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Bostongives Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Bostongives Inc

Boston gives exists to improve the lives of inner city children in the greater boston area by supporting children's education, social services and health care programs.

$123k
Granted FY2020
10
Grants FY2020
2
States reached
$30k
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, FY2019 to 2020.

Youth Development$115kEducation$70kHuman Services$30k
02FY2020 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 10 grants below total $120,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $122,500 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $2,500 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 · FY2020

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $110k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$778
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB$30,000
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY$20,000
MATCH EDUCATION$10,000
THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS$10,000
CRADLES TO CRAYONS$10,000
THE NATIVITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL$10,000
BRIDGE BOSTON FOUNDATION$10,000
UNCOMMON SCHOOLS$10,000
YOUTH ENRICHMENT$5,000
MORE THAN WORDS$5,000
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 (FY19–20, $30k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS: $10k → 16%CRADLES TO CRAYONS: $10k → 16%CRADLES TO CRAYONS: $10k → 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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$195k · 9 repeat orgs$20k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2020, 0 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
1

Total granted

$195k
$10k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
0%

Still filing today

100%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20
EducationYouth DevelopmentHuman 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

  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BOSTON INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $55k · revenue +34%
  • TM
    THE MATCH FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $20k · revenue +29%
  • NI
    NATIVITY-BOSTON INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $20k · revenue +66%

Funded once

  • OB
    One Bread Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2019 · $10k
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 After School & Beyond Inc

Boston after school & beyond, inc. is a public private partnership that pursues a unified after-school and summer learning system that promotes stakeholder alignment, a focus on results, and access to learning opportunities, particularly…

Education
2
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Bb&n, an all gender day school in cambridge, massachusetts, was established in 1974 by the merger of two independent schools, the buckingham school and the browne & nichols school, founded respectively in 1889 and 1883. located on multiple…

Education
3
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts Inc

To promote the healthy development of children through the nurturing of continuing, one-to-one friendships with caring, responsible adults, supported by trained professional staff.

—
4
The Boston Children's School Inc

To promote the growth and development of children while teaching them how to learn efficiently and experience the joy of learning

Education
5
Minds Matter of Boston Inc

Minds matter connects driven and determined students from low-income families with the people, preparation, and possibilities to succeed in college, create their future, and change the world.

Youth Development
6
Boston Partners in Education Inc

By creating supportive relationships between students and volunteer mentors, boston partners in education ensures a more equitable city where every bps student is equipped with the skills, opportunity, and confidence to succeed in the…

—
7
Kipp Boston Fund Inc

To promote the financial well-being of kipp academy boston public charter school and kipp massachusetts, inc. by soliciting, receiving and administering funds for construction, operation and maintenance of the school, and to support the…

Education
8
Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc

To inspire excitement for learning, create paths to and through college, and promote careers in education.

Education
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
The Bookbuilders of Boston Educational Fund Inc
Education
11
Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester Inc

Our mission is to always welcome and connect young people and families to opportunities that embrace diversity, nurture growth, and inspire success.

Youth Development
12
Edvestors Inc

Edvestors was founded in 2002 as a platform to connect boston philanthropists with the city's public schools by identifying, shaping, and matching donors with promising school improvement efforts. (see schedule o)

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is More Than Words Inc; the most unlike its peers is One Bread Foundation 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

11 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.

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

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $30,000 · OtherBIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BO…NATIVITY-BOSTON INC: $20,000 · OtherNATIVITY-BOSTON INCYOUTH ENRICHMENT SERVICES INC: $10,000 · OtherYOUTH ENRICHMENT SERVICES INCMORE THAN WORDS INC: $10,000 · OtherMORE THAN WORDS INCBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BOSTON INC: $55,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BOSTON INCOne Bread Foundation Inc: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentOne Bread Foundation IncTHE MATCH FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · EducationTHE MATCH FOUNDATION INCUNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC: $15,000 · EducationUNCOMMON SCHOOLS INCBRIDGE BOSTON FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · EducationBRIDGE BOSTON FOUNDATION I…CRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesCRADLES TO CRAY…THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE HOME FOR LI…
Other$70,000Youth Development$65,000Education$50,000Human Services$30,000

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 budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BOSTON INC: $55,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE MATCH FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNCOMMON SCHOOLS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRIDGE BOSTON FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetYOUTH ENRICHMENT SERVICES INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMORE THAN WORDS INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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 IncVanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Boston Foundation IncMA15.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Bostongives Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bostongives Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 18%
  • The Home for Little Wanderers Inc: 34% of income from government
  • More Than Words Inc: 18% of income from government
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
3report 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 Bostongives Inc?

Find your warmest path to Bostongives 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 11 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2020, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

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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