Florida · Nonprofit
THE SONDER PROJECT INC
THE SONDER PROJECT INC (Florida) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $510,504 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($158,856). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $619k
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $511k
- Net assets
- $398k
What The Sonder Project Inc does
Mission
The Sonder Project empowers communities in Burkina Faso and Malawi through high-impact, sustainable development programs focused on clean water, education, and sustainable agriculture, recognizing these as intrinsically linked to lifting individuals, communities, and future generations from poverty.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Added an immersion program to bring volunteers to sites.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Water is Our Right - Clean Water Program - 11 deep-well boreholes drilled and the completion of one solar-powered water distribution system providing dependable clean water for a public, secondary boarding school and its surrounding villages in Malawi. We also rehabilitated an old non-Sonder drilled borehole in Malawi. In total, we provided clean water for 4,980 people and continued sustainability training and maintenance of existing 55 wells.
$197,120 spent45% of program spendingEducation is Power - Student Sponsorship Program - 210 students in the '23 - '24 school year provided with the resources and support necessary to stay in school through our programs 4 key pillars: Sponsorship, Mentorship, Academic Support, and Life Skills Enrichment. We also sponsored our first Education is Power graduate with post-secondary sponsorship. Five of our students successfully completed secondary school.
$162,712 spent37% of program spendingStrengthening Schools - Creating Quality Educational Environments - completed the construction of one school block and latrines for a primary school in Malawi with over 500 registered students in partnership with buildOn.
$35,526 spent8% of program spendingPlanting Opportunity - Sustainable Agriculture Community Farm Project - Completed our first full year on our Community Farm with individual plots, managed and rented by 111 community members - over 80% women. Collectively, farm members reported earnings of $3,634 and an average annual income per farmer of 44%.
$30,955 spent7% of program spendingImmersion - empowered our partner communities with direct support from our supporters abroad through a cultural immersion experience.
$10,537 spent2% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $436,850.
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 2017 to 2018, from $28k to $304k (+985%).
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.
110% of THE SONDER PROJECT INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Chad Zibelman
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $11k → $135k.
7 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 83% 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 SONDER PROJECT 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 SONDER PROJECT INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 SONDER PROJECT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 48% · 2019 63% · 2020 100% · 2021 34% · 2022 55% · 2023 50% — 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
10% of THE SONDER PROJECT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 32% 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
83% of THE SONDER PROJECT 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 $86k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from funders outside Florida, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $425k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 SONDER PROJECT INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 4,524 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,524 international nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like THE SONDER PROJECT 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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SONDER PROJECT 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 SONDER PROJECT INC?
- THE SONDER PROJECT INC (Florida) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $510,504 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($158,856). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE SONDER PROJECT INC have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $510,504 in grants to THE SONDER PROJECT INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SONDER PROJECT INC?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $158,856 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SONDER PROJECT INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 Sonder Project →
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 19 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