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The Sonnie Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sonnie 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.

$21k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

International$124kScience & Tech$40kArts & Culture$33kHuman Services$29kHealth$20kPublic Safety & Disaster$14kFood & Nutrition$5kEnvironment$1k
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $6k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $15k
$1,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$898k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SHINING STARS FOUNDATION$15,000
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK$3,000
MONTGOMERY & PRINCE GEORGES HOSPICE$1,000
JEWISH SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY$1,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 58% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $3k → 14%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $1k → 17%UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM: $2k → 14%WASSERMAN LONDON MUSIC FUND OF TEMPLE SINAI OF NORTH DADE: $1k → 15%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $500 → 14%SHINING STARS FOUNDATION: $15k → 7%JEWISH SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY: $1k → 8%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $1k → 17%UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM: $1k → 14%MONTGOMERY & PRINCE GEORGES HOSPICE: $1k → 8%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA: $1k → 17%UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM: $1k → 14%CABIN JOHN FIRE DEPARTMENT: $1k → 8%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $1k → 17%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $10k → 14%RAD-AID INTERNATIONAL: $20k → 8%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $6k → 14%RAD-AID INTERNATIONAL: $20k → 8%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $4k → 14%RAD-AID INTERNATIONAL: $20k → 8%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $4k → 14%RAD-AID INTERNATIONAL: $15k → 8%JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $4k → 14%LUPUS FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $1k → 14%LUPUS FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $1k → 14%MARTHA'S TABLE: $1k → 14%WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: $10k → 14%EDLEVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC: $25k → 14%VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP: $25k → 14%VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP: $20k → 14%EDLEVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC: $2k → 14%EDLEVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC: $1k → 14%THE OCEAN FUND: $1k → 14%FEEDING AMERICA: $1k → 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

MI
NY
MA
IA
CA
CO
MD
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$188k · 8 repeat orgs$37k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
8

Total granted

$188k
$17k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
-1%

Still filing today

100%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 5% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalHealthArts & CultureFood & NutritionHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • RI
    RAD-AID INTERNATIONAL INC
    4× · 2019–2023 · $75k · revenue +709%
  • VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $45k · revenue +33%
  • EJ
    EDLAVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $28k · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -40%
  • MT
    MARTHA'S TABLE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue +27%
  • CJ
    CABIN JOHN FIRE DEPARTMENT
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
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
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health
2
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…

—
3
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
4
Researchamerica

2025 was a turbulent year for the medical and health research community, but our commitment to advocating for science never wavered. from pushing back against funding threats to elevating researchers' voices and equipping advocates, we…

—
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
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Leadership in the prevention, treatment, and cure of cancer through excellence, vision and cost effectiveness in patient care, outreach programs, research, and education.

Health
7
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
8
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
9
American National Standards Institute

To enhance both the global competitiveness of u.s. business and the u.s. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity.

Public Benefit
10
United States Pharmacopeial Convention

Usp's mission is to improve global health through public standards and related programs that help ensure the quality, safety, and benefit of medicines and foods.

Health
11
National Public Radio Inc

National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…

Arts & Culture
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Medecins Sans Frontieres Usa Inc; the most unlike its peers is The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 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

15 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. 15 of the 21 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
9/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RAD-AID INTERNATIONAL INC: $75,000 · HealthRAD-AID INTERNATIONAL INC+1 more: $2,000 · HealthVITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $45,000 · InternationalVITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTN…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $10,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INCMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $4,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES …President and Fellows of Harvard College: $40,000 · EducationPresident and Fel…EDLAVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC INC: $28,100 · OtherEDLAVITCH JEWISH…LOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $3,000 · OtherLOS ANGELES REGI…+9 more: $8,516 · Other+9 moreJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $28,000 · Arts & CultureJOHN F KENNED…The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $3,800 · Arts & CultureThe United St…SHINING STARS FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Recreation & SportsAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,500 · Human Services
Health$77,000International$59,000Education$40,000Other$39,616Arts & Culture$31,800Recreation & Sports$15,000Human Services$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRAD-AID INTERNATIONAL INC: $75,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetVITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEDLAVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC INC: $28,100 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $28,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSHINING STARS FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $3,800 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLUPUS FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMARTHA'S TABLE INC: $1,016 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $1,000 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Sonnie Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sonnie Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 17%
  • Rad-Aid International Inc: 17% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 21 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Sonnie’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