Skip to content
Empire Loan Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Empire Loan 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.

$21k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$6k
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.

Arts & Culture$229kEducation$69kRecreation & Sports$67kYouth Development$45kHealth$45kCommunity Improvement$26kCivil Rights$15kFood & Nutrition$15kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC$6,000
EMBRACE BOSTON INC$5,000
NO BOOKS NO BALL$2,500
THE BIM INC$2,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION & ALUMNI$2,000
RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION$2,000
SOUTH END ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION INC$1,250
LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION SOCIETY$650
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 (FY17–20, $49k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%FAMILY & CHILDRENS SERVICE OF GREATER LYNN INC: $500 → 10%FAMILY & CHILDRENS SERVICE OF GREATER LYNN INC: $375 → 10%FAMILY & CHILDRENS SERVICE OF GREATER LYNN INC: $250 → 10%FAMILY & CHILDRENS SERVICE OF GREATER LYNN INC: $100 → 10%UNITED SOUTH END SETTLEMENTS: $500 → 16%ROOM TO GROW NATIONAL INC: $2k → 16%DIMOCK SUPPORT CORPORATION: $10k → 16%SOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC: $10k → 16%DIMOCK SUPPORT CORPORATION: $10k → 16%SOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC: $10k → 16%DIMOCK SUPPORT CORPORATION: $5k → 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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$468k · 23 repeat orgs$60k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +57% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
21

Total granted

$468k
$54k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
+29%

Still filing today

78%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureYouth DevelopmentEducationHuman ServicesFood & NutritionHealthOther
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

  • NB
    No Books No Ball Basketball Program a Non-Profit Corporation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $54k · revenue +198% · 28% of their budget
  • HF
    HAYMAKERS FOR HOPE INC
    3× · 2019–2023 · $38k · revenue +89%
  • BC
    BOSTON CITY LIGHTS FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2017–2024 · $25k · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • EMERSON COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +38%
  • FF
    Fund for Parks and Recreation - Bostongraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +80%
  • LD
    LOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%
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
Massachusetts Business Roundtable Inc

The mission of the roundtable is to make massachusetts the most desirable place to live, work and do business by engaging private sector executives and public leaders to ensure access to a robust, diverse and talented workforce that…

—
2
Boston Architectural College

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

—
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
Massachusetts Education & Career Opportunities Inc

Massachusetts education and career opportunities, inc. (massedco, inc.) is a statewide network of service sites that provides education and career advising to over 12,000 low-income, first generation individuals each year. massedco…

Education
5
Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc

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

Education
6
Downtown Boston Business Improvement District Corporation

To create a clean, welcome, and vibrant environment that will increase business activity in the downtown boston area, including downtown crossing, the ladder district, and parts of the theater and financial districts.

Community Improvement
7
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

To improve the business, social and civic environment of the greater boston area and to become the leading representative in the boston area in the consideration of local, state and national issues.

—
8
Boston Harbor Now Inc

Our mission is to ensure that the people of greater boston benefit from a vibrant, resilient, and inclusive waterfront, harbor, and islands; these spaces are equitable, accessible, and adapted to climate change; and to ensure our public,…

Environment
9
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
10
United Way of Greater New Bedford Inc

Our mission is to mobilize people, partnerships and resources to catalyze change that strengthens the communities served.

—
11
Neighborhealth Corporation

Neighborhealth's mission is to promote and sustain healthy communities, families, and individuals by providing accessible, person-centered, and compassionate, high-quality health care services to all who live and work in our service area,…

Health
12
Walkboston Inc

Walkmassachusetts makes walking safer and easier in massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and vibrant communities.

Unclassified
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Lenny Zakim Fund; the most unlike its peers is Community Path of Lynn Coalition 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

41 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. 41 of the 47 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/41
Grantees still filing
28/41
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BOSTON UNIVERSITY - WBUR: $150,000 · OtherBOSTON UNIVERSITY - WBURPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $17,000 · OtherPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INCUNION UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $15,000 · OtherUNION UNITED METHODIST CHURCH+19 more: $45,010 · Other+19 moreBOSTON CITY LIGHTS FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureBOSTON CITY LIGH…The Rose Conservatory Inc: $20,000 · Arts & CultureThe Rose Conserv…EMBRACE BOSTON INC: $15,000 · Arts & CultureEMBRACE BOSTON I…Old Dartmouth Historical Society: $11,500 · Arts & CultureOld Dartmouth Hi…DOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureDOCUMENTARY EDUC…+1 more: $2,500 · Arts & CultureNo Books No Ball Basketball Program a Non-Profit Corporation: $54,000 · EducationNo Books No Ba…EMERSON COLLEGE: $10,000 · EducationEMERSON COLLEG…UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $2,500 · Education+2 more: $1,000 · EducationDIMOCK SUPPORT CORPORATION: $25,000 · Human ServicesDIMOCK SUP…SOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesSOCIAL INN…ROOM TO GROW NATIONAL INC: $1,800 · Human Services+2 more: $1,725 · Human ServicesHAYMAKERS FOR HOPE INC: $37,500 · HealthHARVARD STREET NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CENTER INC: $2,500 · HealthHOLE IN THE WALL GANG FUND INC: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsBoston Explorers Inc: $16,000 · Recreation & SportsUTEC Inc: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentGIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER LOWELL: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentSouth End Athletics & Activities Association Inc: $3,950 · Youth DevelopmentGIRLS INCORPORATED OF BOSTON AND LYNN: $1,250 · Youth Development
Other$227,010Arts & Culture$79,000Education$67,500Human Services$48,525Health$40,000Recreation & Sports$36,000Youth Development$30,200

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNo Books No Ball Basketball Program a Non-Profit Corporation: $54,000 over 9y, 28% of budgetHAYMAKERS FOR HOPE INC: $37,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetDIMOCK SUPPORT CORPORATION: $25,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetBOSTON CITY LIGHTS FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 4y, 9.2% of budgetSOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetThe Rose Conservatory Inc: $20,000 over 4y, 9.0% of budgetHOLE IN THE WALL GANG FUND INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $17,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBoston Explorers Inc: $16,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetEMBRACE BOSTON INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOld Dartmouth Historical Society: $11,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetUTEC Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER LOWELL: $10,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetEMERSON COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LENNY ZAKIM FUND: $7,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetFund for Parks and Recreation - Boston: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERRIMACK VALLEY FOOD BANK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSouth End Athletics & Activities Association Inc: $3,950 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetHARVARD STREET NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CENTER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCASA NUEVA VIDA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTALENTED AND GIFTED ASSOCIATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 28% of budgetINQUILINOS BORICUAS EN ACCION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC ACTION FOR ARTS AND EDUCATION: $2,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetMY BROTHER'S TABLE INC: $1,800 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetROOM TO GROW NATIONAL INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF BOSTON AND LYNN: $1,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF GREATER LYNN INC: $1,225 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMERCY MEALS AND MORE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe Lighthouse Preservation Society: $975 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetKIPP MASSACHUSETTS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED SOUTH END SETTLEMENTS: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetORGANIZING COMMITTEE FOR THE DAY OF PORTUGAL AND CAMOES INC: $500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION: $200 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.

Boston Foundation IncEastern Bank Foundati…Cummings Foundation G…Barr FoundationAmerican Tower Corpor…Rockland Trust Charit…Liberty Mutual Founda…United Way Of Massach…Children's Hospital C…Salem Five Charitable…Boston After School &…Rockland Trust - East…
Boston Foundation IncMA34.9× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Barr Foundation · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Children's Hospital Corporation · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Boston After School & Beyond Inc · Rockland Trust - East Boston Savings Bank Foundation Inc

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 Empire Loan Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Empire Loan Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 140%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Utec Inc: 46% of income from government
  • Louis D Brown Peace Institute Corp: 32% of income from government
  • Girls Incorporated of Boston and Lynn: 28% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Merrimack Valley Food Bank Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell: 3% of income from government
  • Old Dartmouth Historical Society: 2% of income from government
  • Inquilinos Boricuas En Accion Inc: 2% of income from government
  • The Rose Conservatory Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Documentary Educational Resources Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Emerson College: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
14get no government money at all
6report 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 Empire Loan Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Empire Loan Charitable 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 47 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 Empire Loan’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