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Curiosity Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Curiosity Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$32k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Environment$80kArts & Culture$5kCivil Rights$5kHuman Services$950Science & Tech$575International$500Public Safety & Disaster$400Education$400Other$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k17 grants · $2k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $30k
$100
Median grant
7
States reached
$651k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$30,000
Sabal Foundation$300
Fertile Edge Land Trust$250
Heet$250
ME Childrens Alliance$250
Carbon 180$200
Arbor Day Foundation$200
Boston Symphony Orchestra$150
Museum of Science$100
Gaza Soup Kitchen$100
Green Energy Consumers Alliance$100
League of American Bicycllists$75
Greenpeace$50
Boston Cyclists Union$50
Future Earth$50
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 (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 50% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%Plymouth Center for the Arts: $500 → 8%Centro di Derechos Humanos: $1k → 8%Boston Symphony Orchestra: $100 → 16%Arbor Day Foundation: $200 → 13%Foundation For Climate Restoration: $5k → 8%Lite Initiatives: $500 → 9%ME Children's Alliance: $500 → 10%Climate Emergency Fund: $5k → 14%Land is Life: $3k → 20%Urban Ecology Center: $250 → 17%Stand Earth: $500 → 12%Ocean Visions: $3k → 4%One Tree Planted: $500 → 10%Boston Lyric Opera: $250 → 16%Arbor Day Foundation: $200 → 13%ME Childrens Alliance: $250 → 10%War Resisters League: $100 → 17%Land is Life: $100 → 20%Greenpeace: $200 → 14%River Revitalization Project: $250 → 17%Trees Water People: $500 → 11%One Tree Planted: $200 → 10%CCTV Cambridge: $2k → 8%Green Energy Consumers Alliance: $100 → 16%Arbor Day Foundation: $200 → 13%ME Childrens Alliance: $200 → 10%War Resisters League: $100 → 17%Plowshares Fund: $100 → 14%Trees Water People: $200 → 11%Cambridge Bicycles: $300 → 8%Museum of Science: $300 → 16%Sabal Foundation: $300 → 10%Amnesty International: $100 → 17%Plowshares Fund: $100 → 14%Peg Media: $285 → 8%Boston Lyric Opera: $250 → 16%Sabal Foundation: $100 → 10%Amnesty International: $100 → 17%Peg MediaCCTV: $150 → 8%Museum of Science: $100 → 16%Global Zero: $100 → 14%The Trustees: $100 → 16%Rocky Mountain Institute: $500 → 17%League of American Bicycllists: $200 → 14%Oceana: $500 → 14%Boston Symphony Orchestra: $200 → 16%Boston Symphony Orchestra: $200 → 16%Boston Symphony Orchestra: $150 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
WI
NY
MA
NJ
CA
CO
NE
VA
MD
DC
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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$72k · 22 repeat orgs$21k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +11% since the first grant, against -7% for those funded once.

22 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
20

Total granted

$72k
$21k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
-7%

Still filing today

68%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500 went to new ones.

50%100%’19’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’23’24’25
EnvironmentArts & CultureInternationalScience & TechPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • TW
    TREES WATER AND PEOPLE
    3× · 2023–2025 · $700 · revenue +25%
  • TF
    TREES FOR THE FUTURE INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $700 · revenue +11%
  • BS
    BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC
    6× · 2019–2025 · $650 · revenue +22%

Funded once

  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR CLIMATE RESTORATION INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $5k · revenue -90%
  • CE
    CLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND
    2× · 2022–2023 · $5k · revenue -7%
  • OV
    OCEAN VISIONS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $3k · revenue +133%
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
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
2
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
3
Environment Now
—
4
Climate Catalyst Inc

Climate catalyst sparks collective action to tackle the biggest climate challenges we face today: cutting emissions in heavy industries.

Environment
5
Terraset

Terraset uses philanthropic capital to purchase permanent, high-quality carbon removal. we pool donations from individuals, foundations, family offices, and donor advised funds, and make strategic purchases of high-quality carbon removal…

Environment
6
The Climate Group Inc

Climate group advances climate action by mobilizing business and government leadership to drive systemic decarbonization across energy, transport, and industry, while engaging the public through large-scale convenings and global platforms.…

Environment
7
One Earth Philanthropy

One Earth's mission is to empower everyone, everywhere, with the knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity to heal the Earth and reclaim our future.

Environment
8
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
9
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
10
Rainforest Action Network

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works toward a world where the rights and dignity of all communities are respected and where healthy forests, a stable climate and wild biodiversity are protected and celebrated.

Environment
11
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
12
Watttime Corporation

To raise awareness about the potential to reduce environmental harm by shifting electricity use to particular times; to encourage the development and spread of common protocols for this practice.

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated; the most unlike its peers is Foundation for Climate Restoration 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

37 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. 37 of the 46 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)
36/37
Grantees still filing
20/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $55,100 · OtherIndividual grant recipientLand is Life Inc: $3,100 · OtherFertile Edge Land Trust: $2,450 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $2,358 · Other+20 more: $6,385 · Other+20 moreFOUNDATION FOR CLIMATE RESTORATION INC: $5,000 · EnvironmentFOUNDATION FOR CLIMAT…CLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND: $5,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUN…CENTER FOR CARBON REMOVAL: $3,400 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR CARBON REM…TREES WATER AND PEOPLE: $700 · EnvironmentTREES FOR THE FUTURE INC: $700 · EnvironmentNATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION: $600 · Environment+8 more: $2,100 · Environment+8 moreOCEAN VISIONS INC: $3,000 · Science & TechBOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $650 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $575 · Arts & CultureBOSTON LYRIC OPERA COMPANY: $500 · Arts & CultureONE TREE PLANTED INC: $700 · PhilanthropyAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC: $300 · InternationalGLOBAL ZERO: $100 · InternationalLeague of American Wheelman Inc: $375 · Recreation & Sports
Other$69,393Environment$17,500Science & Tech$3,000Arts & Culture$1,725Philanthropy$700International$400Recreation & Sports$375

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 budgetFOUNDATION FOR CLIMATE RESTORATION INC: $5,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR CARBON REMOVAL: $3,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLand is Life Inc: $3,100 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetOCEAN VISIONS INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTREES WATER AND PEOPLE: $700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTREES FOR THE FUTURE INC: $700 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetONE TREE PLANTED INC: $700 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $650 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION: $600 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $575 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLITE INITIATIVES: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSTAND: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBROCKTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBOSTON LYRIC OPERA COMPANY: $500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOCEANA INC: $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLeague of American Wheelman Inc: $375 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGREENPEACE INC: $300 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC: $300 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetURBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON CYCLISTS UNION INC: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBAL ZERO: $100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGREEN ENERGY CONSUMERS ALLIANCE INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS PEACE ACTION INC: $100 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFUTURE EARTH: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $50 over 3y, 0.0% 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 FOUNDATION FOR CLIMATE RESTORATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR CARBON REMOVAL ↗
  • Who funds Land is Life Inc ↗
  • Who funds OCEAN VISIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds TREES WATER AND PEOPLE ↗
  • Who funds TREES FOR THE FUTURE INC ↗
  • Who funds ONE TREE PLANTED INC ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF SCIENCE ↗
  • Who funds LITE INITIATIVES ↗
  • Who funds STAND ↗
  • Who funds BROCKTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON LYRIC OPERA COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds OCEANA INC ↗
  • Who funds League of American Wheelman Inc ↗
  • Who funds GREENPEACE INC ↗
  • Who funds AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC ↗
  • Who funds URBAN ECOLOGY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON CYCLISTS UNION INC ↗
  • Who funds GLOBAL ZERO ↗
  • Who funds GREEN ENERGY CONSUMERS ALLIANCE 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Barr FoundationEastern Bank Foundati…National Philanthropi…The Pfizer Foundation…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Barr FoundationMA13.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Barr Foundation · Eastern Bank Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable 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 Curiosity Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Curiosity Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Boston Lyric Opera Company: 3% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Curiosity Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Curiosity 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 46 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Curiosity’s 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