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Deshpande Foundation Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Deshpande Foundation Inc

The Deshpande Foundation, Inc.

$871k
Granted FY2020
6
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

72% of Deshpande Foundation Inc’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 11 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Deshpande Foundation Inc named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $865k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

4
’19
5
’20
1
’21
1
’23
1
’24
11
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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 2025.

Philanthropy$5.4MCommunity Improvement$3.1MEducation$785kScience & Tech$210kArts & Culture$35kAnimals$30kReligion$21kEnvironment$10kOther$0
02FY2020 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2020

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+2 grants · $750k
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$7.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Entrepreneurship for All Inc$500,000
Massachusetts Institute of Technology$250,000
GreenLight Fund Inc$50,000
The Boston Foundation$25,000
Museum of Science$25,000
University of Massachusetts Foundation Inc$15,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 18% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization: $10k → 8%Groundwork Lawrence: $20k → 10%VentureWell: $100k → 12%University of Massachusetts Foundation Inc: $15k → 16%Humane Society International: $20k → 14%The Boston Foundation: $25k → 8%Chinmaya Mission of Boston: $11k → 10%VentureWell: $20k → 12%The Boston Foundation: $322k → 16%Hindu American Foundation: $25k → 14%Entrepreneurship for All Inc: $2.0M → 8%Boston Foundation Inc: $70k → 16%Entrepreneurship for All Inc: $500k → 8%GreenLight Fund Inc: $50k → 16%Entrepreneurship for All Inc: $500k → 8%GreenLight Fund Inc: $50k → 16%Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust Inc: $10k → 8%Museum of Science: $45k → 16%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $500k → 8%Museum of Science: $25k → 16%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $250k → 8%Museum of Science: $20k → 16%Project Prakash Foundation: $10k → 8%Berklee College of Music Inc: $10k → 16%Teach For America Inc: $10k → 16%Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: $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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.3M · 4 repeat orgs$186k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2020, 1 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
2

Total granted

$3.3M
$20k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+31%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $106k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’23’24’25
Community ImprovementEducationArts & CultureAnimalsPhilanthropyEnvironmentOther
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

  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ALL INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $3.0M · revenue +33%
  • NC
    National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc
    2× · 2024–2025 · $120k · revenue -9%
  • GF
    GREENLIGHT FUND INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $100k · revenue +46%

Funded once

  • BC
    BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +31%
  • Teach for America Inc
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue -18%
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
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.…

—
3
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

—
4
Activate Global Inc

Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. activate partners with u.s. based funders, research institutions, and other pillars of the hard technology community to help entrepreneurial…

Environment
5
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
6
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
7
Wentworth Institute of Technology Inc

Wentworth institute of technology is a nationally recognized private coeducational and residential university of higher education with a mission to empower, inspire and innovate through experiential learning with a core purpose of career…

Education
8
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Wpi transforms lives, turns knowledge into action to confront global challenges, and revolutionizes stem through distinctive and inclusive education, projects and research. (http://www.wpi.edu/about/mission.html)

—
9
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
10
New England Lawboston

New england law/boston dedicates itself to preparing students to be successful lawyers and leaders in the public and private sectors through integrated practical, theoretical and ethical education of the highest caliber and to contributing…

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
Harvard Management Company Inc

Provide investment management services to harvard university.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Massachusetts Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Humane World for Animals International. 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 20 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
10/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $5,000,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUNDENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ALL INC: $3,000,000 · Community ImprovementENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ALL INC+3 more: $145,000 · Community ImprovementMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $750,000 · EducationMassachuse…National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc: $120,000 · EducationNational C…+3 more: $35,000 · EducationBoston Foundation Inc: $392,100 · Philanthropy+1 more: $10,000 · PhilanthropyMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $90,000 · Arts & CultureHINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureSAMSKRITA BHARTI: $10,000 · Arts & CultureHumane World for Animals International: $20,000 · AnimalsMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $10,000 · AnimalsCHINMAYA MISSION OF BOSTON: $11,000 · OtherBRAHMA KUMARIS WORLD SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATION: $10,000 · OtherLOWELL PARKS & CONSERVATION TRUST: $10,000 · Environment
Community Improvement$8,145,000Education$905,000Philanthropy$402,100Arts & Culture$125,000Animals$30,000Other$21,000Environment$10,000

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 budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $5,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ALL INC: $3,000,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $750,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $392,100 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNational Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc: $120,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGREENLIGHT FUND INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $90,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTIE-BOSTON FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetHINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetGroundwork Lawrence Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOWELL PARKS & CONSERVATION TRUST: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 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.

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.

Network for GoodMorgan Stanley Global…Paypal Charitable Giv…National Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Network for GoodDC9.3× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Network for Good · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving 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 Deshpande Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Deshpande Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance Inc: 38% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Entrepreneurship for All Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Berklee College of Music Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get 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
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 Deshpande Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Deshpande 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 20 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.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Deshpande’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