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Esther B Kahn Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Esther B Kahn 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.

$185k
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$25k
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, FY2021 to 2025.

Education$234kHousing & Shelter$204kHuman Services$175kYouth Development$106kHealth$104kArts & Culture$76kScience & Tech$48kFood & Nutrition$20kOther$0
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $170k
$20,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Women's Lunch Place$25,000
Housing Families Inc$25,000
Cradles to Crayons$25,000
Huntington Theater Company$20,000
Perkins School for the Blind$20,000
Learning Ally$20,000
Reach Beyond Domestic Violence$15,000
Peer Health Exchange$10,000
Planned Parenthood Federation of America$10,000
Boothbay Sea & Science Center$5,000
826 Boston$5,000
One Can Help Inc$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 (FY21–25, $284k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, 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%Learning Ally: $20k → 11%Learning Ally: $20k → 11%Learning Ally: $20k → 11%Cradles to Crayons: $25k → 8%Cradles to Crayons: $25k → 8%Cradles to Crayons: $25k → 8%Cradles to Crayons: $25k → 8%Strong Women Strong Girls: $10k → 16%Housing Families Inc: $25k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $25k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $25k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $25k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $4k → 8%The Children's Room: $10k → 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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$810k · 14 repeat orgs$191k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
22

Total granted

$810k
$186k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+14%

Still filing today

100%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureEmploymentHealthOther
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

  • HF
    HOUSING FAMILIES INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $104k · revenue +320%
  • WL
    WOMEN'S LUNCH PLACE INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $100k · revenue +64%
  • CT
    CRADLES TO CRAYONS INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $100k · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • MG
    Massachusetts General Hospital
    one grant, 2022 · $15k
  • EI
    EVKIDS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +29%
  • AF
    ARTISTS FOR HUMANITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +25%
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
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
2
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
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
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
5
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
6
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
7
Boston Architectural College

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

—
8
Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc

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

Education
9
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
10
Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association Inc

The mission of the volunteer lawyers project of the boston bar association is to increase access to justice by delivering high quality pro bono civil legal services to eligible clients in the greater boston area.

Crime & Legal
11
Jewish Vocational Service Inc

To empower individuals from diverse communities to find employment and build careers, while partnering with employers to hire, develop, and retain productive workforces.

Employment
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is One Can Help Inc; the most unlike its peers is New Repertory Theatre 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

34 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. 34 of the 37 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/34
Grantees still filing
21/34
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOUSING FAMILIES INC: $104,000 · Human ServicesHOUSING FAMILIES INCCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $100,000 · Human ServicesCRADLES TO CRAYONS INCREACH BEYOND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INC: $65,000 · Human ServicesREACH BEYOND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCLearning Ally Inc: $60,000 · Human ServicesLearning Ally Inc+2 more: $20,000 · Human Services+2 moreWOMEN'S LUNCH PLACE INC: $100,000 · OtherWOMEN'S LUNCH PLACE INCPARTNERS FOR YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES INC: $40,000 · OtherPARTNERS FOR YOUTH WITH DISABIL…WADE INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION INC: $33,000 · OtherWADE INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE EDUC…Massachusetts General Hospital: $15,000 · OtherMassachusetts General HospitalEVKIDS INC: $10,000 · OtherTHE OPEN DOOR CAPE ANN FOOD PANTRY INC: $10,000 · OtherHealth Care Without Walls Inc: $10,000 · OtherTHE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $10,000 · OtherNEW REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $10,000 · OtherThe Food Project Inc: $10,000 · OtherTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $10,000 · Other+3 more: $18,000 · Other+3 morePERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND: $60,000 · EducationPERKINS SCHOOL FOR …BOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER: $48,000 · EducationBOOTHBAY SEA AND SC…THRIVE SCHOLARS: $35,000 · EducationTHRIVE SCHOLARSPROJECT LEARN INC: $7,000 · EducationBERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $7,000 · EducationWriteBoston Inc: $7,000 · Education+1 more: $5,000 · EducationPEER HEALTH EXCHANGE INC: $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentPEER HEALT…ONE CAN HELP INC: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentONE CAN HE…SILVER LINING MENTORING INC: $7,000 · Youth DevelopmentSILVER LIN…HUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INC: $55,000 · Arts & CultureARTISTS FOR HUMANITY INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL BRAILLE PRESS INC: $4,000 · Arts & CulturePLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $25,000 · HealthECONOMIC MOBILITY PATHWAYS INC: $4,000 · HealthCOMMUNITY WORKSHOPS INC: $10,000 · EmploymentSUMMER SEARCH: $7,000 · Employment
Human Services$349,000Other$276,000Education$169,000Youth Development$92,000Arts & Culture$69,000Health$29,000Employment$17,000

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 budgetHOUSING FAMILIES INC: $104,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetWOMEN'S LUNCH PLACE INC: $100,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetREACH BEYOND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INC: $65,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetLearning Ally Inc: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND: $60,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INC: $55,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPEER HEALTH EXCHANGE INC: $50,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetBOOTHBAY SEA AND SCIENCE CENTER: $48,000 over 5y, 4.7% of budgetPARTNERS FOR YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetONE CAN HELP INC: $35,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetTHRIVE SCHOLARS: $35,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWADE INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION INC: $33,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEVKIDS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetARTISTS FOR HUMANITY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE OPEN DOOR CAPE ANN FOOD PANTRY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Food Project Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGIRLS INC OF GREATER PITTSBURGH: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHealth Care Without Walls Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCOMMUNITY WORKSHOPS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Childrens Room Center for Grieving Children: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNEW REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPROJECT LEARN INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSUMMER SEARCH: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPREPARATORY FOUNDATION INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSILVER LINING MENTORING INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWriteBoston Inc: $7,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget826 BOSTON INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRAW ART WORKS INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetECONOMIC MOBILITY PATHWAYS INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL BRAILLE PRESS INC: $4,000 over 1y, 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 IncEastern Bank Foundati…Cummings Foundation G…Bushrod H Campbell & …The Hamilton Company …Liberty Mutual Founda…The Cabot Family Char…Rockland Trust Charit…United Way Of Massach…Cambridge Savings Cha…People's United Commu…Rockland Trust - Blue…
Boston Foundation IncMA28.9× affinity13 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) · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fund · The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · The Cabot Family Charitable Trust · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation Inc · People's United Community Foundation of Eastern Massachusetts Inc · Rockland Trust - Blue Hills Charitable 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 Esther B Kahn Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Esther B Kahn Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Reach Beyond Domestic Violence Inc: 53% of income from government
  • Community Workshops Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Housing Families Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Silver Lining Mentoring Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Women's Lunch Place Inc: 8% of income from government
  • One Can Help Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Raw Art Works Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Perkins School for the Blind: 7% of income from government
  • Economic Mobility Pathways Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Project Learn Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Huntington Theatre Co Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Evkids Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Learning Ally Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
  • 826 Boston Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Artists for Humanity Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Berklee College of Music Inc: 1% of income from government
  • National Braille Press Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Esther B Kahn Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Esther B Kahn 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 37 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

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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