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The Sands Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sands 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.

$25k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0187% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$1.5MArts & Culture$1.2MEnvironment$507kHealth$500kPhilanthropy$250kReligion$108kHuman Services$100kAnimals$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$328k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
John Bunker Sands Wetland Center Inc$25,000
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 (FY20–22, $490k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 71% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Forefront Living Foundation: $250k → 14%Untrafficked: $100k → 6%Untrafficked: $40k → 6%The Family Place: $100k → 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.
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.

53%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 4 repeat orgs$2.1M to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
13

Total granted

$2.3M
$2.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
+31%

Still filing today

75%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEnvironmentArts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyAnimalsOther
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

  • TC
    THE COMPASS SCHOOL OF TEXAS
    2× · 2022–2023 · $1.5M · revenue +712% · 67% of their budget
  • TD
    The Dallas Opera Foundation
    2× · 2018–2019 · $550k · revenue +6% · 34% of their budget
  • UI
    Untrafficked Inc
    2× · 2021–2022 · $140k · revenue -12% · 62% of their budget

Funded once

  • TR
    The Retina Foundation
    one grant, 2020 · $500k
  • DS
    DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $500k · revenue +33%
  • DA
    DALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC
    one grant, 2022 · $282k · revenue +22%
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
Kimbell Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
2
Dallas Zoological Society

Support of the dallas zoo as an outstanding center of education, entertainment and wildlife conservation through fundraising, volunteerism, promoting public awareness and participation, and enhancing the visitor experience.

Animals
3
Dallas Architecture Forum

The Forum educates, enriches and connects our community by presenting programs and events, creating experiences, and engaging global and local thought-leaders from the design fields to enhance how we live.

Arts & Culture
4
Downtown Dallas Inc Foundation

Downtown Dallas, Inc. Foundation is the charitable arm of Downtown Dallas, Inc. whose purpose is to help make the area in and around Downtown Dallas a more vibrant and livable place for both daytime and permanent residents by promoting the…

Community Improvement
5
Society of Dtx

The society is a dallas nonprofit organization run by a group of passionate young women and other dedicated volunteers, focused on uplifting and empowering women to be safe, independent, and strong. women are statistically more likely to…

Human Services
6
Dallas County Medical Society

The mission of the dallas county medical society is to promote public health and advocate for physicians and their relationship with patients, while upholding professionalism in the practice of medicine.

—
7
Witte Museum

The witte museum inspires people to shape the future of texas through transformative and relevant experiences in nature, science and culture.

Arts & Culture
8
Texas Trees Foundation

The mission of texas trees foundation is to improve the health of cities and people through the transformative power of trees.

—
9
Dallas Seminary Foundation

To support the mission of Dallas Theological Seminary by offering charitable planned giving and other related services to friends of the Seminary.

Education
10
Glasstire

Glasstire is a website about visual art in Texas. Our mission is to expand the conversation about visual art in Texas.

Arts & Culture
11
Lone Star Flight Museum

Lone Star Flight Museum (LSFM) celebrates flight and achievements in Texas aviation, engages youth through STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and believes aviation inspires achievement and endless possibilities.

Arts & Culture
12
The Fort Worth Zoological Association

With more than 1 million visitors annually, the fort worth zoo strengthens the bond between humans and the environment by promoting responsible stewardship of wildlife and ensuring diverse, high-quality educational and entertaining family…

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society Inc; the most unlike its peers is Untrafficked Inc. 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

13 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. 13 of the 18 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE COMPASS SCHOOL OF TEXAS: $1,519,726 · EducationTHE COMPASS SCHOOL OF TEXASThe Retina Foundation: $500,000 · OtherThe Retina Foundat…DIOCESE OF CHURCHES FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS: $108,000 · OtherDIOCESE OF CHURCHE…Individual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant r…+3 more: $44,000 · Other+3 moreDALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $500,000 · Arts & CultureDALLAS SYMPHON…DALLAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $75,000 · Arts & CultureDALLAS HISTORI…The Dallas Opera Foundation: $550,000 · PhilanthropyThe Dallas Ope…DALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC: $282,423 · EnvironmentDALLAS ARBORE…PARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $200,000 · EnvironmentPARKS AND WIL…John Bunker Sands Wetland Center Inc: $25,000 · EnvironmentFOREFRONT LIVING FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Human ServicesFOREFRONT LI…Untrafficked Inc: $140,000 · Human ServicesUntrafficked…The Family Place: $100,000 · Human ServicesThe Family P…+1 more: $10,000 · Human ServicesSAVING HOPE ANIMAL RESCUE FUND: $35,000 · Animals
Education$1,519,726Other$702,000Arts & Culture$575,000Philanthropy$550,000Environment$507,423Human Services$500,000Animals$35,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE COMPASS SCHOOL OF TEXAS: $1,519,726 over 2y, 67% of budgetThe Dallas Opera Foundation: $550,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetDALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $500,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetDALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC: $282,423 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFOREFRONT LIVING FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetPARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $200,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetUntrafficked Inc: $140,000 over 2y, 62% of budgetThe Family Place: $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDALLAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $75,000 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetSAVING HOPE ANIMAL RESCUE FUND: $35,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetJohn Bunker Sands Wetland Center Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIN MY SHOES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% 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.

Texas Instruments Fou…Communities Foundatio…Vanguard Charitable E…Natl Christian Charit…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Texas Instruments FoundationTX16.2× affinity6 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Texas Instruments Foundation · Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Sands Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sands Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Sands Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Sands 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 18 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 Sands’ 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