Delaware · Nonprofit
SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS
SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS (Delaware) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,967,500 to it, the largest being SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION ($3,367,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $9.2M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $5.0M
- Net assets
- $7.8M
What Society for the Protection of Underground Networks does
Mission
SPUNs mission is to map and advocate for the protection of the mycorrhizal networks that regulate the Earths climate and ecosystems. (Continued Schedule O)
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
SPUNs mission is to map and advocate for the protection of the mycorrhizal networks that regulate the Earths climate and ecosystems. We accomplish this by mapping the mycorrhizal fungal networks of planet earth, advocating for the protection of underground ecosystems, and driving innovation in underground climate and biodiversity science.
$2,924,661 spentof which $429,894 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,924,661.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 $232k to $7.9M (+3291%).
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.
98% of SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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
Mark Tercek
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS’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
SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
90% 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS.
“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.
Where its funders are
SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Delaware, across 4 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $100k 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
SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 482 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 482 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS: 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 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS?
- SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS (Delaware) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,967,500 to it, the largest being SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION ($3,367,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $4,967,500 in grants to SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS?
- SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,367,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND NETWORKS 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 Society for the Protection of Underground Networks →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2023–2024), and the filings of 6 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