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The Sterling Donor Advised Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Sterling Donor Advised Fund

Educate the general public and nonprofit organizations to encourage charitable giving in all forms beneficial to nonprofit charitable organizations.

$2.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
39
Grants FY2024still arriving
13
States reached
$600k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$8.8MEducation$5.8MReligion$4.6MHealth$4.4MArts & Culture$1.6MYouth Development$1.5MInternational$1.3MHuman Services$1.0MOther$0
02FY2024 · 39 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 39 grants below total $1,812,250, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,327,509 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $515,259 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k29 grants · $467k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $745k
  • $250k+1 grant · $600k
$20,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$56M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ROOTS OF HUMANITY FOUNDATION$600,000
YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION$170,000
CHEHALIS FOUNDATION$100,000
DISCOVER CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$100,000
ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST$100,000
DIOCESE OF METUCHEN-BISHOP'S ANNUAL APPEAL FOUNDATION$70,000
JUNIOR STATE OF AMERICA$55,000
BEST BUDDIES$50,000
CENTRAL FUND OF ISRAEL$50,000
THE STANFORD JEWISH CENTER$50,000
KEHILLAT MA'ALAV$30,000
AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE$25,000
FOUNDATION TO ERADICATE DUCHENNE$25,000
INCLINE VILLAGE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$25,000
WING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$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 (FY17–23, $980k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MITCHELL THORP FOUNDATION: $865k → 11%DESTINATION TOMORROW: $10k → 28%US INSTITUTE AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING: $27k → 13%DRESSEMBER FOUNDATION: $3k → 13%ONE22 INC: $8k → 5%DESTINATION TOMORROW: $8k → 28%GOOD NEWS RESCUE MISSION: $35k → 14%GOOD NEWS RESCUE MISSION: $15k → 14%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $10k → 10%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
WA
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
DC
HI
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $430k on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 3 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$198k · 46% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: GENERAL SUPPORT

Middle East and North Africa$158k · 37% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: IMPLEMENTATION OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL TRAINING IN THE KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ

South America$75k · 17% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: GENERAL SUPPORT

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
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 23% of The Sterling Donor Advised Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Sterling Donor Advised Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
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.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 35 repeat orgs$9.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +18% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

35 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 20 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
45

Total granted

$12M
$8.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+7%

Still filing today

86%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $661k 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesInternationalReligionOther
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 CENTER FOR EARLY EDUCATION
    2× · 2018–2019 · $2.0M · revenue +10%
  • NY
    New York University
    2× · 2018–2019 · $500k · revenue +59%
  • Indiana University Foundation
    2× · 2017–2023 · $110k · revenue +97%

Funded once

  • LC
    LEGACY CHURCH INC
    one grant, 2017 · $3.7M
  • UI
    UCB International Ministries
    one grant, 2018 · $1.0M · revenue -77% · 90% of their budget
  • RC
    ROTARY CLUB OF ESCONDIDO AFTER FIVE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $965k
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
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
2
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
3
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
4
Uc Santa Barbara Foundation

The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…

Education
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
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
7
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
8
Ucla Foundation

The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

Education
9
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
10
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
11
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
12
Boston Architectural College

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

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Center for Early Education; the most unlike its peers is Boothbay Region Housing Trust. 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

86 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. 86 of the 105 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.

9
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
84/86
Grantees still filing
43/86
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNITED CHARITABLE: $8,450,335 · PhilanthropyUNITED CHARITABLEROTARY CLUB OF ESCONDIDO AFTER FIVE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $965,250 · PhilanthropyROTARY CLUB OF ESCONDIDO AFTER FIVE …+4 more: $313,853 · PhilanthropyLEGACY CHURCH INC: $3,707,000 · OtherLEGACY CHURCH INCBRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY-HAWAII: $2,150,000 · OtherBRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY-HAWAIIBRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY: $500,000 · OtherBRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITYCAMPBELL HALL -EPISCOPAL-: $300,000 · Other+51 more: $2,263,540 · Other+51 moreFRIENDS OF FACES: $4,259,139 · HealthFRIENDS OF FACESAMPELIS FOUNDATION: $300,000 · HealthAMPELIS FOUNDATIO…+8 more: $125,500 · HealthTHE CENTER FOR EARLY EDUCATION: $2,000,000 · EducationTHE CENTER …New York University: $500,000 · EducationNew York Un…Indiana University Foundation: $110,000 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT FOUNDATION INC: $101,795 · Education+10 more: $267,000 · Education+10 moreRoots Of Humanity Foundation Inc: $877,200 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $100,000 · Arts & CultureTHE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETYORPHEON INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureDISCOVER CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $100,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $75,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $65,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE FOUNDATION: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $48,000 · Arts & CultureUCB International Ministries: $1,038,310 · ReligionGENEROSITY FOUNDATION: $218,148 · Religion+1 more: $1,000 · ReligionMitchell Thorp Foundation: $864,909 · Human ServicesGOOD NEWS RESCUE MISSION: $50,000 · Human Services+5 more: $65,000 · Human Services
Philanthropy$9,729,438Other$8,920,540Health$4,684,639Education$2,978,795Arts & Culture$1,425,200Religion$1,257,458Human Services$979,909

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNITED CHARITABLE: $8,450,335 over 1y, 11% of budgetFRIENDS OF FACES: $4,259,139 over 4y, 68% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR EARLY EDUCATION: $2,000,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetUCB International Ministries: $1,038,310 over 1y, 90% of budgetRoots Of Humanity Foundation Inc: $877,200 over 3y, 7.9% of budgetNew York University: $500,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREAT LIFE MENTORING: $280,000 over 1y, 47% of budgetAMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $255,370 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGENEROSITY FOUNDATION: $218,148 over 2y, 53% of budgetTHE CHEHALIS FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetYoung America's Foundation: $170,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetIndiana University Foundation: $110,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT FOUNDATION INC: $101,795 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBest Buddies International Inc: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETYORPHEON INC: $100,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetCentral Fund of Israel: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDISCOVER CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $100,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetJUNIOR STATE OF AMERICA: $80,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetAMHERST COLLEGE TRUSTEES: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association Boothbay Region: $75,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $65,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSCHOOLING FOR LIFE: $60,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetWING LUKE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetGOOD NEWS RESCUE MISSION: $50,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetRenown Health Foundation: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINCLINE VILLAGE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetQUIET ANGEL FOUNDATION: $40,967 over 1y, 16% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMerola Opera Program: $33,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBOOTHBAY REGION COMMUNITY RESOURCE COUNCIL: $32,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetLIVE LIKE CHASE PETCOVIC FOUNDATION: $28,483 over 1y, 47% of budgetNEW IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT INC: $27,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetUS INSTITUTE AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING INC: $27,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetUNITED WAY OF MID COAST MAINE INC: $26,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetKIND INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOUNDATION TO ERADICATE DUCHENNE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetREBUILDING TOGETHER-LINCOLN COUNTY: $25,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWHEATON COLLEGE: $22,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBoothbay Harbor Waterfront Preservation: $20,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetASHLAND CARE CENTER INC: $20,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDESTINATION TOMORROW INC: $17,500 over 2y, 0.3% 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.

Millennium Evergreen …Kids Connect Charitab…Schooling for LifeYouth Initiative FundTagliabue Family Foun…Century Vision Benefi…Six Talents Foundatio…Palmer Walbridge Foun…Thelma B & Thomas P H…Mildred H McEvoy Foun…American Gift FundThe Goldman Sachs Cha…
Millennium Evergreen Charitable FundMD26.3× affinity10 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Millennium Evergreen Charitable Fund · Kids Connect Charitable Fund · Schooling for Life · Youth Initiative Fund · Tagliabue Family Foundation · Century Vision Benefit Fund · Six Talents Foundation Inc · Palmer Walbridge Foundation · Thelma B & Thomas P Hart Foundation · Mildred H McEvoy Foundation · American Gift Fund · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund

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 Sterling Donor Advised Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sterling Donor Advised Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • The Maryland Food Bank Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Best Buddies International Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Amherst College Trustees: 0% of income from government
  • Wheaton College: 0% of income from government
  • Ave Maria University Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Sterling Donor Advised Fund?

Find your warmest path to The Sterling Donor Advised 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 105 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 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 Sterling Donor Advised’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