What Scintilla Foundation does

Scintilla Foundation is a private, invitation-only grant-making foundation established in 2018 as an offshoot of the Compton Foundation and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded by Rebecca DiDomenico (President) and Stephen M. Perry (Treasurer and Secretary), with an operations team of 1–10 staff including a Director of Operations, Consultant, and Board Member. The foundation awards domestic and selectively international grants across five thematic focus areas: Arts, Environment, Women Peace and Security, Campaign Finance Reform, and Reproductive Rights & Justice. Grantees have spanned the U.S. mainland, Hawaii, and French Polynesia over the 2018–2022 period.

The foundation's operating model is high-touch and relationship-driven rather than technology-driven. Engagement includes annual in-person board meetings (e.g., NYC in 2021) and board trips to grantee sites (e.g., Tahiti in 2022), with site visits forming a core diligence practice. Operational infrastructure consists of a password-protected grantee portal deployed in 2022 for managing ongoing grant reporting, plus structured program offerings such as the Swoon BMoCA International Artists Residency launched within the Arts vertical. Funding is sourced from the founders' personal resources; no external fundraising rounds, endowment size, or audited financials are publicly disclosed in the available data.

As a nonprofit foundation rather than a commercial enterprise, Scintilla does not generate revenue in the traditional sense — its "output" is grant capital deployed to nonprofits across its focus areas. The organization competes for grantee relevance and philanthropic impact rather than market share, and its competitive position rests on inherited institutional expertise from the Compton Foundation, founder relationships, and direct engagement discipline.

Name

Scintilla Foundation

Legal name

Scintilla Foundation

Website

https://scintillafoundation.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Scintilla Foundation is a Boulder, Colorado-based private foundation (est. 2018) that provides invitation-only grants across Arts, Environment, Women Peace and Security, Campaign Finance Reform, and Reproductive Rights & Justice to nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and selectively abroad.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Grant Making

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM), Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL), International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

Keywords

• Philanthropic grant making
• Nonprofit foundation grants
• Arts funding
• Environmental conservation grants
• Reproductive rights funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Boulder

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Others, Operations, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Grant-making and philanthropy: Scintilla Foundation operates as a charitable foundation that provides financial grants to non-profit organizations. The foundation was created as an offshoot from the Compton Foundation's work. It funds organizations across arts, environment, women peace and security, campaign finance reform, and reproductive rights and justice.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Scintilla Foundation is a private nonprofit grant-making foundation based in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Stephen M. Perry and Rebecca DiDomenico as an offshoot of their prior work with the Compton Foundation. It provides invitation-only grants to nonprofit organizations working in five focus areas: The Arts, The Environment, Women Peace and Security, Campaign Finance Reform, and Reproductive Rights & Justice. The foundation engages grantees through site visits and board trips and supports both US-based and select international nonprofit organizations.

Product overview

Scintilla Foundation is a philanthropic foundation based in Boulder, Colorado that provides grant funding to nonprofit organizations. Rather than offering a technology product or platform, the foundation operates as a grantmaking organization supporting initiatives across five primary focus areas: The Arts, The Environment, Women Peace and Security, Campaign Finance Reform, and Reproductive Rights and Justice. The foundation maintains a grantee login portal for recipients to access resources and conducts site visits to funded organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Arts Grant Program Invitation-only grant funding for nonprofit arts organizations including museums, contemporary art spaces, dance companies, film projects, radio stations, and art collectives. Supports arts programming, artist residencies, public art projects, and cultural institutions.
• Environment Grant Program Invitation-only grant funding for nonprofit organizations focused on environmental conservation, climate action, wildlife protection, ocean preservation, coral reef restoration, and ecosystem preservation, including international grantees in French Polynesia and Hawaii.
• Women, Peace and Security Grant Program Invitation-only grant funding for organizations working to strengthen women's roles in peace and security efforts globally, including research institutions, advocacy organizations, and storytelling/awareness groups.
• Campaign Finance Reform Grant Program Invitation-only grant funding for nonprofit organizations focused on voter engagement, campaign finance reform, and progressive political organizing, including community-based organizations focused on youth and communities of color.
• Reproductive Rights & Justice Grant Program Invitation-only grant funding for organizations working on reproductive rights, abortion access, birth justice, and reproductive health policy, including litigation-focused, advocacy, and direct-service organizations serving Latina/x, Indigenous, and other historically marginalized communities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 700,000 people served through Resource Central programs
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Mary Hagedorn / Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Mary Hagedorn, senior research scientist at Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, leads the only group in the world developing and applying modern technology to conserve coral reefs. The foundation conducted a site visit to her lab at Coconut Island, Hawaii in 2019 and has supported her work.
• Polynesian Voyaging SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation conducted site visit to Polynesian Voyaging Society in 2019. The organization perpetuates traditional Polynesian voyaging and experiential educational programs. Foundation supports their work in cultural preservation and environmental stewardship.
• Coral GardenerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoral Gardeners aims to revolutionize ocean conservation and create a global movement to save the world's coral reefs through active reef restoration, awareness activities, and innovative solutions developed by their CG labs.
• Tetiaroa SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTetiaroa Society works to ensure island and coastal communities have a future by restoring ecosystems and preserving cultures. Foundation conducted Tahiti Board Trip in 2022 and has provided ongoing support.
• The High LinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe High Line is both a nonprofit organization and public park in Manhattan devoted to reimagining the role of public spaces. Foundation has supported their programming for community building.
• Boulder Museum of Contemporary ArtcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBoulder Museum of Contemporary Art creates a state-of-the-art museum serving the Boulder community by strengthening impact, amplifying artist voices, and building community. Rebecca DiDomenico created The Swoon BMoCA International Artists Residency.
• Association Tore TorecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConservation group in French Polynesia dedicated to the place of sharks in the environment, economy, science and Maohi culture. Represents foundation's international environmental conservation work.
• Movement Voter ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorks to strengthen progressive power at all levels of government by helping donors support local community-based organizations in key states, with focus on youth and communities of color.
• Center for Reproductive RightscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPerforms game-changing litigation, legal policy, and advocacy work to transform how reproductive rights are understood by courts, governments, and human rights bodies.
• Heliotrope FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStarted by artist Caledonia Curry (Swoon) to help communities respond and heal after natural disasters and other urgent social crises.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Arcus Foundation: Private progressive foundation of similar size and operational structure, with overlapping focus on social justice and conservation (notably great apes and LGBTQ+ rights). Closely comparable in mandate mix and small-team operating model.
• Libra Foundation: Small private family foundation funding progressive causes including reproductive rights and social justice. Similar scale, governance model, and grantee ecosystem overlap.
• Threshold Foundation: Small private progressive foundation that funds reproductive rights, social justice, and movement-building organizations. Similar size, similar grantmaking approach, and overlapping grantee network (e.g., reproductive rights field).
• Park Foundation: Private family foundation funding media, environment, and civic engagement. Comparable in size, founder-driven structure, and progressive issue-area focus.
• Compton Foundation: Scintilla's progenitor; both DiDomenico and Perry served on Compton's board for 20+ years. Funds the same five core areas (arts, environment, reproductive rights, peace and security, campaign finance reform) and represents the most direct lineage peer.
• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights: Private foundation providing rapid-response grants to women's rights and peace-building organizations globally. Comparable in scale, focus-area overlap (women peace and security), and founder-driven grantmaking model.
• Grove Foundation: Private family foundation funding climate, environment, and progressive social change. Comparable in operational scale, founder-driven governance, and focus on environmental and social-justice grantmaking.

Broad incumbents

• Wyss Foundation: Significantly larger private foundation focused heavily on conservation and land stewardship. Overlaps with Scintilla's environmental pillar and shares a founder-driven governance model.
• Tides Foundation: Much larger progressive philanthropy platform operating fiscal sponsorship and grantmaking across nearly all of Scintilla's focus areas. Comparable mission footprint but at materially greater scale and with a different operating model.
• Open Society Foundations: Large global progressive foundation funding human rights, democratic governance, reproductive rights, and arts. Operates in the same thematic space as Scintilla but at dramatically greater scale and geographic breadth.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scintilla-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Scintilla Foundation