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The Sanders Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sanders 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.

$349k
Granted FY2019
12
Grants FY2019
4
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

63% of The Sanders Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Cornell University Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 3 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year The Sanders Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 9 organizations, $349k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

8
’17
5
’18
9
’19
4
’20
2
’21
2
’22
2
’23
3
’24
3
’25

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

01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$1.6MPhilanthropy$500kArts & Culture$361kCommunity Improvement$230kFood & Nutrition$25kInternational$13kCrime & Legal$5kCivil Rights$5kOther$0
02FY2019 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k5 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $250k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXPANSION & EDUCATIONAL DEV FOUNDATION$150,000
EL PASO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$100,000
CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$25,000
BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION$25,000
SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL$10,000
EL PASO PRO MUSICA$10,000
KIDS EXCEL EL PASO INC$10,000
EL PASO OPERA FOUNDATION$5,000
HOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION$5,000
PAN AMERICAN ROUNDTABLES OF TEXAS$5,000
THE FEMAP FOUNDATION$2,500
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST INC$1,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 16%. 55% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 16%WILLIAMS COLLEGE: $50k → 12%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $275k → 16%SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $10k → 12%HOLLINS UNIVERSITY: $10k → 8%WILLIAMS COLLEGE: $50k → 12%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 16%SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $10k → 12%HOLLINS UNIVERSITY: $10k → 8%WILLIAMS COLLEGE: $50k → 12%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 16%SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $10k → 12%HOLLINS UNIVERSITY: $10k → 8%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 16%COUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXPANSION & EDUCATIONAL DEV FOUNDATION: $150k → 21%SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $10k → 12%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $25k → 16%CREEED FOUNDATION: $150k → 21%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%COUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXPANSION & EDUCATIONAL DEV FOUNDATION: $150k → 21%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%CREEED FOUNDATION: $150k → 21%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%CREEED FOUNDATION: $150k → 21%CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%COUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXPANSION & EDUCATIONAL DEV FOUNDATION: $150k → 21%ALPHA PSI OF CHI PSI EDUCATIONAL TRUST: $20k → 16%CREEED FOUNDATION: $100k → 21%SANTA FE PREP: $90k → 21%KIDS EXCEL EL PASO INC: $10k → 21%KIDS EXCEL EL PASO INC: $10k → 21%KIDS EXCEL EL PASO INC: $10k → 21%FEMAP FOUNDATION: $10k → 21%EL PASOANS FIGHTING HUNGER: $25k → 21%EL PASO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $100k → 21%PASO DEL NORTE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 21%PASO DEL NORTE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 21%PASO DEL NORTE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $40k → 21%BORDERPLEX BINATIONAL ECONOMIC FOUNDATION: $40k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%BORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $25k → 21%KIDS EXCEL: $20k → 21%KIDS EXCEL: $10k → 21%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.
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 14 repeat orgs$142k to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2019, 5 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call). Read against FY2019, 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
6

Total granted

$1.9M
$95k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+59%

Still filing today

57%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthCommunity ImprovementArts & CulturePhilanthropyFood & NutritionOther
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

  • CO
    COUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXP & EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
    3× · 2018–2020 · $450k · revenue +3% · 75% of their budget
  • Williams College
    3× · 2023–2025 · $150k · revenue +25%
  • SF
    SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
    4× · 2017–2020 · $40k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • BB
    BORDERPLEX BINATIONAL ECONOMIC FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $40k
  • Cornell Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +59%
  • AP
    ALPHA PSI OF CHI PSI EDU TRUST
    one grant, 2017 · $20k · revenue -68%
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
El Paso Community College Foundation

The foundation was formed to receive gifts and to invest, manage and distribute such gifts for the benefit of the el paso community college and its students. the foundation promotes education and other related activities of the college.

Education
2
San Antonio Education Fund Dba San Antonio Education Partnership

The partnership empowers students with quality educational programs, resources and counseling that will make them confident, knowledgeable and help them finish college and contribute to san antonio's future, making the students san…

Education
3
Universidad Del Sagrado Corazon Inc

The universidad del sagrado corazon (sagrado) is an independent, nonprofit, catholic university, committed to the education of the whole person through strong foundation in the liberal arts. sagrado is part of puerto ricos oldest private,…

Education
4
El Paso Leadership Academy

The mission of El Paso Leadership Academy is to prepare its students to obtain a four year college degree and to become engaged leaders in their community.

Education
5
El Paso Education Initiative Inc

The purpose of the organization is to develop and facilitate the implementation of goals and programs that will enhance educational opportunities.

Education
6
Council On Regional Economic Expansion & Educational Dev Corp

To facilitate the formation and development of a strategically sustainablehighly skilled regional workforce with emphasis on hispanic demographic andeconomy capable of meeting market demand and competition for the greaterpaso del norte…

Crime & Legal
7
Howard Payne University

Howard payne university is a christ-centered academic community dedicated to excellence by developing and equipping the whole person for intellectual inquiry, personal and professional integrity, and service to god and humanity.

Education
8
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
9
Escuela Popular Student Fund

Providing student funds for higher education.

Education
10
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
11
Peru State College Foundation

The mission of the peru state college foundation is to provide assistance and support for peru state college, a four-year liberal arts institution, established in 1867 as nebraska's first public institution of higher education. with more…

Education
12
California Polytechnic State University Foundation

To provide and augment programs that are an integral part of the educational mission of the university, primarily in the acquisition, investment and administration of gifts and endowments for the benefit of the university.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kids Excel El Paso Inc; the most unlike its peers is Alpha Psi of Chi Psi Edu Trust. 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

17 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. 17 of the 28 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
10/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,125,000 · EducationCORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONCOUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXP & EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $450,000 · EducationCOUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXP & EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FO…Williams College: $150,000 · EducationWilliams College+5 more: $110,000 · Education+5 moreCREEED FOUNDATION: $550,000 · OtherCREEED FOUNDATIONEL PASO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $300,000 · OtherEL PASO CHILDREN'S MUSEUMIndividual grant recipient: $94,525 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBORDERPLEX BINATIONAL ECONOMIC FOUNDATION: $40,000 · Other+9 more: $96,400 · Other+9 moreBORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION FKA EL PASO REG: $215,000 · Community ImprovementPaso del Norte Community Foundation: $150,000 · HealthTHE FEMAP FOUNDATION: $12,500 · HealthKIDS EXCEL EL PASO INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureEL PASOANS FIGHTING HUNGER: $25,000 · Food & NutritionEL PASO OPERA FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST: $1,500 · International
Education$1,835,000Other$1,080,925Community Improvement$215,000Health$162,500Arts & Culture$30,000Food & Nutrition$25,000Philanthropy$10,000International$1,500

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 budgetCORNELL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,125,000 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetCOUNCIL ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC EXP & EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $450,000 over 3y, 75% of budgetBORDERPLEX BI-NATIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FOUNDATION FKA EL PASO REG: $215,000 over 8y, 11% of budgetPaso del Norte Community Foundation: $150,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetWilliams College: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $35,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKIDS EXCEL EL PASO INC: $30,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetEL PASOANS FIGHTING HUNGER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FEMAP FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetEL PASO PRO-MUSICA: $11,200 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetSTARS SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST: $1,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHEALING THE CHILDREN: $200 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 Hunt Family Found…Paul L Foster Family …National Philanthropi…Charities Aid Foundat…Network for GoodThe Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Hunt Family FoundationTX15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Hunt Family Foundation · Paul L Foster Family Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · Network for Good · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Sanders Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sanders Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Williams College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
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.

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 28 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 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Sanders’ 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