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Texas · Nonprofit

THE SPARKS FOUNDATION

THE SPARKS FOUNDATION (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $410,626 to it, the largest being THE WARD FOUNDATION INC ($230,270). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$547k
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$411k
Net assets
$256k
3/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 10%
01What it does

What The Sparks Foundation does

Programs

  1. Funded oversight and student costs for la escuela chu'ul

    $17,789 spent
  2. Funded oversight and student costs for escuela chacaya

    $7,467 spent
  3. Funded oversight and student costs for escuela panul ii

    $2,597 spent
  4. Funded oversight and student costs for escuela puerta abierta

    $282,113 spent

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-PF.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($244k) Expenses 100 ($236k) Net assets 100 ($17k)2018 Revenue 51 ($124k) Expenses 111 ($262k) Net assets -695 ($-120205)2019 Revenue 122 ($298k) Expenses 111 ($262k) Net assets -487 ($-84299)2020 Revenue 89 ($218k) Expenses 81 ($192k) Net assets -337 ($-58236)2021 Revenue 66 ($161k) Expenses 83 ($197k) Net assets -546 ($-94419)2022 Revenue 100 ($244k) Expenses 99 ($233k) Net assets -484 ($-83773)2023 Revenue 114 ($279k) Expenses 67 ($157k) Net assets 220 ($38k)2024 Revenue 224 ($547k) Expenses 139 ($329k) Net assets 1481 ($256k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (224)Expenses (139)Net assets (1481)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $222k to $366k (+65%).

$226k
$229k
$231k
$260k
$232k
$228k
$222k
$366k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed44333344
Joined·+0+1+0+0+0+1+0
No longer listed·0200000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $11k → $19k.

4 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 SPARKS FOUNDATION’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 SPARKS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

41% 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 SPARKS FOUNDATION.

56%
largest funder
92%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 52% · 2020 74% · 2021 100% · 2022 64% · 2023 46% — 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.

Where its funders are

THE SPARKS FOUNDATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 3 states in all.

IL
NJ
LA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’22
’23
Texas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $166k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE SPARKS FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 4,524 international nonprofits its size.

Months of reserve5.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)12% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,524 international nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like THE SPARKS FOUNDATION

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 Texas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SPARKS FOUNDATION: 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.

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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 SPARKS FOUNDATION?
THE SPARKS FOUNDATION (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $410,626 to it, the largest being THE WARD FOUNDATION INC ($230,270). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE SPARKS FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $410,626 in grants to THE SPARKS FOUNDATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE SPARKS FOUNDATION?
THE WARD FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $230,270 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE SPARKS FOUNDATION find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 7 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