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Downey-Farnsworth Family Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Downey-Farnsworth Family Charitable Foundation

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.

$15k
Granted FY2020
1
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0188% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

Arts & Culture$451kReligion$56kCivil Rights$8kEducation$3kHealth$190Environment$100Human Services$100Other$0
02FY2020 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$14,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$725k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON$14,500
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 (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%PAN MASS CHALLENGE: $190 → 7%FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON: $15k → 8%PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM: $210 → 10%SMITH COLLEGE: $100 → 12%MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON: $275 → 16%UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY: $2k → 15%FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON: $14k → 8%WUMB U MASS: $100 → 16%UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY: $1k → 15%FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON: $14k → 8%WBUR: $135 → 16%FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON: $14k → 8%HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND: $100 → 16%NEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE: $162k → 8%UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST URBAN MINISTRY: $4k → 16%NEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE: $150k → 8%UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST URBAN MINISTRY: $4k → 16%NEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE: $138k → 8%BOSTON ATHENAEUM: $336 → 16%HISTORIC NEWTON: $2k → 8%WGBH: $135 → 16%TRUSTEE OF THE NEWTON FREE LIBRARY: $200 → 8%HISTORIC NEWTON: $500 → 8%GREEN NEWTON: $100 → 8%WALTHAM YMCA ANNUAL FUND: $100 → 8%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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$519k · 5 repeat orgs$2k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +137% since the first grant, against +45% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2020, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
12

Total granted

$519k
$2k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+137%
+45%

Still filing today

40%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentOther
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

  • NC
    NEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $450k · revenue -61% · 35% of their budget
  • FU
    FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON
    4× · 2017–2020 · $56k
  • BF
    BENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES
    2× · 2017–2019 · $8k · revenue +137%

Funded once

  • PO
    PROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM
    one grant, 2017 · $336 · revenue -24%
  • MO
    MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON
    one grant, 2017 · $275
  • PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM INC
    one grant, 2017 · $210 · revenue -65%
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
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Inc

Organization's mission statement true to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the isabella stewart gardner museum is: - to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection; - to…

Arts & Culture
2
Trustees of Boston College

Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…

Education
3
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
4
Boston Architectural College

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

—
5
Bentley University

Organization's mission bentley university believes good business can impact more than the bottom line - it can change the world. bentley is a community of future business leaders who will deliver value in the marketplace and lasting…

Education
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
7
Massachusetts Historical Society

To promote understanding of the history of massachusetts and the nation by collecting and communicating materials and resources that foster historical knowledge.

Arts & Culture
8
Historic Boston Incorporated
—
9
New England Museum Association

New england museum association's mission is to connect a community engaged in learning, collaboration, and action to cultivate a better museum world.

—
10
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
11
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
12
New England Historic Genealogical Society

New england historic genealogical society's mission is to advance the study of family history in america and beyond. we educate, inspire, and connect people through our scholarship, collections, and expertise. we conduct business under the…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Trustees of Boston University; the most unlike its peers is Green Newton 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

9 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. 9 of the 17 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE INC: $450,000 · Arts & CultureNEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE INC+2 more: $310 · Arts & CultureFIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY IN NEWTON: $55,750 · OtherFIRST UNITARIAN…BENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES: $8,000 · OtherBENEVOLENT FRAT…UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY: $3,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $2,350 · Other+7 more: $1,135 · OtherPROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM: $336 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $100 · EducationGreen Newton Inc: $100 · Environment
Arts & Culture$450,310Other$70,235Education$436Environment$100

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 budgetNEWTON CULTURAL ALLIANCE INC: $450,000 over 3y, 35% of budgetBENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES: $8,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM: $336 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM INC: $210 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $190 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $135 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGL: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGreen Newton Inc: $100 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $100 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.

Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA9.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Downey-Farnsworth Family Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Downey-Farnsworth Family Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Newton Cultural Alliance Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Peabody Essex Museum Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Society for the Preservation of New Engl: 2% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
  • Proprietors of the Boston Athenaeum: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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.

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 17 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 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