Massachusetts · Nonprofit
SPARK KINDNESS INC
SPARK KINDNESS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $760,620 to it, the largest being METROWEST HEALTH FOUNDATION INC ($212,047). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $429k
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $761k
- Net assets
- $214k
What Spark Kindness Inc does
Mission
Spark stands for successful positive authentic resilient kids. Spark's mission is to build a kind, resilient and welcoming community where no one feels alone, bullied, unsupported or unconnected. We support families, schools, organizations, coaches, artists, faith and community leaders in building a culture that empowers individuals (including youth and families) and promotes kindness and respect. Spark's motto is kindess without justice is incomplete.spark's vision is to cultivate a network of connected individuals and organizations throughout the commonwealth that work together at the grassroots level to support kindness, resilience and inclusion.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Spark's programs and impacts include:the resilient community speaking series - spark hosts 20-30 educational speaker events annually, with an average attendance of 250-400 community members per event. All resilient community programs are offered in american sign language and we offer multilingual programming in portuguese and spanish.small group programming - workshops, monthly groups and retreats to provide deeper interaction with spark principles and practices. These small groups provide assistance for families who need more intensive support, including parents with students with special needs or from different cultural backgrounds. Most recently, spark has adapted our programming addressing individual and family resilience and well-being for collaborative work with agencies serving families experiencing homelessness, as well as developing programming for portuguese speaking parents and caregivers.inclusion and antiracism leadership - spark has a specific focus on promoting inclusion and addressing racism through our internal work, our programming and our leadership roles with organizations in metrowest boston.active and ongoing community building - spark partners with local and…
$276,635 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $276,635.
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 2022 to 2023, from $49k to $146k (+195%).
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 15% · 2021 37% · 2022 9% · 2023 23% · 2024 5% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of SPARK KINDNESS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Christine Fortune Guthery
Exec. Director
Board chair
Nira Mahesh
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $31k → $124k.
5 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 KINDNESS INC’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
SPARK KINDNESS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
25% 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 SPARK KINDNESS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 35% · 2019 36% · 2020 46% · 2021 28% · 2022 33% · 2023 31% — 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
38% of SPARK KINDNESS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
89% of SPARK KINDNESS INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $81k 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 KINDNESS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,734 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,734 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding SPARK KINDNESS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $23k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$23k
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 KINDNESS 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
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 SPARK KINDNESS 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 SPARK KINDNESS INC?
- SPARK KINDNESS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $760,620 to it, the largest being METROWEST HEALTH FOUNDATION INC ($212,047). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPARK KINDNESS INC have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $760,620 in grants to SPARK KINDNESS INC, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPARK KINDNESS INC?
- METROWEST HEALTH FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $212,047 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPARK KINDNESS INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Spark Kindness →
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 24 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