New York · Nonprofit
Little Sun Inc
Little Sun Inc (New York) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,479,191 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND ($2,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $13k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $4.5M
- Net assets
- $209k
What Little Sun Inc does
Mission
To design and deliver affordable clean energy solutions and to inspire people to take climate action.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Community Public Art Initiatives - We believe that in order to create a world that thrives, we must urgently shift our perspective and turn conversations often centered around fear and data, into conversations that center on feeling and hope for all. Little Sun invests in public culture programs in Senegal, engaging artists and creative voices to craft new narratives about renewable energy and climate action, to create new spaces in their communities that inspire and ignite the imagination.
$176,979 spent22% of program spendingEntrepreneurship and Employment Development - Each of the 38-50 farmers who utilize the hub undergoes a thorough onboarding process and is fully registered in the system. In order to develop employment opportunities and new market linkages at hub sites, as well as creating employment opportunities at Lusaka HQ, we seek to impact communities in multiple ways and create prototypes for the opening of future hubs.
$22,030 spent3% of program spendingSolar Lighting Systems for Homes - Sales and installation of solar home systems in the Mumbwa, Zambia rural community. This program allows participating families to light their households and businesses to stay secure and open after dark. Little Sun Zambia employs local individuals for sales and system maintenance. Little Sun also launched a MESH system that enables homes to provide surplus solar energy to nearby buildings.
$357,901 spentof which $651,777 as grants45% of program spendingFood Security- Providing funding and equipment to aid local food production, primarily focusing on improving livelihoods of local farmers without electricity. Program provides solar powered egg incubation, rice milling, irrigation to local communities in sub saharan Africa.
Health - Providing solar powered devices to community health facilities in rutal areas that do not have access to electricity. Providing Integrated solar development projects in remote countries to facilitate lighting, cold storage, and providing power to medical devices and labratory services.
Other Program Services
$240,746 spent30% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $797,656.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $2.6M to $1.1M (−58%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
John Heller
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $50k → $1.0M.
6 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 96% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Little Sun Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Little Sun Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
96% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Little Sun Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 88% · 2021 36% · 2022 45% · 2023 98% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
25% of Little Sun Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
96% of Little Sun Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $171k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like Little Sun Inc
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
26%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Little Sun Inc: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Little Sun Inc?
- Little Sun Inc (New York) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,479,191 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND ($2,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Little Sun Inc have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $4,479,191 in grants to Little Sun Inc, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Little Sun Inc?
- JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Little Sun Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Little Sun →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 13 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing