Connecticut · Nonprofit
SOLAR YOUTH INC
SOLAR YOUTH INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,379,943 to it, the largest being Pincus Family Foundation ($339,650). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $786k
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $558k
What Solar Youth Inc does
Mission
To empower youth to achieve lifelong success.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Steward program: serving children aged 4-14, the after-school and summer programs follows a unique kids explore! Kids do! Kids teach! Program model, in which youth investigate their surroundings and learn about their natural environments (kids explore!), design and perform community action service projects that address issues impacting the overall health of people and the natural environment (kids do!), and then teach what they have learned and accomplished to their community (kids teach!). High-school-aged youth educator interns, who serve as role models for the younger children, work collaboratively with program staff as they learn leadership and general employability skills. In fiscal year 2023-24, 139 unique youth were served in addition to 23 youth educator interns.
$376,296 spent87% of program spendingGreen jobs youth development: once in high school, youth can apply to become paid interns. Green jobs apprentices learn concrete skills associated with carrying out community improvement projects that they design. They also build skills for general employability such as critical problem-solving, communication and working in groups. In fiscal year 2023-2024, solar youth had 35 green jobs apprentices.
$57,210 spent13% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $433,506.
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 $466k to $318k (−32%).
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: 2017 73% · 2018 15% · 2019 15% · 2020 35% · 2021 39% · 2022 33% · 2023 34% · 2024 39%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of SOLAR YOUTH 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 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.
Chief executive
Candace Wright
Executive director
Board chair
Michael Felberbaum
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $144k → $234k.
8 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 SOLAR YOUTH INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 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
SOLAR YOUTH INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
35% 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 SOLAR YOUTH INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 14% · 2019 22% · 2020 27% · 2021 28% · 2022 14% · 2023 43% — 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
30% of SOLAR YOUTH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
SOLAR YOUTH INC draws 58% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $285k 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
SOLAR YOUTH INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding SOLAR YOUTH INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $744k on record.
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$544k
- State Aid Grants$200k
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 SOLAR YOUTH 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 SOLAR YOUTH 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 SOLAR YOUTH INC?
- SOLAR YOUTH INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,379,943 to it, the largest being Pincus Family Foundation ($339,650). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOLAR YOUTH INC have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $1,379,943 in grants to SOLAR YOUTH INC, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOLAR YOUTH INC?
- Pincus Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $339,650 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOLAR YOUTH INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Solar Youth →
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 41 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