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The Sparkplug Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sparkplug Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$668k
Granted FY2024still arriving
43
Grants FY2024still arriving
16
States reached
$63k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Civil Rights$1.0MCrime & Legal$539kArts & Culture$349kHousing & Shelter$263kCommunity Improvement$250kEducation$232kEnvironment$222kYouth Development$196kOther$0
02FY2024 · 43 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k34 grants · $569k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $63k
$15,000
Median grant
16
States reached
$7.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INSTITUTE FOR THE CRITICAL STUDY OF$62,976
PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS FOR JUSTICE$20,700
CO-OP HUDSON VALLEY$20,000
MUSLIM ALLIANCE FOR SEXUAL AND$20,000
THE BLACK OUT COLLECTIVE$20,000
PEOPLESHUB$20,000
ALYSSA RODRIGUEZ CENTER FOR GENDER$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
FOSTER ADVOCATES$20,000
CHRISTIANS FOR A FREE PALESTINE$20,000
OPEN HEARTS INITIATIVE$20,000
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS FUND$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
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 (FY17–24, $248k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 74% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PIONEER VALLEY WORKERS CENTER: $15k → 12%FOSTER ADVOCATES: $20k → 14%WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $15k → 10%Columbia County Sanctuary Movement: $10k → 11%PROYECTO FARO: $15k → 14%ALLIANCE FOR FAIR FOOD: $20k → 10%THE BLACK BUTTERFLY COLLECTIVE: $10k → 18%Juvenile Justice Coalition: $10k → 15%COOPERATION JACKSON: $5k → 23%LA CASITA CENTER: $15k → 15%WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $15k → 10%WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $15k → 10%Columbia County Sanctuary Movement: $10k → 11%THE NILES FOUNDATION: $15k → 14%YA-YA NETWORK: $20k → 17%Asian American Resource Workshop: $10k → 16%Asian American Resource Workshop: $8k → 16%LAUNDRY WORKERS CENTER: $20k → 17%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

ME
VT
NH
WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
SD
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
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 6% of The Sparkplug Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 30% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 28%.

The Sparkplug Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 6.9% 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.

14%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$612k · 20 repeat orgs$3.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +432% since the first grant, against +20% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 38 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
262

Total granted

$612k
$3.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+432%
+20%

Still filing today

35%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 14% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $560k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationCrime & LegalCivil RightsArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • WR
    Western Regional Advocacy Project
    3× · 2019–2024 · $45k · revenue +153%
  • ME
    MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE
    4× · 2018–2024 · $45k · revenue +687%
  • WF
    WESPAC FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2017–2020 · $30k · revenue ×11

Funded once

  • SA
    SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +156%
  • GI
    G-8 Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $30k
  • IP
    INTERFAITH PEACE BUILDERS
    one grant, 2022 · $30k
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
Fuerza LaboralPower of Workers

Fuerza Laboral is a workers' rights center whose mission is to shift the balance of power in our economy in favor of workers by educating, training, and organizing workers to become community leaders; taking direct action to recover unpaid…

Education
2
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
3
Fair Work Center

We are workers, united across different industries to improve our working conditions and our lives. We come together as working people to build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in…

Employment
4
Detention Watch Network

Detention Watch Network seeks to end the cruel system of immigration detention via programs of grassroots organizing, strategic communications, and collective advocacy.

Human Services
5
Workers Center for Racial Just Nfp

The mission of the Workers Center For Racial Justice is to eliminate structural barriers to sustainable and living wage

Civil Rights
6
National Legal Advocacy Network Dba Glow

The National Legal Advocacy Network d/b/a Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers is a legal non-profit organization dedicated to using legal strategies as a tool to build power for marginalized workers and create systemic change through…

Crime & Legal
7
Philadelphia Area Jobs With Justice

Building support for the rights of working people through coalitions of labor and community and through public education.

Employment
8
Worker Justice Center of New York Inc

Worker Justice Center of New York, Inc. (WJCNY) pusues juistice for those denied hian rights, with a focus on agricultural and other low-wage workers, through legal representation, community empowerment and advocacy for institutional…

Crime & Legal
9
Justice Funders

Serve as a partner, educator, and guide for philanthropy in reimagining practices that advance a thriving and just world.

—
10
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
11
Colectiva Legal Del Pueblo

Colectiva Legal del Pueblo is a non-hierarchal collective organization founded for and by undocumented immigrants working to build community leadership and power for migrant justice through legal services, advocacy and education.

Civil Rights
12
Justice Action Center

Justice Action Center JAC pilots an innovative model that advances the rights of immigrant communities by connecting cutting-edge impact litigation and compelling narrative and communications content. The purpose of JAC is to advance the…

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Lower 9TH Ward Homeownership Association. 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

133 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 133 of the 324 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)
47
Early backer (in before they grew)
124/133
Grantees still filing
76/133
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

INSTITUTE FOR THE CRITICAL STUDY OF: $89,485 · Other+149 more: $2,443,602 · Other+149 moreWestern Regional Advocacy Project: $45,000 · Human ServicesALLIANCE FOR FAIR FOOD: $20,000 · Human ServicesLaundry Workers Center Inc: $20,000 · Human ServicesCOLUMBIA COUNTY SANCTUARY MOVEMENT INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesCOOPERATION JACKSON OF MISSISSIPPI: $20,000 · Human ServicesYA-YA NETWORK INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesFoster Advocates: $20,000 · Human ServicesASIAN AMERICAN RESOURCE WORKSHOP INC: $17,500 · Human ServicesPROYECTO FARO INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesPIONEER VALLEY WORKERS CENTER INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesLA CASITA CENTER INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesTHE NILES FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Human ServicesCHAINBREAKER COLLECTIVE: $10,000 · Human ServicesJUVENILE JUSTICE COALITION: $10,000 · Human ServicesMIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $44,500 · InternationalNEW ISRAEL FUND: $25,000 · InternationalAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $20,150 · InternationalPeace Development Fund: $20,000 · InternationalIF NOT NOW EDUCATION FUND: $15,000 · InternationalPALESTINIAN AMERICAN RESEARCH CENTER: $11,700 · InternationalHELPING EDUCATE TO ADVANCE THE RIGHTS OF THE DEAF: $20,000 · Crime & LegalEQUITY LEGAL SERVICES INC: $20,000 · Crime & LegalAustin Community Law Center: $15,000 · Crime & LegalELEPHANT CIRCLE: $15,000 · Crime & LegalfinEQUITY Inc: $15,000 · Crime & LegalWOMEN AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION IN: $15,000 · Crime & LegalReturn Strong: $12,500 · Crime & LegalPAROLE PREPARATION PROJECT INC: $11,049 · Crime & LegalTexas Fair Defense Project: $10,000 · Crime & LegalDISSENTERS: $27,000 · Education4DASOIL: $20,000 · EducationKULANIAKEA: $15,000 · EducationSchool Board School: $15,000 · EducationGENTE ORGANIZADA: $12,300 · EducationThe Tenant Education Network: $12,000 · EducationPROJECT NEW YORKER CORPORATION: $10,000 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $10,000 · EducationTEACHERS UNITE INC: $10,000 · EducationFAMILIES FOR FREEDOM INC: $25,000 · Civil RightsALABAMA COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE UNITED: $20,000 · Civil RightsPhilly Black Worker Project: $20,000 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: $17,000 · Civil RightsVOCES CIUDADANAS INC: $15,000 · Civil RightsMOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE IN EL BARRIO INC: $15,000 · Civil RightsNorCal Resist: $10,000 · Civil RightsSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $50,000 · EnvironmentGREENROOTS INC: $15,000 · EnvironmentFAIR FUTURE MOVEMENT INC: $12,000 · Environment350 Seattle: $10,000 · EnvironmentCLEAN AIR COALITION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC: $10,000 · Environment
Other$2,533,087Human Services$262,500International$136,350Crime & Legal$133,549Education$131,300Civil Rights$122,000Environment$97,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWestern Regional Advocacy Project: $45,000 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetMIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $44,500 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetWESPAC FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetDISSENTERS: $27,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetBLACK ALLIANCE FOR JUST IMMIGRATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFAMILIES FOR FREEDOM INC: $25,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $20,150 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetALABAMA COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE UNITED: $20,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetALLIANCE FOR FAIR FOOD: $20,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetTHE WORKING WORLD INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHELPING EDUCATE TO ADVANCE THE RIGHTS OF THE DEAF: $20,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetLaundry Workers Center Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetCOLUMBIA COUNTY SANCTUARY MOVEMENT INC: $20,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetPhilly Black Worker Project: $20,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetBACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO: $20,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetPeace Development Fund: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetEQUITY LEGAL SERVICES INC: $20,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetCOOPERATION JACKSON OF MISSISSIPPI: $20,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetABOUT FACE VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR: $20,000 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetCENTRO PARA LA RECONSTRUCCION DEL HABITAT: $20,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetYA-YA NETWORK INC: $20,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetHOUSING JUSTICE LEAGUE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 7.2% of budget4DASOIL: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFoster Advocates: $20,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetASIAN AMERICAN RESOURCE WORKSHOP INC: $17,500 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: $17,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ORANGE INC: $15,175 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetSTONE QUARRY HILL ART PARK INC: $15,020 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetPROYECTO FARO INC: $15,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF LANE COUNTY: $15,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetBE A HERO EDUCATION FUND INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetHOUSE OUR NEIGHBORS EDUCATION FUND: $15,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetArab American Action Network: $15,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetORGANIZING NEIGHBORHOOD EQUITY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCENTER FOR TRANSFORMATIVE ACTION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFOOD CHAIN WORKERS ALLIANCE: $15,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetMissouri Workers Center: $15,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetPIONEER VALLEY WORKERS CENTER INC: $15,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetLA CASITA CENTER INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetMOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE IN EL BARRIO INC: $15,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetPROGRESSIVE TECHNOLOGY PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetKULANIAKEA: $15,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetELEPHANT CIRCLE: $15,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetfinEQUITY Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetWOMEN AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION IN: $15,000 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetENCAMPMENT FOR CITIZENSHIP: $15,000 over 1y, 3.8% 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.

  • Who funds SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC ↗
  • Who funds Western Regional Advocacy Project ↗
  • Who funds MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds WESPAC FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds DISSENTERS ↗
  • Who funds BLACK ALLIANCE FOR JUST IMMIGRATION ↗
  • Who funds FAMILIES FOR FREEDOM INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW ISRAEL FUND ↗
  • Who funds Alliance for Global Justice Corp ↗
  • Who funds ALABAMA COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE UNITED ↗
  • Who funds ALLIANCE FOR FAIR FOOD ↗
  • Who funds THE WORKING WORLD INC ↗
  • Who funds CORRECTIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds HELPING EDUCATE TO ADVANCE THE RIGHTS OF THE DEAF ↗
  • Who funds Laundry Workers Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds COLUMBIA COUNTY SANCTUARY MOVEMENT INC ↗
  • Who funds Philly Black Worker Project ↗

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.

Amalgamated Charitabl…Proteus Fund IncBen & Jerry's Foundat…North Star Fund IncBorealis PhilanthropyNew York FoundationNEO Philanthropy IncSolidaire Network IncTides FoundationTides CenterCommon Counsel Founda…The Ford Foundation
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC73.8× affinity59 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Proteus Fund Inc · Ben & Jerry's Foundation Inc · North Star Fund Inc · Borealis Philanthropy · New York Foundation · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Solidaire Network Inc · Tides Foundation · Tides Center · Common Counsel Foundation · The Ford 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 Sparkplug Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sparkplug Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Pioneer Valley Workers Center Inc: 53% of income from government
  • The Education & Training Institute Inc: 19% of income from government
  • Community Alliance of Lane County: 7% of income from government
  • Greenroots Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Asian American Resource Workshop Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Chainless Change Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
29report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.

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 324 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 Sparkplug’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