Massachusetts · Nonprofit
SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK
SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK (Massachusetts) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,808,284 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,003,160). 14 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 FY2024
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Scholars Strategy Network does
Mission
To seek to improve public policy and strengthen democracy by organizing scholars working in america's colleges and universities, and connecting scholars and their research to policymakers, citizens associations, and the media.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
To improve public policy and strengthen democracy by organizing scholars in america's colleges and universities, and connecting scholars and their research to policy makers, civic organizations, and the media.
$2,789,830 spent$90,490 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,789,830.
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 2021 to 2022, from $3.3M to $4.8M (+49%).
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.
91% of SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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
Robert Bowditch
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 9 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $2.5M.
8 of 20 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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK’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
SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
64% 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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 30% · 2019 42% · 2020 52% · 2021 24% · 2022 64% · 2023 40% — 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
24% of SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK'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 $6.8M that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M 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.
Against its field
SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 175 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 175 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15 on record.
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $15
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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
33%
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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK: 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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK?
- SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK (Massachusetts) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,808,284 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,003,160). 14 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 SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $17,808,284 in grants to SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $7,003,160 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SCHOLARS STRATEGY NETWORK 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 20 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