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California · Nonprofit

The Thacher School Inc

The Thacher School Inc (California) receives grants from 149 organizations whose IRS filings report $69,481,726 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($7,211,750). 106 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$61M
Funders on record
149
Grants received
$69M
Net assets
$288M
106/149 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 45%
01What it does

What The Thacher School Inc does

Mission

The Thacher School is a coeducational boarding high school (grades 9-12) serving academically talented students who will benefit from a rigorous college preparatory experience. Honor, fairness, kindness and truth are the cornerstones of school life.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Regular Education Program: The philosophy of The Thacher School is rooted in the wisdom and work of its founder, Sherman Day Thacher, who embraced the extraordinary natural venue of his school and sought above all else to train his students in the art of living for their own greatest good and for the good of their fellow citizens. He believed the most worthwhile education combined a vigorous academic life with rugged outdoor activities that engendered self-reliance, concern for others, and fidelity to four principles: honor, fairness, kindness, and truth. The Thacher School recently unveiled a newly transformed Observatory and with the expertise of staff will facilitate educational pathways in astronomy, computer science, robotics and engineering.

    $28,648,167 spentof which $5,297,530 as grants$19,869,143 earned by the program
    99% of program spending
  2. Sierra Wilderness Program: Golden Trout Camp is an integral part of the wilderness and leadership training at Thacher. The program provides educational experience in health, wellness and wilderness training for disadvantaged youth during the summer months. Additionally, GTC offers an educational experience for alumni and friends of The Thacher School. GTC is a throwback to an earlier time in the Sierra when hunting and fishing camps were common in the high country. Located at 10,200 feet, just south of one of the highest peaks in California, the camp offers access to one of the world's wildest ecosystems.

    $189,570 spent$7,200 earned by the program
    1% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $28,837,737.

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 ($46M) Expenses 100 ($28M) Net assets 100 ($244M)2018 Revenue 106 ($49M) Expenses 109 ($30M) Net assets 109 ($266M)2019 Revenue 101 ($46M) Expenses 115 ($32M) Net assets 114 ($277M)2020 Revenue 87 ($40M) Expenses 121 ($33M) Net assets 114 ($277M)2021 Revenue 105 ($48M) Expenses 153 ($42M) Net assets 130 ($316M)2022 Revenue 109 ($50M) Expenses 175 ($49M) Net assets 113 ($276M)2023 Revenue 49 ($23M) Expenses 144 ($40M) Net assets 112 ($274M)2024 Revenue 86 ($39M) Expenses 147 ($41M) Net assets 116 ($283M)2025 Revenue 132 ($61M) Expenses 214 ($59M) Net assets 118 ($288M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (132)Expenses (214)Net assets (118)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 2020 to 2021, from $304M to $342M (+13%).

$280M
$301M
$304M
$304M
$342M
$305M
$297M
$307M
$319M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

41% of The Thacher School Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,254 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$18M
’17
$18M
’18
$15M
’19
$6.4M
’20
$5.7M
’21
$1.4M
’22
−$17M
’23
−$1.4M
’24
$1.4M
’25
2.3
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed414038353433353234
Joined·+10+7+5+7+8+9+7+7
No longer listed·1198897105
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 51 funders to 66 funders, grant income rose $7.6M → $10M.

34 of 149 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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 Thacher School Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 149 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

The Thacher School Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left

40% 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 Thacher School Inc.

10%
largest funder
27%
top three
~21
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 47% · 2019 14% · 2020 15% · 2021 20% · 2022 20% · 2023 17% — 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

56% of The Thacher School Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

62% of The Thacher School Inc's grant income comes from California funders.

ME
WA
ID
MN
IL
NY
MA
NV
WY
PA
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
DE
AZ
TN
NC
HI
OK
LA
GA
TX

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $27M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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 Thacher School Inc's funding base is broadening — from 51 funders to 66 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin2% · below the median
Months of reserve2.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like The Thacher 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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

49% of spending goes to programs.

Program 49%Management 45%Fundraising 6%

Governance

25
board members
96%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Part of a family of 3 related entities

  • 4205 Cottages LLC · disregarded
  • The Thacher School Endowment LP · disregarded
  • The Thacher School Endowment LP · partnership

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Thacher 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.

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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 Thacher School Inc?
The Thacher School Inc (California) receives grants from 149 organizations whose IRS filings report $69,481,726 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($7,211,750). 106 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does The Thacher School Inc have?
IRS filings report 149 organizations giving $69,481,726 in grants to The Thacher School Inc, 106 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Thacher School Inc?
NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $7,211,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Thacher School Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Thacher 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 149 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