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Boston Main Streets Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Boston Main Streets Foundation

To revitalize city of boston neighborhood main streets.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$22k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Community Improvement$544k
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $108,830, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,448,419 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,339,589 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $94k
$12,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$918k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GREATER ASHMONT MAIN STREETS$22,330
JP CENTRESOUTH MAIN STREETS$17,500
HYDE PARK MAIN STREETS$17,500
WEST ROXBURY MAIN STREETS INC$12,500
FIELDS CORNER MAIN STREETS$12,500
UPHAMS CORNER MAIN STREETS$11,500
ALLSTON VILLAGE MAIN STREETS$7,500
EAST BOSTON MAIN STREETS$7,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY25–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 16%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 16%UPHAMS CORNER MAIN STREETS: $12k → 16%WEST ROXBURY MAIN STREETS INC: $13k → 16%HYDE PARK MAIN STREETS: $18k → 16%EAST BOSTON MAIN STREETS: $8k → 16%JP CENTRESOUTH MAIN STREETS: $18k → 16%GREATER ASHMONT MAIN STREETS: $22k → 16%ALLSTON VILLAGE MAIN STREETS: $8k → 16%FIELDS CORNER MAIN STREETS: $13k → 16%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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$501k · 14 repeat orgs$44k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +96% since the first grant, against +72% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
7

Total granted

$501k
$44k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+96%
+72%

Still filing today

86%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
Community ImprovementArts & CultureHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • HP
    HYDE PARK MAIN STREETS INC
    6× · 2017–2025 · $73k · revenue +96%
  • CS
    CENTRE SOUTH MAIN STREETS INC
    6× · 2018–2025 · $68k · revenue +135%
  • GA
    GREATER ASHMONT MAIN STREET INC
    6× · 2017–2025 · $62k · revenue +129%

Funded once

  • BG
    BOWDOIN GENEVA MAIN STREETS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +27%
  • ES
    EGLESTON SQUARE MAIN STREET INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +72%
  • CM
    CHINATOWN MAIN STREET PROGRAM
    one grant, 2018 · $5k
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
Beverly Main Streets Inc

Beverly main streets' mission is to promote and enhance beverly's downtown.

Community Improvement
2
Main Street Brookville Main Street Brookville

Promote and enhance downtown brookville

Community Improvement
3
Hyannis Main Street Business Improvement District Inc

This organization was organized for the civic purpose of promoting, developing, and advancing business within the district in the downtown area of hyannis, massachusetts.

Community Improvement
4
Mainstreet Redevelopment Associatio

Community development combining residential living with business development.

Community Improvement
5
Jeffersonville Main Street Inc

To maintain and enhance the viability of Jeffersonville's historic downtown commercial and residential districts, to promote economic revitalization and encourage new businesses, and to initiate and support appropriate building and…

Community Improvement
6
Cambridge Main Street Inc

Promotes business economic development and tourism in downtown cambridge, maryland.

Community Improvement
7
Main Street of Sterling Inc

Promotion of central business district

Community Improvement
8
East Somerville Main Street Inc

To support the local community of east somerville, massachusetts by assisting the local small business community and to create community programming that would bring the diverse community together across cultural divides.

Community Improvement
9
Upper Albany Main Street Program Inc

We preserve, revitalize, and support the commercial district, creating a center of choiceby collaborating with residents and stakeholders to foster a successful community.

Community Improvement
10
Main Street Lexington

To increase the economic prosperity and cultural vitality of our community, reestablishing downtown lexington as the vibrant economic and cultutal nexus of our area, while maintaining its unique character

Community Improvement
11
Boston Main Streets Foundation

To revitalize city of boston neighborhood main streets.

Arts & Culture
12
Fells Point Main Street Inc

The mission of Fell's Point Main Street is to promote and encourage economic development while strengthening and revitalizing the greater Fell's Point business district in ways that meet the needs of businesses, residents, and visitors…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Brighton Main Streets Inc; the most unlike its peers is Bams Fest Inc. 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

18 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. 18 of the 21 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)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
17/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HYDE PARK MAIN STREETS INC: $72,980 · Community ImprovementHYDE PARK MAIN STREETS INCCENTRE SOUTH MAIN STREETS INC: $67,500 · Community ImprovementCENTRE SOUTH MAIN STREETS INCWEST ROXBURY MAIN STREETS INC: $51,500 · Community ImprovementWEST ROXBURY MAIN STREETS INCBRIGHTON MAIN STREETS INC: $50,000 · Community ImprovementBRIGHTON MAIN STREETS INCROSLINDALE VILLAGE MAIN STREET INC: $32,500 · Community ImprovementROSLINDALE VILLAGE MAIN STREET INCUPHAMS CORNER MAIN STREET INCORPORATED: $26,500 · Community ImprovementUPHAMS CORNER MAIN STREET INCORPORATEDFIELDS CORNER MAIN STREET INC: $22,500 · Community ImprovementFIELDS CORNER MAIN STREET INCFOUR CORNERS MAIN STREET INC: $17,500 · Community ImprovementBOWDOIN GENEVA MAIN STREETS INC: $15,000 · Community Improvement+5 more: $31,000 · Community Improvement+5 moreGREATER ASHMONT MAIN STREET INC: $62,330 · Arts & CultureGREATER ASHMONT …EAST BOSTON GATEWAY INC: $12,500 · Arts & CultureEAST BOSTON GATE…BAMS FEST INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureBAMS FEST INCGREATER GROVE HALL MAIN STREETS: $30,000 · OtherGREATER G…HYDE JACKSON SQUARE MAIN STREET: $12,500 · OtherHYDE JACK…CHINATOWN MAIN STREET PROGRAM: $5,000 · OtherCHINATOWN…ROXBURY MAIN STREETS REVITALIZATION CORPORATION: $30,000 · Housing & Shelter
Community Improvement$386,980Arts & Culture$79,830Other$47,500Housing & Shelter$30,000

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

25%50%75%100%grantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHYDE PARK MAIN STREETS INC: $72,980 over 6y, 17% of budgetCENTRE SOUTH MAIN STREETS INC: $67,500 over 6y, 10.0% of budgetGREATER ASHMONT MAIN STREET INC: $62,330 over 6y, 7.2% of budgetWEST ROXBURY MAIN STREETS INC: $51,500 over 6y, 12% of budgetBRIGHTON MAIN STREETS INC: $50,000 over 3y, 20% of budgetROSLINDALE VILLAGE MAIN STREET INC: $32,500 over 4y, 5.0% of budgetROXBURY MAIN STREETS REVITALIZATION CORPORATION: $30,000 over 4y, 9.0% of budgetUPHAMS CORNER MAIN STREET INCORPORATED: $26,500 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetFIELDS CORNER MAIN STREET INC: $22,500 over 3y, 7.5% of budgetFOUR CORNERS MAIN STREET INC: $17,500 over 3y, 6.9% of budgetBOWDOIN GENEVA MAIN STREETS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetALLSTON VILLAGE MAIN STREETS INC: $12,500 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetEAST BOSTON GATEWAY INC: $12,500 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetEGLESTON SQUARE MAIN STREET INC: $5,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetTHREE SQUARES MAIN STREET JP INC: $5,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetBAMS FEST INC: $5,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetMATTAPAN SQUARE MAIN STREETS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetMISSION HILL MAIN STREETS INC: $3,500 over 1y, 2.8% 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.

Eastern Bank Foundati…Boston Foundation IncFidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Eastern Bank FoundationMA18.1× affinity7 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Boston Foundation 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 Boston Main Streets Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Boston Main Streets Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 16%
  • Uphams Corner Main Street Incorporated: 31% of income from government
  • Hyde Park Main Streets Inc: 27% of income from government
  • Allston Village Main Streets Inc: 17% of income from government
  • Mattapan Square Main Streets Inc: 16% of income from government
  • Roslindale Village Main Street Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Mission Hill Main Streets Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Bams Fest Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 Boston Main Streets Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Boston Main Streets Foundation 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 21 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Boston Main Streets’ 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