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Sykes Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sykes Family 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.

$3.3M
Granted FY2021
21
Grants FY2021
10
States reached
$2.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

77% of Sykes Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to The Board Of Trustees Of The Leland Stanford Junior University, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 9 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2021, the last year Sykes Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 11 organizations, $3M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

11
’21
14
’22
16
’23
12
’24
9
’25

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

01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$11MRecreation & Sports$705kHealth$628kCommunity Improvement$275kReligion$206kPublic Benefit$150kArts & Culture$140kCivil Rights$75kOther$0
02FY2021 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k13 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $45k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $250k
  • $250k+4 grants · $3.0M
$3,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$17M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
USC UNIVERSITY$2,005,000
JONSSON CANCER CENTER FOUNDATION$500,000
HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL$250,000
THE MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL$250,000
THE PARISH OF ST MATHEWS$200,000
COMMON SENSE MEDIA$50,000
PACIFIC COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON$20,000
LAS MADRINAS PEDIATRIC SIMULATION RESEARCH$7,500
KUKI'O COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$5,000
KENT SCHOOL$3,000
THE DELPHIC CLUB TRUST$3,000
USET FOUNDATION$2,500
ST CHARLES CHURCH$1,000
TELLURIDE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT$1,000
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 (FY23–23, $30k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%ANGEL CITY ALLIANCE: $20k → 14%LOS ANGELES POLICE FOUNDATION: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MD
HI
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.

31%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 14 repeat orgs$3.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2021, 6 since wound down; 55 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call). Read against FY2021, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
55

Total granted

$1.7M
$3.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
0%

Still filing today

64%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 24% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $349k 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • HS
    HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL
    2× · 2021–2022 · $500k · revenue +2%
  • MS
    MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL
    2× · 2021–2022 · $500k · revenue +12%
  • LM
    LAS MADRINAS
    4× · 2021–2024 · $63k · revenue +28%

Funded once

  • UU
    USC UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2021 · $2.0M
  • TJ
    THE JONSSON CANCER CENTER FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +8%
  • COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
    one grant, 2025 · $250k · revenue 0%
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
Ucla Foundation

The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

Education
2
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
3
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The Television Academy is dedicated to celebrating excellence, innovation and the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences through recognition, education and leadership, while fostering a diverse, inclusive and accessible…

—
4
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
5
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
6
The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel

Enhance the ability of actec members to provide the most efficient and highest quality services to their clients; develop qualified trust and estate counselors; improve and reform probate, trust and tax laws, procedures, and standards of…

Community Improvement
7
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
8
Harvard Club of Washington Dc

To inform and enrich the intellectual lives of 20,000 alumni of harvard university in the washington, dc area and to assist harvard university with respect to applicants and undergraduates from the dc area.

Education
9
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.

—
10
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
11
Pacific University

A diverse and sustainable learning community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, pacific university inspires students to think, care, create and pursue justice in our world.

Education
12
United States Telecom Association

See schedule oustelecom exists to ensure members can compete, grow and thrive to build a world where families, enterprises and communities are connected through the power of broadband.our member companies have committed a considerable…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Policylink; the most unlike its peers is Bel-Air Bay Club Charitable Fund. 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

43 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. 43 of the 71 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)
43/43
Grantees still filing
23/43
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $5,275,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $2,610,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAHARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL: $500,000 · EducationHARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOLMARLBOROUGH SCHOOL: $500,000 · EducationMARLBOROUGH SCHOOL+5 more: $66,500 · EducationUSC UNIVERSITY: $2,005,000 · OtherUSC UNIVERSITYTHE JONSSON CANCER CENTER FOUNDATION: $500,000 · OtherTHE JONSSON CANCER CENTER FOU…THE PARISH OF ST MATHEWS: $200,000 · OtherTHE PARISH OF ST MATHEWSCOMMON SENSE MEDIA: $150,000 · Other+44 more: $565,950 · Other+44 moreLOS ANGELES SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT COMMISSION: $400,000 · Recreation & SportsUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC FOUNDATION: $175,000 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $250,000 · PhilanthropyTHE BRIANNA KUPFER FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SAM CULLEN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyPOLICYLINK: $25,000 · Community ImprovementKEEP BEL AIR BEAUTIFUL: $4,500 · Community Improvement+1 more: $500 · Community ImprovementPACIFIC COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY: $25,000 · InternationalADVENTURE TRAVEL CONSERVATION FUND: $5,000 · InternationalAngel City Alliance: $20,000 · Human ServicesLOS ANGELES POLICE FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Human Services
Education$8,951,500Other$3,420,950Recreation & Sports$580,000Philanthropy$275,000Community Improvement$30,000International$30,000Human Services$30,000

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 budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $5,275,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $2,610,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL: $500,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE JONSSON CANCER CENTER FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetMARLBOROUGH SCHOOL: $500,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetLOS ANGELES SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT COMMISSION: $400,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $250,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC FOUNDATION: $175,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLAS MADRINAS: $63,400 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetTARGET ALS FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPOLICYLINK: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetAngel City Alliance: $20,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetSOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $13,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES POLICE FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BRIANNA KUPFER FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetINTERLOCHEN CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SAM CULLEN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetDORSET HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $8,500 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetEKWANOK SCHOLARSHIP TRUST INC: $6,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetFORE YOUTH GOLF FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetADVENTURE TRAVEL CONSERVATION FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetALOHA UNITED WAY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLYMPHOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKEEP BEL AIR BEAUTIFUL: $4,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE TELLURIDE MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $3,250 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HARVARD KROKODILOES INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE PAINTED TURTLE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF HILDENE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKENT SCHOOL: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTELLURIDE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $1,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetSKYLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HASTY PUDDING - INSTITUTE OF 1770 INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKAPPA KAPPA GAMMA FOUNDATION: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRICKLE UP PROGRAM INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVERMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSUGAR RAY LEONARD FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TINY MIRACLES FOUNDATION INC: $250 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.

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.

The Goldman Sachs Cha…The Ralph M Parsons F…Morgan Stanley Global…California Community …The Ayco Charitable F…American Endowment Fo…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Jewish Communal FundNational Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…The Pfizer Foundation…Raymond James Charita…
The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift FundNY20.6× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · California Community Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund

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 Sykes Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sykes Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Vermont Symphony Orchestra Association Inc: 11% of income from government
  • The Harvard Krokodiloes Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Southern Oregon University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get 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
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 Sykes Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Sykes Family 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 71 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Sykes Family’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