Nebraska · Nonprofit
SPARK
SPARK (Nebraska) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,466,907 to it, the largest being THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION ($3,917,606). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $6.5M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Spark does
Mission
Organization was established to champion community development by forming and leading partnerships that create, implement and evaluate holistic revitalization projects.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Spark is a 501(c) nonprofit organization that brings a unique, collaborative and community-based approach to economic development in the omaha/council bluffs region. We recognize that philanthropic organizations, civic insitutions, and other equity partners have the resources to impact change while community residents, business owners and other stakeholders best understand the community's needs. Spark serves as a bridge between these various parties, leveraging our expertise, relationships and funding to transform neighborhoods through a process of holistic development. Holistic development applies rigorous real estate development methods while considering all the foundational assets: social, political, economic and physical, that are necessary for communities to thrive and prosper. Our role is to support and supplement the work of existing organizations, build upon existing community assets, provide funding, leverage resoures to close financing gaps and to help educate and minimize the risk for developers who would otherwise not invest in these communities. Moreover, we work hand in hand with the community to identify and train community leaders to effectively advocate for…
$1,042,298 spentof which $340,000 as grants$27,905 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,042,298.
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 2023 to 2024, from $2.6M to $7.5M (+189%).
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: 2020 1% · 2021 3% · 2022 4% · 2023 6% · 2024 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of SPARK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% 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
Buey Tut
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $75k → $859k.
3 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 SPARK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 16 of 17 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
SPARK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 56% · 2019 74% · 2020 90% · 2021 68% · 2022 32% · 2023 29% — 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
70% of SPARK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
99% of SPARK's grant income comes from Nebraska funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $230k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
SPARK holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding SPARK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $75k on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$75k
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 SPARK
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 Nebraska
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
40%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Fabric LLC · disregarded
- Sparking Development LLC · disregarded
- Spark Capital · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPARK: 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 SPARK?
- SPARK (Nebraska) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,466,907 to it, the largest being THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION ($3,917,606). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPARK have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $6,466,907 in grants to SPARK, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPARK?
- THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,917,606 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPARK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nebraska. 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 17 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