Vermont · Nonprofit
The Sanders Institute
The Sanders Institute (Vermont) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $602,500 to it, the largest being Wend II Inc ($250,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $610k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $603k
- Net assets
- $166k
What The Sanders Institute does
Mission
To revitalize democracy by actively engaging individuals, organizations and the media in the pursuit of progressive solutions to economic, environmental, racial and social justice issues.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Gatherings - East and West Coast In Los Angeles, California, several Members of Congress and state leaders - including the governor, mayors, assemblymen and city counselors - met with community leaders, researchers and authors, to focus on the housing and quality of life was broad, deep and specific, including planning for climate resilience in building codes, addressing legal barriers to veterans housing and the often overlooked housing issue for children aging out of the foster care system, along with successful environmental environmental justice legislation and innovative international housing soultions. In Burlington, Vermont, the Institute brought leaders in various fields together to discuss issues of importance from different perspectives, rather than the usual siloed approach. Just a few of the topics were healthcare, medical price transparency, womens health, Social Security, wage and labor issues, education, the environment, civil discourse, and democracy and the media. In Dublin, Ireland, we held a public forum in partnership with I.NY to discuss international issues of concern.
$176,763 spent40% of program spendingFellows Program We brought two new Fellows onboard and coordinated efforts and policy outreach with existing Fellows.
$110,477 spent25% of program spendingContent and Outreach We produced and distributed the content from 35 seminars, where dozens of speakers and several hundred attendees participated in critical conversations, identified actionable solutions and followed up in their communities and with their organizations. We posted the Gathering seminars and events on our website and YouTube channel, resulting in millions of views. We also substantially increased our social media and email outreach, posting and sending excerpts, information and links, enabling the Institute to communicate and educate well beyond the leaders in the rooms.
$154,668 spent35% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $441,908.
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 2020 to 2021, from $3k to $337k (+10356%).
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.
100% of The Sanders Institute’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (99% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
David Driscoll
Executive Director
Board chair
Meredith Burak
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2021: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $500 → $250k.
3 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 Sanders Institute’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 Sanders Institute leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
32% 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 The Sanders Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 69% · 2019 91% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% — 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.
How long its funders stay
0% of The Sanders Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 17% 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 FY2021, 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
The Sanders Institute draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $87k 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
The Sanders Institute runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,800 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,800 civil rights nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like The Sanders Institute
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Sanders Institute: 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 Sanders Institute?
- The Sanders Institute (Vermont) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $602,500 to it, the largest being Wend II Inc ($250,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Sanders Institute have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $602,500 in grants to The Sanders Institute, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Sanders Institute?
- Wend II Inc is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Sanders Institute 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.
Play a game about who funds Sanders Institute →
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 12 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