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The Sunlight Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sunlight Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$660
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$360
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 2025.

Health$95kPhilanthropy$31kYouth Development$4kArts & Culture$3kPublic Safety & Disaster$1kEducation$450Religion$360Human Services$250Other$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$360
Median grant
2
States reached
$296k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Hillel International$360
Individual grant recipient$300
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 23% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%The Edward Mandell Memorial Fund: $1k → 16%Nephcure Foundation: $1k → 7%HorseAbility: $500 → 6%Stein Yashiva: $750 → 9%Autism Speaks: $500 → 17%East Side Settlemet House: $250 → 28%Hillel International: $360 → 14%Naples Community Hospital: $10k → 10%Phoenix Burn Society: $300 → 11%St Jude's Children's Hospital: $100 → 17%The Edward Alyce Mandell Memorial F: $1k → 16%Nephcure Foundation: $1k → 7%Make A Wish Foundation: $8k → 6%Stein Yashiva: $500 → 9%Detectives Endowment Association: $225 → 17%Naples Community Hospital: $10k → 10%The Edward Mandell Memorial Fund: $500 → 16%Make A Wish Foundation: $8k → 6%Stein Yashiva: $400 → 9%World Jewwish Congress: $300 → 17%The Edward Mandell Memorial Fund: $300 → 16%Make A Wish Foundation: $8k → 6%Stein Yashiva: $300 → 9%Babe Foundation: $200 → 17%Northwell Health: $1k → 6%Stein Yashiva: $300 → 9%Memorial Sloan Kettering: $50 → 17%Shriber USA: $1k → 6%Student Sponsor Partners: $2k → 17%Hearts of Port Washington: $200 → 6%Student Sponsor Partners: $2k → 17%Landmark on Main Street: $100 → 6%Literacy Nassau Inc: $250 → 6%Literacy Nassau Inc: $200 → 6%Mineola Fire Department: $500 → 6%Mineola Fire Department: $200 → 6%St Francis Hospital: $14k → 6%St Francis Hospital: $13k → 6%St Francis Hospital: $12k → 6%St Francis Hospital: $12k → 6%St Francis Hospital: $10k → 6%St Francis Hospital: $10k → 6%Nassau Community Museum of Art: $500 → 6%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
PA
TN
DC
OK
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 100% of The Sunlight Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 79% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 0%.

The Sunlight Foundationlessmore 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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$129k · 11 repeat orgs$7k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
14

Total granted

$129k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+4%

Still filing today

45%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $660 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthEducationArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementPublic Safety & DisasterYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • SF
    ST FRANCIS HOSPITAL
    6× · 2017–2023 · $71k · revenue +37%
  • NC
    NAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $20k · revenue +33%
  • SP
    STUDENTSPONSOR PARTNERS INC
    2× · 2021–2023 · $3k · revenue +45%

Funded once

  • NH
    NORTHWELL HEALTH INC
    one grant, 2020 · $1k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $1k
  • TE
    The Edward Alyce Mandell Memorial F
    one grant, 2024 · $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
North Shore University Hospital

North shore university hospital is part of northwell health ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the current and future…

Health
2
Long Island Jewish Medical Center

Long island jewish medical center is part of the northwell health ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the current and…

Health
3
Lenox Hill Hospital

Lenox hill hospital is part of northwell health ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the current and future generations…

Health
4
Central Suffolk Hospital

Central suffolk hospital ("csh") d/b/a peconic bay medical center ("pbmc") is a not-for-profit hospital consisting of acute health care, a skilled nursing facility and a certified home care agency. csh provides a full range of health care…

Health
5
Northwell Healthcare Inc

Northwell healthcare inc. coordinates policy making and strategic planning by providing advisory and administrative support services to affiliated health care organizations within northwell health; whose mission is to improve the health of…

Health
6
Northern Westchester Hospital Association

Northern westchester hospital association is an affiliate within northwell health, inc. ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care;…

Health
7
South Shore University Hospital

South shore university hospital is part of northwell health ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the current and future…

Health
8
Staten Island University Hospital

Staten island university hospital is an affiliate within northwell health, inc. ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the…

Health
9
Huntington Hospital Association

Huntington hospital association's ("hospital") mission is to provide a full range of inpatient, outpatient and specialized healthcare services, regardless of a patient's ability to pay, within an environment nurtured by respect and safety.…

Health
10
Plainview Hospital

Plainview hospital is part of northwell health, inc ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the current and future…

Health
11
Glen Cove Hospital

Glen cove hospital is part of northwell health, inc. ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality geriatric care; educating the current and future…

Health
12
Northwell Health Foundation

Northwell health foundation inc. is dedicated toward helping donors, patients, and leaders link their vision and philanthropic support toward helping the underserved and uninsured, advancing the latest frontiers in medical technology and…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Naples Community Hospital Inc; the most unlike its peers is Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. 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

10 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. 10 of the 27 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ST FRANCIS HOSPITAL: $70,690 · HealthST FRANCIS HOSPITALNAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL INC: $20,000 · HealthNAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL INC+1 more: $500 · HealthMake A Wish Foundation: $24,000 · OtherMake A Wish FoundationAmerican Cancer Society: $2,800 · OtherAmerican Cancer SocietyIndividual grant recipient: $2,250 · OtherIndividual grant recipientNephcure Foundation: $2,000 · OtherThe Edward Mandell Memorial Fund: $1,800 · Other+12 more: $5,175 · Other+12 moreSTUDENTSPONSOR PARTNERS INC: $3,000 · EducationLITERACY NASSAU INC: $450 · EducationNORTHWELL HEALTH INC: $1,000 · Community ImprovementMINEOLA FIRE DEPARTMENT CORP: $700 · Public Safety & DisasterCAMP HORSEABILITY INC: $500 · Youth DevelopmentHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $360 · ReligionLANDMARK ON MAIN STREET INC: $100 · Arts & Culture
Health$91,190Other$38,025Education$3,450Community Improvement$1,000Public Safety & Disaster$700Youth Development$500Religion$360Arts & Culture$100

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 budgetST FRANCIS HOSPITAL: $70,690 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTUDENTSPONSOR PARTNERS INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMINEOLA FIRE DEPARTMENT CORP: $700 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCAMP HORSEABILITY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLITERACY NASSAU INC: $450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $360 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDETECTIVES ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION INC: $225 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLANDMARK ON MAIN STREET INC: $100 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 ST FRANCIS HOSPITAL ↗
  • Who funds NAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds STUDENTSPONSOR PARTNERS INC ↗
  • Who funds MINEOLA FIRE DEPARTMENT CORP ↗
  • Who funds CAMP HORSEABILITY INC ↗
  • Who funds AUTISM SPEAKS INC ↗
  • Who funds LITERACY NASSAU INC ↗
  • Who funds HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE ↗
  • Who funds DETECTIVES ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds LANDMARK ON MAIN STREET 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 C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC10.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments 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 Sunlight Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sunlight 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%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Naples Community Hospital Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
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 Sunlight Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Sunlight Foundation 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 27 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 Sunlight’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