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The Sumner Family Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sumner Family Foundation Inc

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.

$4.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
29
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Human Services$3.7MFood & Nutrition$1.4MCrime & Legal$1.2MHealth$1.1MInternational$1.1MEnvironment$466kEducation$323kPublic Safety & Disaster$270kOther$0
02FY2024 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k20 grants · $372k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $416k
  • $250k+6 grants · $3.2M
$15,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$143M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GIVE DIRECTLY$1,000,000
Individual grant recipient$750,000
COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF NJ$550,000
FREEDOM HOUSE$325,000
BAIL PROJECTS INC$300,000
FREEWORLD$300,000
TEWKSBURY FIRST AID SQUAD$215,000
AHS HOSPITAL$150,000
NEWARK ACADEMY$51,000
GREAT SWAMP WATERSHED ASSOCIATION$40,000
DATAKIND INC$30,000
AUTHORS LEAGUE FUND$30,000
YOUNG AUDIENCES OF NJ AND EASTERN PA$30,000
MEDIA ART XPLORATION INC$17,000
FIRST RESPONDERS CHILDRENS FOUNDATION$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.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–24, $55k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 27% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $15k → 20%LIFECAMP INC: $15k → 4%CROSSROADS4HOPE: $15k → 5%LIFECAMP: $10k → 4%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

NY
MA
IA
NJ
CT
CA
TN
DC
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 25 repeat orgs$395k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
5

Total granted

$12M
$280k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+21%

Still filing today

64%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $115k 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
EducationHuman ServicesInternationalEnvironmentHealthCrime & LegalOther
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

  • CF
    Community Food Bank Of New Jersey Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +28%
  • FREEDOM HOUSE INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $450k · revenue +41%
  • OXFAM-AMERICA INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $300k · revenue +8%

Funded once

  • IF
    INNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY ACTION A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
    one grant, 2019 · $250k · revenue +21%
  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -40%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
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
Public Media Nj Inc

To bring quality public television programs and resources to communities throughout new jersey and its tri-state neighbors. its content, both on-air and online, aims to reflect the diverse

Arts & Culture
2
Jfk Medical Associates Pa

Jfk medical associates, p.a. is committed to excellence in providing quality and compassionate healthcare services to diverse communities.

Health
3
New Jersey Policy Perspective

New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) is a nonpartisan think tank that drives policy change to advance economic, social, and racial justice through evidence-based, independent research, analysis, and strategic communications.

Arts & Culture
4
Food & Water Watch

Food & water watch conducts extensive research and public education to ensure the food and water we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. so we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of…

Food & Nutrition
5
Humc Medical Observation Pa

To serve as the physician services component of a tax-exempt healthcare delivery network and to thereby promote, support & further the charitable purposes, programs & services of hmh hospitals corp.

—
6
Fajr Scientific

To provide multi-specialty surgical care, humanitarian aid and educational support to people in low- and middle-income countries.

Science & Tech
7
New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute Inc

The Organization's mission is to improve the safety, quality, and affordability of healthcare for everyone.

—
8
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

United way's mission is to end intergenerational poverty in our region by harnessing, leveraging and strategically investing the collective power of donors, advocates and volunteers, to help individuals and families break the cycle of…

Philanthropy
9
New Jersey Psychological Association

The advancement of psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting health and human welfare in an atmosphere that supports the diversity of its members and society at large.

—
10
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
11
National Committee for Quality Assurance

Our mission: to improve the quality of health care.our vision: better health care. better choices. better health.

Health
12
The Aopa Foundation Inc

See schedule oto promote, advance and encourage aviation and airport safety and security and the research and testing in the support thereof; to educate the public and users of the national air transportation system to the value and…

Public Safety & Disaster
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Far Hills Country Day School; the most unlike its peers is New Jersey Conservation 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

25 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. 25 of the 37 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
14/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $1,500,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientFREEWORLD: $800,000 · OtherFREEWORLDATLANTIC HEALTH SYSTEM INC: $600,000 · OtherATLANTIC HEALTH SYSTEM INCOXFAM: $500,000 · OtherOXFAMTEWKSBURY FIRST AID SQUAD: $225,000 · OtherINNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY ACTION A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $250,000 · OtherINNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY ACTION A NONPROFIT…+16 more: $717,500 · Other+16 moreGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $3,650,000 · Human ServicesGIVEDIRECTLY INC+3 more: $55,000 · Human ServicesCommunity Food Bank Of New Jersey Inc: $1,400,000 · Food & NutritionCommunity Foo…THE BAIL PROJECT INC: $1,200,000 · Crime & LegalTHE BAIL PR…+1 more: $15,000 · Crime & LegalFREEDOM HOUSE INC: $450,000 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $20,000 · HealthNEW JERSEY CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $378,650 · EnvironmentGreat Swamp Watershed Association: $40,000 · EnvironmentRARITAN HEADWATERS ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · EnvironmentOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $300,000 · InternationalTHE SOMO PROJECT: $35,000 · International+1 more: $10,000 · International
Other$4,592,500Human Services$3,705,000Food & Nutrition$1,400,000Crime & Legal$1,215,000Health$470,000Environment$438,650International$345,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $3,650,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetCommunity Food Bank Of New Jersey Inc: $1,400,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BAIL PROJECT INC: $1,200,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetFREEDOM HOUSE INC: $450,000 over 4y, 7.5% of budgetNEW JERSEY CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $378,650 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetINNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY ACTION A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $250,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNEWARK ACADEMY: $153,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFAR HILLS COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $120,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetDATAKIND INC: $60,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetGreat Swamp Watershed Association: $40,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetOLDWICK FIRE COMPANY INC: $35,000 over 3y, 8.5% of budgetTHE SOMO PROJECT: $35,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetMane Stream Inc: $25,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetLIFE CAMP INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetRARITAN HEADWATERS ASSOCIATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetKENT PLACE SCHOOL: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFROM HOUSES TO HOMES - GUATEMALA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetNational Law Enforcement and Firefighters Childrens Foundation: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPRESCHOOL ADVANTAGE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetCROSSROADS4HOPE: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPEO Foundation: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $10,000 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.

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.

Community Foundation …Chubb Charitable Foun…The Hyde and Watson F…Bristol-Myers Squibb …Verizon FoundationMillrace FoundationThe Tyler FoundationThe McJ Amelior Found…Investors Foundation …The Robert Wood Johns…Meerwarth Family Foun…The Risor Foundation
Community Foundation of New JerseyNJ24.1× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of New Jersey · Chubb Charitable Foundation · The Hyde and Watson Foundation · Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Inc · Verizon Foundation · Millrace Foundation · The Tyler Foundation · The McJ Amelior Foundation · Investors Foundation Inc · The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation · Meerwarth Family Foundation · The Risor 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 Sumner Family Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sumner Family Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Raritan Headwaters Association: 94% of income from government
  • Freedom House Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Life Camp Inc: 4% of income from government
  • CROSSROADS4HOPE: 1% of income from government
  • Mane Stream Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
6report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Sumner Family Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Sumner Family Foundation Inc 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 37 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 Sumner Family’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