Vermont · Nonprofit
STERLING COLLEGE
STERLING COLLEGE (Vermont) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,712,743 to it, the largest being ENDEAVOR FOUNDATION INC ($8,061,359). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.6M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Sterling College does
Mission
Sterling College uses education as a force to advance ecological thinking and action through affordable experiential learning that prepares people to be knowledgeable, skilled, and responsible leaders in the communities in which they live. We address critical ecological problems caused by unlimited growth and consumption that is destroying the planet as we have known it, such as: fossil fuel dependence and rapid climate change, destruction of biodiversity and loss of wild places, promotion of harmful agricultural practices that threaten human and natural communities, persistence of structural oppression that impacts human and ecological wellbeing, and the deterioration of civil society through estrangement from community, nature, and place.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Provided ba degree programs through high quality post-secondary education in sustainable agriculture and food systems, outdoor education and climate change.
$4,830,745 spentof which $2,923,909 as grants$2,099,648 earned by the program85% of program spendingRevitalized marketing and recruitment efforts as we recover from the pandemic and continue to provide health and counseling services to students.
$362,146 spent6% of program spendingProvided dining services, housing, and working farm opportunities for students.
$423,189 spent$497,752 earned by the program7% of program spendingCosts to operate and maintain facilities, includes a library for the continued education and use of students. Restructured our budget to better align known revenues and expenses. Building long-term sustainable partnerships with values aligned state and regional partners, employers and funding entities.
$36,426 spent$18,870 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,652,506.
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 2024 to 2025, from $8.7M to $5.0M (−43%).
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: 2017 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 8% · 2021 17% · 2022 12% · 2023 4% · 2024 7% · 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of STERLING COLLEGE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% 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.
Board chair
Allison Hooper
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $152k → $4.2M.
15 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 STERLING COLLEGE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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
STERLING COLLEGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 25% · 2019 81% · 2020 32% · 2021 58% · 2022 60% · 2023 64% — growing more concentrated.
“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
52% of STERLING COLLEGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
STERLING COLLEGE draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
STERLING COLLEGE's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 24 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding STERLING COLLEGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.6M on record — $1.9M federal, $1.8M state.
- Department of Education$1.9M
- Other Grants$1.5M
- ARPA-SLFRF Rev Replacement$200k
- Cost of Leases$35k
- Gr, Awards, Scholarships&Loans$14k
- Employee Tuition Costs$2k
- Grants$205
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 STERLING COLLEGE
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 Vermont
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STERLING COLLEGE: 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 STERLING COLLEGE?
- STERLING COLLEGE (Vermont) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,712,743 to it, the largest being ENDEAVOR FOUNDATION INC ($8,061,359). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STERLING COLLEGE have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $17,712,743 in grants to STERLING COLLEGE, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STERLING COLLEGE?
- ENDEAVOR FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $8,061,359 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STERLING COLLEGE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 45 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