERS FOR EDUC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetBAND TOGETHER: $25,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE ALICE AYCOCK POE CENTER FOR HEALTH EDUCATION: $22,886 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetREAD AND FEED: $22,589 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetREAD TO SUCCEED ASHEVILLE: $22,168 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetDEEP CENTER INCORPORATED: $20,360 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetPeak Education: $20,328 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBORN TO READ INC: $19,740 over 2y, 26% of budgetChildren's Literacy Center Inc: $18,175 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetREADY KIDS FOR SCHOOL: $17,503 over 1y, 80% of budgetI HAVE A DREAM FOUNDATION - LOS ANGELES: $16,896 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetLIVE AGAIN FRESNO: $16,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetFOSTER THE LOVE LOUISIANAINC: $16,211 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetTime Out Youth Inc: $15,088 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetPENCIL FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetIDEAS FOR US INC: $14,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetYOUNG BLACK AND LIT: $13,791 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetA GIFT FOR TEACHING INC: $13,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S BOOK PROJECT: $12,559 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetSTAIR OF BIRMINGHAM: $12,241 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetNATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $11,178 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLiteracy Together: $11,083 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetHope At Hand Inc: $10,420 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCHILDREN'S READING ALLIANCE: $10,308 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetTURNING THE PAGE: $9,509 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTREE HOUSE BOOKS: $9,242 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetREADY READERS: $8,657 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetReading Ready Pittsburgh: $8,376 over 1y, 1.2% 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.

Dollar General Litera…Nora Roberts Foundati…Foundation for the Ca…The Gap FoundationThe Leon Levine Found…Truist Foundation IncCarolina Hurricanes F…Triangle Community Fo…WK Kellogg FoundationReading Is Fundamenta…John William Pope Fou…The Grable Foundation
Dollar General Literacy FoundationTN25.9× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dollar General Literacy Foundation · Nora Roberts Foundation · Foundation for the Carolinas · The Gap Foundation · The Leon Levine Foundation · Truist Foundation Inc · Carolina Hurricanes Foundation · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · WK Kellogg Foundation · Reading Is Fundamental Inc · John William Pope Foundation · The Grable 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 Sunstone Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sunstone Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Ideas for Us Inc: 35% of income from government
  • The Shadow Project: 8% of income from government
  • Smart Reading: 3% of income from government
  • Booksmiles a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
27report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Sunstone Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Sunstone 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 134 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Sunstone’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