Skip to content

· Private foundation

The Sperry Fund

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$741k
Granted FY2025still arriving
80
Grants FY2025still arriving
19
States reached
$75k
Largest
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.

Education$4.5MArts & Culture$350kAnimals$175kEnvironment$50kCivil Rights$30kInternational$25kHealth$1k
02FY2025 · 80 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k55 grants · $298k
  • $10k–50k24 grants · $368k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
$6,000
Median grant
19
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER$75,000
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY$25,000
FRIENDS OF FAFG$25,000
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ITF REMY ODDENYO$20,000
ASSOCIATE ALUMNAE OF DOUGLASS COLLEGE$20,000
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ITF ELEUTRIO DUARTE$20,000
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST ITF SHIVAN KAITESI KAMUGISHA$18,000
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY ITF ADRIANA GONZALES$15,000
SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY ITF CHRISTINA HAILPERIN$15,000
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ITF AHMED TABBAKH$15,000
OXFORD UNIVERSITY ITF REGINA KONG$15,000
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ITF GOLD CARSON$15,000
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO ITF KATHRYN COOK$15,000
MAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN ITF CAITLIN PERRIGO$15,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY ITF HAILEY ROCHIN$15,000
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.

US giving: 89% of grant dollars ($4.6M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 11% that went abroad ($544k) is mapped below.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 90% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ITF AMATA INSHUTI: $18k → 15%THE FLETCHER SCHOOL ITF RAMI BLAIR: $15k → 8%PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER: $75k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST ITF SHIVAN KAITESI KAMUGISHA: $18k → 12%HARVARD UNIVERSITY ITF DYLAN KAHN: $15k → 12%HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $20k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ITF SARA ABOU RASHED: $15k → 16%STANFORD UNIVERSITY ITF HAILEY ROCHIN: $15k → 8%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY ITF SEBASTIAN PUERTA: $15k → 10%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ ITF NASEEBA SIDAT: $18k → 13%BARD COLLEGE ITF JOSHUA MASSEY: $15k → 9%THE GRADUATE CENTER CUNY ITF ORUNIMA CHAKRABORTI: $15k → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $25k → 28%UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO ITF KATHRYN COOK: $15k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ITF SARA ABOU RASHED: $15k → 14%MICHIGAN STATE ITF SAMUEL AYEBARE: $18k → 16%PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY ITF ANNIE THOMAS: $15k → 12%YALE LAW SCHOOL ITF KATEEYA WOOTEN: $15k → 12%LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS ITF BETANYA MAHARY: $15k → 13%INDIANA UNIVERSITY ITF MALLORY CARNES: $15k → 18%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ITF KATHRYN FUNDERBURG: $15k → 19%ASSOCIATE ALUMNAE OF DOUGLASS COLLEGE: $20k → 8%RUTGERS - NEWARK ITF CAROLINE SCHMIDT: $15k → 16%FRIENDS OF FAFG: $25k → 6%NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART: $125k → 11%TOWNSON UNIVERSITY ITF MEGAN LOVELY: $15k → 11%SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY ITF CHRISTINA HAILPERIN: $15k → 7%MAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN ITF CAITLIN PERRIGO: $15k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ITF AMATA INSHUTI: $18k → 15%PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER: $75k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST ITF SHIVAN KAITESI KAMUGISHA: $18k → 12%STANFORD UNIVERSITY ITF BRYN EVANS: $15k → 8%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY ITF ADRIANA GONZALES: $15k → 10%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ ITF NASEEBA SIDAT: $18k → 13%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $25k → 28%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ITF SAMUEL AYEBARE: $18k → 16%NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART: $125k → 11%PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER: $75k → 10%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $25k → 28%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ITF ELEUTRIO DUARTE: $20k → 10%NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART: $100k → 11%TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $75k → 10%HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER INC: $25k → 9%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $20k → 28%HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER INC: $25k → 9%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $20k → 28%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $20k → 28%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $20k → 28%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
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
TN
NC
DC
LA
GA
TX
FL

Beyond the US: 11% of all-years giving ($544k)

4 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
United Kingdom$470k · 67 grants
Canada$33k · 4 grants
Portugal$22k · 2 grants
Australia$20k · 1 grant
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

55%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 109 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

109 repeat relationships: 32 still active in FY2025, 77 since wound down; 46 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

109
257

Total granted

$2.9M
$1.9M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+27%

Still filing today

2%
2%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 46% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $398k 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
EducationAnimalsArts & CultureEnvironmentInternationalOther
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

  • NG
    NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
    2× · 2019–2020 · $250k
  • PA
    PHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER
    3× · 2022–2025 · $225k
  • WC
    Wildlife Conservation Society
    7× · 2019–2025 · $155k · revenue +52%

Funded once

  • NG
    National Gallery of Art
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +6%
  • TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY
    one grant, 2024 · $75k · revenue 0%
  • HM
    HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $20k · revenue +133%
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
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
2
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
3
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
4
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
7
Phillips Exeter Academy

Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. [text in quotations is taken from the academy's deed of gift, drafted in 1781] knowledge and goodness "above all, it is expected that the attention…

Education
8
The Trustees of Mount Holyoke College

Located in south hadley, massachusetts, mount holyoke college is a highly selective, nondenominational, residential, research liberal arts college for women that is gender-diverse and welcomes applications from female, transgender, and…

Education
9
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
10
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The mission of the institute has remained constant since its founding in 1953. as its restated articles of incorporation state the primary purpose and objective of the howard hughes medical institute shall be the promotion of human…

Health
11
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
12
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Southern New Hampshire University; the most unlike its peers is Haley Family Foundation. 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

12 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. 12 of the 412 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
6/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART: $250,000 · OtherNATIONAL GALLERY OF ARTPHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER: $225,000 · OtherPHILLIPS ACADEMY ANDOVER+189 more: $3,214,290 · Other+189 moreWildlife Conservation Society: $155,000 · AnimalsHAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · AnimalsTRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $75,000 · EducationAssociate Alumnae of Douglass College: $20,000 · EducationMAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $15,000 · EducationSouthern New Hampshire University: $15,000 · EducationNational Gallery of Art: $100,000 · Arts & CultureHUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER INC: $50,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF FAFG INC: $25,000 · International
Other$3,689,290Animals$175,000Education$125,000Arts & Culture$100,000Environment$50,000International$25,000

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%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $155,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetNational Gallery of Art: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER INC: $50,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetAssociate Alumnae of Douglass College: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetHAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMAINE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSouthern New Hampshire University: $15,000 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.

  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
  • Who funds National Gallery of Art ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF FAFG INC ↗

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 Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC9.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Sperry Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sperry Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get 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 · 0–15%
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 Sperry Fund?

Find your warmest path to The Sperry Fund 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 412 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 Sperry’s filings →

More from the funding graph