New Hampshire · Nonprofit
SPHINX FOUNDATION
SPHINX FOUNDATION (New Hampshire) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,292,058 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($1,206,722). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $796k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $7.3M
What Sphinx Foundation does
Mission
See schedule oSphinx Foundation (the foundation) promotes certain educational and charitable purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code of 1986, as amended (the code). More specifically, the purposes for which the corporation is formed include:
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
A) education: the foundation conducts formal annual courses on dartmouth and sphinx history and traditions for incoming undergraduate members. The courses are normally conducted in the sphinx building and overseen by alumni members. They combine lectures, oral review sessions with reading assignments. There are normally three sessions per academic quarter (excluding summer) and include guest lectures. Undergraduate members typically make extensive use of the sphinx facilities which include the library and study stations. The foundation maintains the building's wireless and high-speed connectivity to ensure the sphinx building provides the strongest support for undergraduate academic activities. These facilities were used extensively to provide virtual gatherings (zoom), as well as traditional educational activities. General activities of undergraduate membership in sphinx include extensive peer driven learning experiences that take place in the sphinx building. These include informal academic debate and discourse, fulfillment of group leadership role, group goal setting and planned activities, basic budget management, and interaction with college officials. The Sphinx Foundation…
$67,262 spent$34,096 earned by the program33% of program spendingB) community service: since 2017, when the foundation initiated and sponsored a research fellowship in the college's government department focusing on the politics and law program, the foundation has funded fellowships each year. The program in politics and law provides opportunities and resources for dartmouth students to conduct researchin politics and law, especially social science perspectives on law and lawmaking. The program funds student fellowships to support research conducted outside of class; research expenses, such as surveys, experiments, purchasing data, interviews; conference expenses for students to attend academic conferences to present their work and funds for guest speakers to travel to dartmouth, speak to classes, and meet with students. The foundation also supports the historical accountability student research program at the rauner special collections library at dartmouth's baker library. The program offers several student research opportunities to assist dartmouth students in exploring rauner's collections and creating original content based upon primary sources. The dynamic program offers an open-ended scope for project topics and is dedicated to allowing…
$109,208 spentof which $83,000 as grants$55,358 earned by the program54% of program spendingC) historical preservation: the sphinx building, originally constructed in 1905, is listed on the national register of historic places. It is the only building so listed on the dartmouth campus. The structure is the oldest poured conrete building in the united states. The foundation is committed to ensuring that the building continues to qualify for inclusion on the national register of historic places and maintains its place in american history. The foundation is committed to preserving the building and its role in supporting the educational and community service activities of its members. The building also serves as the depository of the Sphinx Foundation's historic documents and artifacts.
$26,208 spent$13,285 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $202,678.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $6.1M to $7.3M (+19%).
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.
60% of SPHINX FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $9k → $48k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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 SPHINX FOUNDATION’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
SPHINX FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 93% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 SPHINX FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 95% · 2019 98% · 2020 96% · 2021 100% · 2022 98% · 2023 63% — broadly stable.
“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
99% of SPHINX FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $8k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from funders outside New Hampshire, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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
SPHINX FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SPHINX FOUNDATION
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 New Hampshire
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
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 SPHINX FOUNDATION: 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 SPHINX FOUNDATION?
- SPHINX FOUNDATION (New Hampshire) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,292,058 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($1,206,722). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SPHINX FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $1,292,058 in grants to SPHINX FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPHINX FOUNDATION?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $1,206,722 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPHINX FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Hampshire. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 7 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