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Abrams Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Abrams Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$6.9M
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$2.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$32MPhilanthropy$7.1MPublic Safety & Disaster$4.7MEmployment$2.3MEducation$2.0MCrime & Legal$1.8MSocial Science$1.0MYouth Development$950kOther$0
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $75k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+6 grants · $5.8M
$150,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$100M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT$2,500,000
PROPUBLICA$1,300,000
THE ESPLANADE ASSOCIATION$750,000
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$505,000
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION$500,000
YEAR UP INC$250,000
THE 19TH NEWS$200,000
REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS$200,000
THE PUBLIC THEATER$150,000
SALT LICK INCUBATOR INC$100,000
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER$100,000
PUBLIC ART FUND$100,000
HARVARD UNIVERSITY$50,000
THE MARSHALL PROJECT$50,000
BRAVEN INCORPORATED$50,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–20, $310k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST: $10k → 8%YOUTH VILLAGES: $100k → 8%YOUTH VILLAGES: $100k → 8%YOUTH VILLAGES: $100k → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
RI
DC
AL
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 11% of Abrams Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Abrams Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$41M · 30 repeat orgs$5.0M to everyone else

30 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
17

Total granted

$41M
$3.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+49%

Still filing today

83%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationCivil RightsYouth DevelopmentEmploymentHuman ServicesOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PRO PUBLICA INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $9.0M · revenue +48%
  • AJ
    AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $6.5M · revenue +236%
  • BC
    BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $3.1M · revenue +18%

Funded once

  • CU
    COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA
    one grant, 2017 · $1.0M
  • THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART INC
    one grant, 2018 · $1.0M · revenue -4%
  • BC
    Boston Charitable Trust Fund City of Boston Trust Office
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue -100%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
2
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
3
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
4
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
8
The Paris Review Foundation Inc

The mission of the organization is to foster the development of creative individuals as writers and artists and to promote public appreciation of excellence in the literary and graphic arts by publishing a magazine containing fiction,…

Education
9
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.

—
10
Mitchell College

Mitchell college educates students through a highly individualized educational approach that brings forward each student's potential, reveals their strengths, and fosters personal growth.

Education
11
Wheaton College

Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…

Education
12
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Berklee College of Music Inc; the most unlike its peers is Strategic Grant Partners Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

46 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 46 of the 57 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
32/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PRO PUBLICA INC: $8,995,000 · Arts & CulturePRO PUBLICA INCAMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC: $6,500,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INCHUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INC: $3,000,000 · Arts & CultureHUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INCWGBH Educational Foundation: $2,596,000 · Arts & CultureWGBH Educational FoundationISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM INC: $1,295,000 · Arts & CultureTHE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART INC: $1,000,000 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $3,592,500 · Arts & Culture+12 moreWGBH: $4,733,000 · OtherWGBHNIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM: $1,630,000 · OtherNIEMAN FOUNDATION FO…COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA: $1,025,000 · OtherCOLUMBIA UNIVERSITY …THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: $600,000 · OtherTHE REPORTERS COMMIT…SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION - NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN: $500,000 · Other+13 more: $1,394,737 · Other+13 moreROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $5,000,000 · PhilanthropyROCKEFELLER PH…THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $1,050,000 · PhilanthropyTHE MIAMI FOUN…Boston Foundation Inc: $525,000 · PhilanthropyBoston Foundat…Boston Charitable Trust Fund City of Boston Trust Office: $500,000 · PhilanthropyBoston Charita…BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $3,100,000 · EducationBERKLEE COLL…YEAR UP INC: $2,125,000 · EducationYEAR UP INCPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $225,000 · Education+7 more: $520,000 · Education+7 moreBROWN UNIVERSITY: $1,450,000 · Community ImprovementTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $1,355,000 · Community ImprovementBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BOSTON INC: $500,000 · Youth DevelopmentBRAVEN INC: $450,000 · Youth DevelopmentFIRELIGHT MEDIA INC: $200,000 · Civil RightsEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $185,000 · Civil RightsCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $125,000 · Civil Rights
Arts & Culture$26,978,500Other$9,882,737Philanthropy$7,075,000Education$5,970,000Community Improvement$2,805,000Youth Development$950,000Civil Rights$510,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $8,995,000 over 8y, 4.3% of budgetAMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC: $6,500,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $5,000,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetBERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $3,100,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetHUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INC: $3,000,000 over 3y, 8.6% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation: $2,596,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetYEAR UP INC: $2,125,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $1,450,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $1,355,000 over 8y, 3.3% of budgetISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM INC: $1,295,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $1,050,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $750,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetESPLANADE ASSOCIATION INC: $750,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetTHE 19TH NEWS: $600,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetTHE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: $600,000 over 3y, 5.4% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $525,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $500,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBoston Charitable Trust Fund City of Boston Trust Office: $500,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $500,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BOSTON INC: $500,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetBRAVEN INC: $450,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetYOUTH VILLAGES INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPUBLIC ART FUND INC: $300,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $225,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFIRELIGHT MEDIA INC: $200,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $185,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $125,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMILTON ACADEMY: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH VOCATIONAL SERVICE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCAPITAL B NEWS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetSALT LICK INCUBATOR INC: $100,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetEMERSON COLLEGE: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TANK LTD: $65,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetSUMMER SEARCH: $60,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMEDIA IMPACT FUNDERS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Boston Foundation IncCombined Jewish Phila…One8 FoundationBarr FoundationNational Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Boston Foundation IncMA16.6× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · One8 Foundation · Barr Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Abrams Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Abrams Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Jewish Vocational Service Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Huntington Theatre Co Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston Inc: 2% of income from government
  • The Institute of Contemporary Art Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Berklee College of Music Inc: 1% of income from government
  • American Repertory Theatre Co Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Museum of Fine Arts: 0% of income from government
  • Emerson College: 0% of income from government
  • Milton Academy: 0% of income from government
  • Steppingstone Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Abrams Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Abrams Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 57 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Abrams’ filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home