By using non-equilibrium Green's functions in combination with the density functional theory, we investigated the spin-dependent electronic transport properties through a single-molecule-magnet (SMM) Ni(dmit)(2) between two nanoscale Au(111) electrodes with different anchoring groups. The nonmagnetic (S) and magnetic (Ni, Mn) anchoring groups have been chosen. Our results show that the spin-dependent electronic transport properties can be modulated significantly by the anchoring groups, and many interesting phenomena such as high spin-filtering ratio, rectifying and negative differential resistance can be observed. These characteristics could be used in the study of spin physics and the realization of nano-spintronic devices based on SMMs. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.