New York · Nonprofit
UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC
UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC (New York) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $68,796,555 to it, the largest being THE HOLLYHOCK FOUNDATION INC ($19,241,784). 60 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,681 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,681 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Gray Foundationshared funders
- New Visions for Public Schools Incportfolio match
- Arrow Impactportfolio match
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.
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: 2017 15% · 2018 21% · 2019 16% · 2020 11% · 2021 15% · 2022 10% · 2023 9% · 2024 8% · 2025 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 23 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $5.5M → $8.3M.
16 of 93 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $615k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Uncommon Lender Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC raised.
From the IRS filings of UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 93 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
UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
39% 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 UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 41% · 2019 35% · 2020 40% · 2021 24% · 2022 26% · 2023 43% — 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
36% of UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
78% of UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 93 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Gray Foundationshared fundersNY · backs 79 organizations that share your funders
- New Visions for Public Schools Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Arrow Impactportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Cityschools Collaborativeportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- David and Hilda Fins Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- New York City Center for Charter School Excellenceportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Quad Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Altman Foundationshared funderslocalNY · backs 78 organizations that share your funders · funds 269 organizations near you
- Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundationshared funderslocalNY · backs 60 organizations that share your funders · funds 270 organizations near you
- May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation Incshared funderslocalNY · backs 76 organizations that share your funders · funds 285 organizations near you
- Pinkerton Foundationshared funderslocalNY · backs 86 organizations that share your funders · funds 374 organizations near you
- Tisbest Philanthropyshared fundersWA · backs 100 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.0M on record — $8.0M federal, $375 state.
- Department of Education$8.0M
- FEDERAL$375
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Part of a family of 21 related entities
- Uncommon Properties LLC · disregarded
- Uncommon Properties II LLC · disregarded
- Uncommon Properties III LLC · disregarded
- Uncommon Properties IV LLC · disregarded
- Uncommon Properties V LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNCOMMON SCHOOLS 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC?
- UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC (New York) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $68,796,555 to it, the largest being THE HOLLYHOCK FOUNDATION INC ($19,241,784). 60 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC have?
- IRS filings report 93 organizations giving $68,796,555 in grants to UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC, 60 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC?
- THE HOLLYHOCK FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $19,241,784 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 93funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing