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Minnesota · Nonprofit

SPARKPATH INC

SPARKPATH INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $170,947 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($31,294). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$313k
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$171k
Net assets
$-160100
7/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 15%
01What it does

What Sparkpath Inc does

Mission

SparkPath (formerly Success Beyond the Classroom) creates powerful learning experiences that challenge students to explore interests, discover new perspectives, connect with professionals in the community, and visualize their success beyond the classroom.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Young Authors Conference (YAC) is a field trip for students in grades 4-8 with sessions led by authors, poets, storytellers, journalists, and other professional writers. YAC was held on March 15, 2024, and May 28, 29, and 30, 2024.

    $147,818 spent$112,699 earned by the program
    42% of program spending
  2. STEMLink is a field trip for students in grades 5 and 6 that takes place at local colleges. Students participate in hands-on activities involving science, technology, engineering, and math. Sessions are led by college faculty and professionals in the STEM fields. STEMLink was held on April 26, 2024 and May 15-16, 2024.

    $36,356 spent$34,466 earned by the program
    10% of program spending
  3. The Creativity Festival is a field trip for students in grades 3-5 featuring sessions with visual and performing artists and professionals from the STEM fields who celebrate creativity, in their professional careers. The Creativity Festival took place on January 9 and 10, 2024.

    $44,400 spent$27,486 earned by the program
    13% of program spending
  4. 4d - Other program services (Describe on Schedule O) - CreativeCon, Spelling Bee, Future City Competition, and Knowledge Bowl.

    $125,513 spent$114,705 earned by the program
    35% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $354,087.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($275k) Expenses 100 ($267k) Net assets 100 ($30k)2021 Revenue 86 ($235k) Expenses 88 ($234k) Net assets 103 ($30k)2022 Revenue 109 ($300k) Expenses 84 ($223k) Net assets 362 ($107k)2023 Revenue 111 ($306k) Expenses 141 ($376k) Net assets 124 ($37k)2024 Revenue 114 ($312k) Expenses 148 ($395k) Net assets -155 ($-45876)2025 Revenue 114 ($313k) Expenses 160 ($427k) Net assets -542 ($-160100)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (114)Expenses (160)Net assets (-542)Peer revenue range

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 $51k to $139k (+173%).

$68k
$51k
$139k
$69k
$29k
$14k
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

30% of SPARKPATH INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 25,057 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$8k
’20
$946
’21
$76k
’22
−$70k
’23
−$83k
’24
−$114k
’25
0.3
months of
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

Nancy Diekmann

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed788898
Joined·+2+1+1+1+0
No longer listed·11101
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $8k → $16k.

4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 SPARKPATH 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

SPARKPATH INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

59% 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 SPARKPATH INC.

18%
largest funder
50%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 48% · 2021 48% · 2022 56% · 2023 63% — 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

60% of SPARKPATH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

SPARKPATH INC draws 67% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 5 states in all.

MN
CA
AZ
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Minnesota out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

SPARKPATH INC's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−37% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.3mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like SPARKPATH 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 Minnesota

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

91% of spending goes to programs.

Program 91%Management 9%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPARKPATH 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.

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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 SPARKPATH INC?
SPARKPATH INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $170,947 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($31,294). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does SPARKPATH INC have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $170,947 in grants to SPARKPATH INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SPARKPATH INC?
AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $31,294 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SPARKPATH INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Sparkpath →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 10 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