Michigan · Nonprofit
THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC
THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC (Michigan) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $371,156 to it, the largest being THE WEGE FOUNDATION ($278,711). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $371k
- Net assets
- $3.3M
What The Pathfinder School Inc does
Mission
The pathfinder school is an independent school serving children in preschool through 8th grade. The educational program is designed to foster intellectual curiousity and love of learning which is accomplished through small class sizes, dedicated teachers and an enriching, rigorous curriculum. Pathfinder draws from the five county grand traverse region. Approximately 25-33% of the students receive financial assistance. Pathfinder also hosts a seven week summer camp that is experiential and child-centered.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The pathfinder school provides a vigorous experiential learning environment for children in grades pre-k through the eighth grade. Pathfinder also hosts an outdoor summer day camp. Pathfinder's program is distinguished by strong meaningful connections between teachers, students and parents, by a supportive learning environment that encourages a child to expand horizons and take risks, by the nurturing of students' intellectual curiosity and by the cultivation of a life-long love of learning. Students learn to think critically and creatively, to collaborate, to take initiative and responsibility, and to nurture their connection with the natural world.
$2,031,124 spentof which $483,665 as grants$1,928,309 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,031,124.
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 2021 to 2022, from $3.4M to $3.8M (+13%).
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: 2023 3% · 2024 2% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
22% of THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC’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. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $9k → $65k.
3 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL 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
THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 99% · 2019 100% · 2020 98% · 2021 89% · 2022 71% · 2023 77% — 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
33% of THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
98% of THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $72k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL 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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL 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 THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC?
- THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC (Michigan) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $371,156 to it, the largest being THE WEGE FOUNDATION ($278,711). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $371,156 in grants to THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC?
- THE WEGE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $278,711 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE PATHFINDER SCHOOL INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Pathfinder School →
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 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing