Delaware · Nonprofit
SSP INTERNATIONAL INC
SSP INTERNATIONAL INC (Delaware) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,468,544 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($443,479). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $9.3M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $205M
What Ssp International Inc does
Mission
Ssp provides students with immersive, transformational opportunities to learn, do, and belong in science. We aim to ignite the passion and imagination of young minds, offering immersive and transformational opportunities that go beyond the classroom. Our goal is to create a world where science inspires and informs humanity, where every student feels the thrill of discovery and the joy of scientific exploration.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Summer science program - since its inception in 1959, the summer science program has empowered high school students with rigorous stem experiences that ignite curiosity and inspire discovery. Participants engage in hands-on research projects in fields such as astrophysics, biochemistry, bacterial genomics, and synthetic chemistry guided by expert faculty and researchers. These specialists in their fields mentor students, helping them build confidence, hone their critical thinking skills, and push the boundaries of their scientific knowledge. Each program consists of 12 to 36 participants and 8 faculty members who form a diverse community of learning. The faculty includes an academic director, an associate academic director (both phd scientist-educators), a site director, and four teaching assistants and mentors. Everyone works together, immersed in the culture and values of science. For five weeks, they live and learn together on a college campus fostering analytical skills, teamwork, resilience, and creativity in a vibrant, immersive environment. Participants spend many hours each day in the classroom learning the theories and techniques underlying their research, and in the labs…
$6,245,046 spentof which $1,436,325 as grants$3,260,166 earned by the program93% of program spendingOutreach - sspi partners with schools, community organizations, and stem networks to identify and encourage applications from underrepresented students, ensuring a broad and diverse applicant pool. Scientific inquiry, principles, and practices lay a powerful foundation for students, equipping them with the skills needed to thrive in and contribute to our rapidly evolving world. Yet, stem education inequality remains a critical issue in the united states. Over the next decade, ssp aims to reach 10,000 students annually, with at least 50% coming from underserved communities, offering them rigorous, engaging, and transformative science experiences. By broadening access, deepening collaboration, advancing equity, and leveraging our strengths, we aim to drive lasting change that extends beyond summer and beyond science. Marketing and public relations efforts amplify sspi's mission by raising awareness of the program's impact and inspiring support from a broad group of stakeholders. Through thought leadership, storytelling, and strategic outreach, sspi highlights the transformative experiences of its participants, galvanizing community and industry engagement while attracting resources…
$411,015 spent6% of program spendingSsp connect - immediately following the summer science program, participants are offered participation in a free online program called sspi connect. Sspi connect provides individualized one-on-one mentorship throughout the college admissions season in the fall of a participant's senior year. This program supports students as they navigate college applications, select schools and majors, refine essays, prepare for interviews, and more - ensuring they are equipped to achieve their goals. To date, ssp connect has matched 676 mentees with 581 volunteer mentors, offering unparalleled guidance in navigating the often-confusing college admissions process. Many of these students are first-generation college aspirants, for whom the journey to higher education can be especially daunting. By offering tailored support and mentorship, sspi connect helps level the playing field, giving these students the tools, confidence, and insight they need to succeed in their college search and beyond. This additional layer of support demonstrates sspi's commitment to each participant's success, helping them overcome barriers and seize opportunities well beyond their summer experience.
$41,783 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,697,844.
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 $5.8M to $202M (+3356%).
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.
6% of SSP INTERNATIONAL INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Frank Steslow
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Michael Mckay
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $49k → $138k.
10 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 77% 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 SSP INTERNATIONAL INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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
SSP INTERNATIONAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
79% 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 SSP INTERNATIONAL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 72% · 2019 53% · 2020 27% · 2021 36% · 2022 18% · 2023 30% — 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
53% of SSP INTERNATIONAL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
77% of SSP INTERNATIONAL INC'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 $343k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside Delaware, across 13 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
SSP INTERNATIONAL INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SSP INTERNATIONAL 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 Delaware
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SSP INTERNATIONAL 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 SSP INTERNATIONAL INC?
- SSP INTERNATIONAL INC (Delaware) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,468,544 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($443,479). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SSP INTERNATIONAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $1,468,544 in grants to SSP INTERNATIONAL INC, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SSP INTERNATIONAL INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $443,479 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SSP INTERNATIONAL INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. 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 Ssp International →
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 33 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