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Delaware · Nonprofit

SANFORD SCHOOL

SANFORD SCHOOL (Delaware) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,186,419 to it, the largest being THE DAVENPORT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,410,014). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$24M
Funders on record
35
Grants received
$7.2M
Net assets
$33M
26/35 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 6%
01What it does

What Sanford School does

Mission

An independent coeducational school preschool to 12th grade. Our ultimate goal is to teach students in order to prepare them to meet the demands and responsibilities of the future.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Provide quality education for students in primary and secondary education settings (preschool to 12th grade)

    $17,108,739 spentof which $5,022,703 as grants$19,138,002 earned by the program
    97% of program spending
  2. Auxiliary services and programs - bookstore, food service, summer programs, extended day

    $446,630 spent$541,263 earned by the program
    3% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $17,555,369.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($15M) Expenses 100 ($15M) Net assets 100 ($22M)2018 Revenue 103 ($16M) Expenses 103 ($16M) Net assets 102 ($22M)2019 Revenue 107 ($17M) Expenses 107 ($17M) Net assets 102 ($22M)2020 Revenue 116 ($18M) Expenses 107 ($17M) Net assets 110 ($24M)2021 Revenue 141 ($22M) Expenses 116 ($18M) Net assets 136 ($30M)2022 Revenue 129 ($20M) Expenses 122 ($19M) Net assets 131 ($29M)2023 Revenue 123 ($19M) Expenses 131 ($20M) Net assets 129 ($28M)2024 Revenue 148 ($23M) Expenses 136 ($21M) Net assets 141 ($31M)2025 Revenue 152 ($24M) Expenses 145 ($22M) Net assets 152 ($33M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (152)Expenses (145)Net assets (152)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $30M to $35M (+17%).

$26M
$25M
$26M
$30M
$35M
$34M
$33M
$35M
$37M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 7% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 8% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

15% of SANFORD SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,251 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$16k
’17
$18k
’18
−$37k
’19
$1.4M
’20
$3.9M
’21
$1.1M
’22
−$1.2M
’23
$1.9M
’24
$1.2M
’25
0.7
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed252728262621212528
Joined·+4+3+2+5+0+2+7+4
No longer listed·22455231
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $625k → $1.1M.

12 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 SANFORD SCHOOL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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

SANFORD SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

40% 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 SANFORD SCHOOL.

34%
largest funder
64%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 63% · 2019 36% · 2020 36% · 2021 38% · 2022 40% · 2023 45% — 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

63% of SANFORD SCHOOL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

SANFORD SCHOOL draws 60% of its grant income from funders outside Delaware, across 9 states in all.

MN
IL
NY
PA
NJ
VA
DE
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Delaware out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

SANFORD SCHOOL runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin5% · above the median
Months of reserve0.7mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding SANFORD SCHOOL receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $114k on record.

State$114k
22
23
24
25
26
Top programs
  • MEDICAL SERVICES$71k
  • ENERGY SAVINGS PROGRAM$35k
  • ATHLETIC SERVICES$7k
  • OTHER RENTAL$750

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 SANFORD SCHOOL

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 Delaware

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 19%Fundraising 2%

Governance

22
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Sanford Home and School Association · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SANFORD SCHOOL: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 SANFORD SCHOOL?
SANFORD SCHOOL (Delaware) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,186,419 to it, the largest being THE DAVENPORT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,410,014). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does SANFORD SCHOOL have?
IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $7,186,419 in grants to SANFORD SCHOOL, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SANFORD SCHOOL?
THE DAVENPORT FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,410,014 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SANFORD SCHOOL find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. 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 Sanford School →

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 35 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