Connecticut · Nonprofit
SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION
SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION (Connecticut) receives grants from 706 organizations whose IRS filings report $37,692,465 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($5,105,279). 304 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $31M
- Funders on record
- 706
- Grants received
- $38M
- Net assets
- $35M
What Sandy Hook Promise Foundation does
Mission
To educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Foundation completed an asset transfer agreement with beyond differences(bd) on november 25, 2024. As part of that agreement, foundation incorporated bd programs into foundation's know the signs programs.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Sandy Hook Promise Foundation's (foundation) evidence-informed know the signs prevention programs teach youth and adults to recognize the warning signs of someone who may be in crisis, socially isolated, or at-risk of hurting themselves or others and how to get help. Foundation's programs do this by strengthening relationships between youth and adults, equipping educators with flexible training options, materials, and resources; and empowering youth to co-create, lead, and advocate for safer schools, homes, and communities. Foundation's programs also align with instructional standards for strengthening relationship skills, social awareness, responsible decision-making, and self-awareness. Foundation's programs include:- start with hello teaches youth how to minimize social isolation, empathize with others, and create a more positive school culture. - say something trains students to recognize warning signs and threats of someone who may be in crisis and at-risk of harming themselves or others and when and how to tell a trusted adult.- say something anonymous reporting system supplements the say something program by providing access to a trusted adult 24/7/365 for school…
$12,866,285 spentof which $556,819 as grants$227,811 earned by the program55% of program spendingMake the promise network and promise leader volunteers.- foundation's make the promise initiative unites and amplifies the voices of millions to protect children in advancing proven solutions to end school shootings and violence. Foundation achieves this via targeted messaging and education through advertising, public relations, digital promotions, social media, events, and speaking engagements. Foundation also builds and maintains a national grassroots network of volunteer "promise leaders" who are empowered with the skills, tools, and materials to raise awareness of the know the signs message and engage with foundation's work, advocate for structural change, and fundraise to support more prevention programs for school communities.
$10,438,582 spent45% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $23,304,867.
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 2022 to 2023, from $21M to $33M (+56%).
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: 2019 1% · 2020 11% · 2021 9% · 2022 7% · 2023 4% · 2024 5% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (95% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Matthew Bennett
Board - chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 59 funders to 270 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $6.9M.
75 of 706 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 62% 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 SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 706 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
SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
68% 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 SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 21% · 2019 13% · 2020 14% · 2021 17% · 2022 14% · 2023 16% — diversifying over time.
“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
33% of SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
62% of SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION'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 $14M that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Connecticut, across 44 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 29 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
SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 165 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 165 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.2M on record — $1.7M federal, $1.5M state.
- Department of Justice$1.7M
- MA$620k
- CT$493k
- NJ$353k
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 SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION: 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 SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION?
- SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION (Connecticut) receives grants from 706 organizations whose IRS filings report $37,692,465 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($5,105,279). 304 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 706 organizations giving $37,692,465 in grants to SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION, 304 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $5,105,279 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 706 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