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The Sand Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sand 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.

$276k
Granted FY2024still arriving
74
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$25k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$620kArts & Culture$357kCivil Rights$172kHealth$127kInternational$105kHousing & Shelter$96kFood & Nutrition$44kReligion$26kOther$0
02FY2024 · 74 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k64 grants · $130k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $145k
$2,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$7.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC$25,000
NEWPORT ART MUSEUM AND ART ASSOCIATION$25,000
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY$20,000
HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOUNDATION$15,300
NAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC$10,029
NEWPORT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC$10,000
NEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC$10,000
U S COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC$10,000
PTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS TEACHERS & STUD$10,000
NEWPORT ART MUSEUM AND ART ASSOCIATION$10,000
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE$8,000
BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FUND$6,000
ABORTION CARE NETWORK$5,500
NEWPORT ART MUSEUM AND ART ASSOCIATION$5,000
ASHOKA$5,000
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 (FY19–24, $102k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%NRIVA INC: $500 → 11%CHARITY NAVIGATOR: $500 → 7%HAWKEYE AREA COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM INC: $200 → 9%COVENANT HOUSE: $5k → 17%COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS: $2k → 10%COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS: $1k → 10%FOSTER FORWARD: $500 → 14%FOSTER FORWARD: $500 → 14%COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS: $1k → 10%FOSTER FORWARD: $500 → 14%COMPASS FAMILY SERVICES: $500 → 10%FOSTER FORWARD: $500 → 14%COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS: $500 → 10%FOSTER FORWARD: $500 → 14%CROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $25k → 14%COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS: $500 → 10%CROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $25k → 14%COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS: $500 → 10%CROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $20k → 14%CROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $5k → 14%CROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $1k → 14%ADOPTION RHODE ISLAND: $400 → 14%JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $2k → 14%JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $2k → 14%JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $2k → 14%JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $2k → 14%JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $2k → 14%JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $2k → 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

MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
IA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
MO
WV
VA
MD
DC
AL
GA
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.
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 7% of The Sand Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Sand Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 12% 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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.5M · 83 repeat orgs$179k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

83 repeat relationships: 54 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

83
54

Total granted

$1.5M
$130k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+8%

Still filing today

89%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $49k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesEnvironmentInternationalOther
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

  • TW
    THE WHEELER SCHOOL
    6× · 2019–2024 · $138k · revenue +48%
  • NW
    NAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $125k · revenue +132%
  • GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2019–2024 · $86k · revenue +35%

Funded once

  • NU
    NOVA UKRAINE
    one grant, 2022 · $26k · revenue -45%
  • PC
    PTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS TEACHERS &
    one grant, 2019 · $14k
  • GIVEDIRECTLY INC
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue -32%
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
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.

—
2
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
3
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
4
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
5
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
6
Public Media Nj Inc

To bring quality public television programs and resources to communities throughout new jersey and its tri-state neighbors. its content, both on-air and online, aims to reflect the diverse

Arts & Culture
7
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
8
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
9
Public Health Institute

Public health institute generates and promotes research, leadership and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, systems and practices.

Health
10
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
11
Internet Society Foundation

At the internet society foundation, we focus on funding initiatives that strengthen the internet in function and reach so that it can effectively serve all people. our work advances the vision of the internet society (isoc): the internet…

International
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 Adoption Rhode Island; the most unlike its peers is Backline Care Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

137 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. 137 of the 153 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)
25
Early backer (in before they grew)
134/137
Grantees still filing
94/137
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE WHEELER SCHOOL: $138,000 · EducationTHE WHEELER SCHOOLNAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $124,529 · EducationNAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INCGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $85,500 · EducationGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITYSOPHIA ACADEMY: $75,500 · EducationSOPHIA ACADEMYCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $50,000 · EducationCONNECTICUT COLLEGEBerkeley Public Schools Fund: $24,000 · Education+12 more: $51,350 · Education+12 moreNEWPORT ART MUSEUM AND ART ASSOCIATION: $182,300 · Arts & CultureNEWPORT ART MUSEUM AN…Trinity Repertory Company: $55,000 · Arts & CultureTrinity Repertory Com…+18 more: $84,050 · Arts & Culture+18 morePTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS TEACHERS & STUD: $70,100 · OtherPTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS …RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC RADIO: $28,000 · OtherRHODE ISLAND PUBLIC RADI…PTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS TEACHERS &: $14,000 · OtherRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION: $34,500 · OtherRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY F…CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $17,000 · OtherPLAY FOR PINK INC: $12,500 · Other+70 more: $190,650 · Other+70 moreTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $75,500 · Civil RightsTHE CENTER…HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOUNDATION: $65,300 · Civil RightsHUMAN RIGH…ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $10,000 · Civil RightsANTI-DEFAM…CROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $76,000 · Human ServicesJEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $12,000 · Human ServicesGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesCoalition On Homelessness: $5,000 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE: $4,500 · Human Services+7 more: $5,600 · Human ServicesASHOKA: $30,000 · InternationalNOVA UKRAINE: $26,000 · InternationalDIRECT RELIEF: $22,500 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC: $10,500 · InternationalGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · InternationalCHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $4,500 · InternationalBest Buddies International Inc: $4,500 · International+2 more: $1,800 · InternationalNewport Hospital Foundation: $20,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $14,650 · HealthTHE RHODE ISLAND FREE CLINIC INC: $12,500 · HealthThe Miriam Hospital Foundation: $7,000 · HealthABORTION CARE NETWORK: $5,500 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 · HealthMdDS BALANCE DISORDER FOUNDATION: $3,600 · HealthEuki Inc: $3,000 · HealthThe Miriam Hospital: $3,000 · Health+6 more: $7,600 · Health
Education$548,879Arts & Culture$321,350Other$366,750Civil Rights$150,800Human Services$113,100International$104,800Health$81,850

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 budgetNEWPORT ART MUSEUM AND ART ASSOCIATION: $182,300 over 6y, 3.7% of budgetTHE WHEELER SCHOOL: $138,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetNAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $124,529 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $85,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCROSSROADS RHODE ISLAND: $76,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetSOPHIA ACADEMY: $75,500 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $75,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOUNDATION: $65,300 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTrinity Repertory Company: $55,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $50,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION: $34,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetASHOKA: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRHODE ISLAND PUBLIC RADIO: $28,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNOVA UKRAINE: $26,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBerkeley Public Schools Fund: $24,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $22,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNewport Hospital Foundation: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $17,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY COLLEGE OF RI FOUNDATION: $16,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $14,650 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE RHODE ISLAND FREE CLINIC INC: $12,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetPLAY FOR PINK INC: $12,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND: $12,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $10,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC: $10,200 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA & MUSIC SCHOOL: $10,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGRUB STREET INC: $10,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetUS COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWHEN WE ALL VOTE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRHODE ISLAND ARTS FOUNDATION AT NEWPORT: $10,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetPROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM: $9,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY HOUSING PARTNERSHIP: $9,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetEducational Fund to Stop Gun Violence: $7,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR SARCOIDOSIS RESEARCH: $7,300 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY: $7,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAQUIDNECK ISLAND LAND TRUST: $7,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetThe Miriam Hospital Foundation: $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSOMA WEST COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT: $6,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $5,700 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetABORTION CARE NETWORK: $5,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAVE THE BAY INC: $5,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMARTIN LUTHER KING COMMUNITY CENTER INCORPORATED: $5,200 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE YOUNG MEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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 Champlin Foundati…The Rhode Island Comm…United Way of Rhode I…Amica Companies Found…Sand Family FundVan Beuren Charitable…June Rockwell Levy Fo…Ralph R Papitto & Bar…Ira S& Anna Galkin Ch…Centreville Savings B…Citizens Charitable F…Gruben Charitable Fou…
The Champlin FoundationPA58.8× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Champlin Foundation · The Rhode Island Community Foundation · United Way of Rhode Island Inc · Amica Companies Foundation · Sand Family Fund · Van Beuren Charitable Foundation Inc · June Rockwell Levy Foundation Incorporated · Ralph R Papitto & Barbara a Papitto Private Family Foundation · Ira S& Anna Galkin Charitable Tr · Centreville Savings Bank Charitable Foundation · Citizens Charitable Foundation · Gruben Charitable 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 The Sand Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sand Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Best Buddies International Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Grub Street Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
34report 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 The Sand Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Sand 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 153 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 Sand’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