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· Private foundation

Benson Family Charitable Trust

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.

$622k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Community Improvement$2.5MHealth$1.4MHuman Services$261kCrime & Legal$115kEducation$110kArts & Culture$95kPublic Safety & Disaster$60kPhilanthropy$45kOther$0
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $62k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $60k
  • $250k+1 grant · $500k
$30,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$9.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BABSON COLLEGE$500,000
SWIMMING WITH A MISSION$60,000
CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION$30,000
Individual grant recipient$12,000
CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER$10,000
PALACE THEATRE FOREVER EMMA SCHOLARSHIP$10,000
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 (FY18–24, $245k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $60k → 7%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $60k → 7%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $25k → 7%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $25k → 7%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $25k → 7%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $25k → 7%SWIMMING WITH A MISSION: $25k → 7%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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.3M · 8 repeat orgs$326k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +45% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
20

Total granted

$4.3M
$284k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+28%

Still filing today

63%
15%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $42k 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
EducationHealthCrime & LegalHuman 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

  • BABSON COLLEGE
    6× · 2017–2024 · $2.5M · revenue +43%
  • LC
    LAHEY CLINIC INC
    4× · 2017–2023 · $1.3M · revenue +45%
  • SW
    SWIMMING WITH A MISSION INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $245k · revenue +256%

Funded once

  • CF
    CCNH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR NH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • PU
    PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +29%
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
Winchester Hospital

The mission of winchester hospital is "to care. to heal. to excel." this ethos provides each and every staff member with clear expectations, promoting teamwork and respect while ensuring safety, quality and empathy for patients. winchester…

Health
2
Northeast Hospital Corporation

Centering on a concept and continuum of care that embraces the health, well-being and dignity of each patient, regardless of their ability to pay, northeast hospital corporation (nhc) has four facilities, beverly hospital, addison gilbert…

Health
3
Beth Israel Lahey Health Primary Care

Beth israel lahey health primary care (bilhpc) is a network of community based physicians affiliated with the beth israel lahey health (bilh) network and serving the patients and communities served by the lahey clinic hospital (lahey…

—
4
Lahey Clinic Foundation Inc

The lahey clinic foundation, inc. (lcf) serves as the sole member and supports the lahey clinic (lc) and lahey clinic hospital d/b/a lahey hospital & medical center (lhmc), enabling lhmc and lc to provide superior health care leading to…

Health
5
Anna Jaques Hospital Inc

The mission of anna jaques hospital (ajh or hospital) is to provide the highest quality medical care and improve the health of the communities served by ajh in alliance with the ajh medical staff and ajh affiliates including seacoast…

Health
6
Mount Auburn Hospital

The mission of new england baptist hospital (nebh or hospital) is the operation and maintenance of an acute care, orthopedic specialty hospital and provision of all services related thereto for the benefit of patients. nebh strives to…

Health
7
Lahey Clinic Hospital Inc

Lahey clinic hospital d/b/a lahey hospital & medical center (lhmc) is committed to providing superior health care leading to the best possible outcomes and experiences for every patient, advancing medicine through research and the…

Health
8
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth Inc

The mission of the beth israel deaconess hospital-plymouth, inc. (bid-plymouth or hospital) is to improve the health and well-being of its patients and communities by providing a full continuum of healthcare services with excellence and…

Health
9
Beth Israel Lahey Health Specialty Care F/K/a Northeast Medical Practice

Beth israel lahey health specialty care f/k/a northeast medical practice (bilhsc fka nmp) primary mission is to provide high quality medical care to the patients of northeast hospital corporation (beverly hospital, addison gilbert hospital…

Health
10
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Milton

The mission of the beth israel deaconess hospital-milton, inc. (bid-milton or hospital) is to provide safe, high-quality, community-based health care and access to tertiary care in close collaboration with its sister hospital, beth israel…

Health
11
Northeast Behavioral Health Corporation

The mission of northeast behavioral health corporation d/b/a beth israel lahey health behavioral services' (bilhbs) is to provide personal, compassionate, state-of-the-art, integrated behavioral healthcare that makes a difference in the…

Health
12
Seacoast Affiliated Group Practice Inc

Seacoast affiliated group practice (sagp) is a network of community-based physicians affiliated with anna jaques hospital (ajh or hospital). these practices are committed to improving the health of the communities served by ajh and sagp by…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Babson College; the most unlike its peers is American Legion Post 214. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

8 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. 8 of the 30 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BABSON COLLEGE: $2,470,000 · EducationBABSON COLLEGE+2 more: $55,000 · EducationLAHEY CLINIC INC: $1,325,000 · HealthLAHEY CLINIC INCSTRATHAM VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $60,000 · OtherSTRATHAM V…CCNH FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherCCNH FOUND…FOUNDATION FOR NH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $50,000 · OtherFOUNDATION…LITTLE HARBOR CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $45,000 · OtherLITTLE HAR…NC FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: $35,000 · OtherNC FOR MIS…PALACE THEATRE FOREVER EMMA SCHOLARSHIP: $35,000 · OtherPALACE THE…CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION: $30,000 · OtherCYSTIC FIB…DARTMOUTH MEDICAL REACT CAMPAIGN: $25,000 · OtherDARTMOUTH …AMERICAN LEGION POST 214: $20,000 · Other+15 more: $80,500 · Other+15 moreSWIMMING WITH A MISSION INC: $245,000 · Human ServicesCHILD ADVOCACY CENTER OF COOS COUNTY: $80,000 · Crime & Legal
Education$2,525,000Health$1,325,000Other$430,500Human Services$245,000Crime & Legal$80,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBABSON COLLEGE: $2,470,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetLAHEY CLINIC INC: $1,325,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSWIMMING WITH A MISSION INC: $245,000 over 7y, 3.7% of budgetCHILD ADVOCACY CENTER OF COOS COUNTY: $80,000 over 7y, 21% of budgetPHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRIANGLE CLUB INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

  • Who funds BABSON COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds LAHEY CLINIC INC ↗
  • Who funds SWIMMING WITH A MISSION INC ↗
  • Who funds CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER OF COOS COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN LEGION POST 214 ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FOUNDATION INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds TRIANGLE CLUB INC ↗

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA4.7× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Benson Family Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Benson Family Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Babson College: 3% of income from government
  • Lahey Clinic Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
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 Benson Family Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to Benson Family Charitable Trust 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 30 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

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