New Jersey · Nonprofit
NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC
NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC (New Jersey) receives grants from 102 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,627,319 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,874,502). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.4M
- Funders on record
- 102
- Grants received
- $7.6M
- Net assets
- $10.0M
What New Jersey Seeds Inc does
Mission
New jersey seeds (scholars, educators, excellence, dedication, success) is a nonprofit organization that prepares motivated, high-achieving, low-income students for admission to private schools and colleges across the country. Our programs provide a demanding course of study designed to develop the intellectual and leadership potential of our students and prepare them for long-term success.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The scholars program is open to eligible 7th grade students who live in central and northern new jersey. Students are placed in selective day and boarding schools in the 9th grade. The young scholars program is open to eligible 4th and 5th grade students who live in the greater newark area. Students are placed in selective day and junior boarding schools in the 6th and 7th grade. Scholars and young scholars are both 14-month programs; students take classes over two summers and, on the saturdays, in between.
$1,638,022 spent50% of program spendingThe college scholars program is a 17-month immersion experience for top-performing students from public high schools within 25 miles of newark. Students spend saturdays during the spring of their junior year and all of their senior year with seeds, in addition to a three-week residential session prior to the 12th grade. Students are then placed in selective colleges and universitities.all of seeds' academic programs are free to accepted students, and transprotation is provided.
$819,012 spent25% of program spendingNj seeds' guidance program is deisgned to provide seeds graduates with academic, social and emotional support throughout their time in their placement schools. The guidance staff visits students annually and provides tailored programming for middle school, high school and college-aged students. Guidance also provides a range of services to meet the needs of seeds' graduates, including organizing college tours, arranging summer internships and hosting events.
$819,012 spent25% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,276,046.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $8.8M to $12M (+38%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 8% · 2022 11% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
John F Castano
President and CEO
Board chair
Polly Palumbo
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $426k → $1.4M.
23 of 102 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 102 funders by total. 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
NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
74% 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 NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 19% · 2019 17% · 2020 18% · 2021 22% · 2022 17% · 2023 29% — growing more concentrated.
“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
48% of NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
68% of NEW JERSEY SEEDS 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 $2.5M that is directly attributable, 51% of it comes from funders outside New Jersey, across 16 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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.
Against its field
NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC's revenue grew 55% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NEW JERSEY SEEDS 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 Jersey
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NEW JERSEY SEEDS 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 NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC?
- NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC (New Jersey) receives grants from 102 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,627,319 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,874,502). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC have?
- IRS filings report 102 organizations giving $7,627,319 in grants to NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,874,502 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NEW JERSEY SEEDS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. 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 New Jersey Seeds →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 102 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing