· Private foundation
The Sanders 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k3 grants · $11k
- $10k–50k12 grants · $269k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BIG OAK RANCH | $40,000 |
| HICA HISPANIC INTEREST COALITION OF ALABAMA SCHOLARSHIP FUND | $30,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA | $25,000 |
| ALABAMA AEROSPACE AND AVIATION | $25,000 |
| BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION | $22,000 |
| SOUTH WALTON ACADEMY | $20,000 |
| GARDERE COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL | $20,000 |
| FOOD FOR THOUGHT OUTREACH | $20,000 |
| RESTORATION ACADEMY | $20,000 |
| WESTONWOOD RANCH | $20,000 |
| BETTER BASICS | $15,000 |
| GLENWOOD SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA | $12,000 |
| ONEONTA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES | $5,000 |
| ONEONTA PUBLIC LIBRARY | $3,000 |
| TOM BELL MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL GOLF CLASSIC TOURNAMENT | $3,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $152k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 79% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- BOBIG OAK RANCH INC9× · 2017–2025 · $217k · revenue +105%
- TRTHE RESTORATION ACADEMY9× · 2017–2025 · $165k · revenue +166%
- BBBETTER BASICS INC9× · 2017–2025 · $110k · revenue +142%
Funded once
- AAALABAMA AEROSPACE AND AVIATIONone grant, 2022 · $40k
- HFHARVEST FELLOWSHIP CHURCHone grant, 2017 · $32k
- BSBIRMINGHAM SCHOOL OF LAWone grant, 2018 · $20k
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.
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.
Arborbrook Christian Academy partners with parents to equip, empower, and encourage students to cultivate godly character, pursue life-long learning, and love the Lord Jesus Christ.
To glorify god by providing a quality, christ-centered education which challenges students and teachers to maximize their potential so that graduates are prepared to further their education while becoming productive christian citizens.
Operation of a public charter school in Livingston, AL.
Operation of a public charter school in Livingston, AL.
Operation of a public charter school in Mobile Alabama.
Woodfield academy empowers students with diagnosed learning differences or developmental disorders to reach their maximum potential through an individualized education approach.
Education of grades pre-school through eighth grade.
Arbor school is a small learning community founded on the premise that education is decisive and enduring to the degree that it supports the development of intellect, character, and creativity.
Education of Children from pre-school through 9th grade
We inspire passinate, confident, and creative students in an individualized, hands-on learning environment that integrates christian values while striving for academic excellence.
To operate a christian school serving grades k-12
To educate, empower, and build hope for children with significant special needs and their families.
How this is measured
16 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. 16 of the 30 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds BIG OAK RANCH INC ↗
- Who funds THE RESTORATION ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds Birmingham School of Law Foundation ↗
- Who funds BETTER BASICS INC ↗
- Who funds ALABAMA AEROSPACE & AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds FOOD FOR THOUGHT OUTREACH INC ↗
- Who funds South Walton Academy Inc ↗
- Who funds GARDERE COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds INDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds CORNERSTONE SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA INC ↗
- Who funds WESTONWOOD RANCH INC ↗
- Who funds ONEONTA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC ↗
- Who funds THE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds HIGHLANDS DAY SCHOOL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds The Arc of Central Alabama Inc ↗
- Who funds THE UAB RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
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: Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · The Maynard Nexsen Foundation · Hill Crest Foundation Inc · The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham · W W Walker Jr and Family Charitable Foundation · The James Milton and Sallie R Johnson Foundation · The H Evan Zeiger Jr & Margaret Zeiger Charitable Foundation · Robert R Meyer Foundation · Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust · Orlean & Ralph W Beeson Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Sanders Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sanders Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Sanders Family’s filings →