Massachusetts · Nonprofit
Polistes Foundation Inc
Polistes Foundation Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $20,000 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($20,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $274k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $20k
- Net assets
- $87k
What Polistes Foundation Inc does
Mission
Our mission is to assemble and share knowledge about nature in order to improve education, health, agriculture, economic development, and conservation throughout the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
American Petroleum Institute Grant- Penn State - Bee studies, e.g. classification, species tracking. Web site creation - results, public access links. Drone technology being used. Total grant $138,700- two year project timeline.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Bee Studies/Bee Lab Project (USGS Cooperative Agreement)- BumbleBee Project - Patuxent Wildlife Center Bee Studies. Collected, processed, cataloged, IT entry - native bee specimens from Integrated Bee Samples into Polistes WEB portal. additional bee specimen cataloging and identification with contract research scientists. USGS Bee Lab Project: Continued implementing the outreach strategy to current and prospective state, federal, and tribal partners who have interest and capacity to participate in pollinator science activities with USGS scientists and programs, such as CRUs and the USGS Bee Lab. * Engaged current and prospective partners to discover their interests, needs, and gaps to formulate suggestions for integrating appropriate collaborative research opportunities identified by partners and prospective partners into the project.
$127,451 spentof which $76,789 as grants49% of program spendingDiscoverlife - Shoal Creek Sanctuary. Continued System maintenance www.discoverlife.org with SHSU. Moth Collection, identification fieldwork. Shoal Creek Sanctuary invasive species cleanup services using local volunteers. Installed bee collection units. Provided local sanctuary tours for churches, Georgia conservation groups. Published materials for free distribution.
$61,631 spentof which $43,500 as grants24% of program spendingStatistical analysis work on Native and Nonnative Bee and Wasp Survey. Continued statistical surveys, analaysis 2024-2025 for Penn. Dept. of Agriculture. Consultant processing results.
$10,793 spentof which $10,000 as grants4% of program spendingAmerican Petroleum Institute -Project components included AI analysis of drone imagery, including plant identification, pollinator habitat evaluation, and field verification. Project partners include US Geological Survey and The Pennsylvania State University.
$59,442 spentof which $138,700 as grants23% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $259,317.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2022 to 2023, from $39k to $94k (+139%).
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: 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Polistes Foundation Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Dr John Pickering
President CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 Polistes Foundation 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.
Where its funders are
100% of Polistes Foundation 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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $20k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Polistes Foundation Inc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Polistes Foundation Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $639k on record.
- Department of the Interior$527k
- Department of Agriculture$112k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Polistes Foundation 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
96% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 Polistes Foundation 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 Polistes Foundation Inc?
- Polistes Foundation Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $20,000 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($20,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Polistes Foundation Inc have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $20,000 in grants to Polistes Foundation Inc.
- Who is the largest funder of Polistes Foundation Inc?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $20,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Polistes Foundation Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Polistes →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 1 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