About Sontag Foundation
The Sontag Foundation appears to focus on place-based, infrastructure philanthropy in Northeast Florida by making large, unrestricted grants to local grantmaking institutions. Their sole reported gift is a substantial $3 million grant to the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida to support that organization's exempt purposes, suggesting preference for enabling local decision-makers to allocate funding across community needs rather than directing program-level activity themselves.
Focus Areas
General operating/endowment support for the Community Foundation of Northeast FloridaPlace-based philanthropy for Northeast Florida/Ponte Vedra regionStrengthening local philanthropic infrastructure and grantmaking capacity
Giving Approach
Highly concentrated: a single large, unrestricted gift to a local community foundation (intermediary), indicating strategic, high-value support for local grantmaking rather than many small or program-specific grants.
Notable grantees: Community Foundation of Northeast Florida
About Sontag Foundation
The Sontag Foundation’s largest recent grant was a $3 million gift to the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida for its exempt purposes, underscoring a pattern of giving through institutions that can allocate resources across community needs. That local infrastructure grant sits alongside a separate strand of mission-driven philanthropy: sustained support for brain cancer research, fellowships, and venture philanthropy investments tied to diagnostics, therapeutics, and medical devices. The foundation also funds patient support in Northeast Florida, including emergency assistance for brain tumor patients and caregivers. Recent grants show a mix of large institutional awards and smaller, targeted awards. Brigham & Women’s Hospital received $362,500, and The Regents of the University of Michigan received $350,000, both for exempt purposes. Elsewhere in the portfolio, the foundation backs cancer research organizations, medical schools, and academic health systems, with awards routed to entities such as the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, Boston Children’s Hospital, and California Institute of Technology. The pattern points to a grantmaker that works through established nonprofits, universities, and hospitals rather than individuals.
What Sontag Foundation Funds
Brain cancer research is a major theme. The Sontag Foundation gave $100,000 to the Society for Neuro-oncology in Houston and $33,332 to the National Brain Tumor Society in Newton for exempt purposes, while its named awards include the ASCO Conquer Cancer - Sontag Foundation Young Investigator Award and the AACR-Sontag Foundation Brain Cancer Research Fellowship. The foundation also supports medical research institutions broadly. In 2025, Yale University in West Haven received $150,000, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle received $37,500, both for exempt purposes. These grants sit within a portfolio that includes hospitals, universities, and cancer research organizations. A third strand is direct patient support in Northeast Florida. The NE Florida Patient Assistance Fund provides emergency financial aid to brain tumor patients and caregivers, and the foundation has also made patient and community grants in that region, including support to BEAM of Jacksonville Beach.
How Sontag Foundation Gives
Recent grant sizes range widely, from $25,000 to $3,000,000, with a concentration in six-figure awards. The median of the listed 2025 grants is $132,000, and the upper quartile is $187,500. The foundation’s giving appears to mix one large place-based grant with many institutional research awards. The pattern also includes recurring structures rather than one-off project grants: endowed awards, fellowships, and venture philanthropy investments through the Sontag Innovation Fund. Grants are routed to universities, hospitals, and nonprofits, and some programs accept unsolicited applications while others do not, depending on the award.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$7.2M
Total Assets
$219.6M
Total Revenue
$24.6M
Total Expenses
$10M
Geographic Reach
National15 states funded
About 9% of grants go to recipients in MA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Sontag Foundation Funds
Top 2 recipient countries by grant volume for Sontag Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 118 | $22.3M | 98.3% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 2 |
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