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First Literacy Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

First Literacy Inc

Funding innovation in adult literacy to change lives.

$75k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$11k
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.

Education$108kHousing & Shelter$29kCrime & Legal$20kHuman Services$13kEmployment$10kArts & Culture$8kYouth Development$5k
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $11,125, the rows itemized in this filing. The $75,044 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $63,919 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$11,125
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE LITERACY PROJECT$11,125
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 (FY17–19, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 82% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%QUINCY ASIAN RESOURCES: $5k → 7%SOUTH MIDDLESEX OPPORTUNITY COUNCILJOAN BRACK ADULT LEARNING CENTER: $5k → 8%SOUTH MIDDLESEX OPPORTUNITY COUNCILJOAN BRACK ADULT LEARNING CENTER: $5k → 8%BOSTON CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER: $5k → 16%BOSTON CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER: $5k → 16%INTERNATIONAL LEARNING CENTERYMCA: $3k → 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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 16% of First Literacy Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in MA; by stated purpose, 83%.

First Literacy Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 17% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

69%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$133k · 8 repeat orgs$59k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +154% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
13

Total granted

$133k
$59k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+154%
+29%

Still filing today

100%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’22’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’22’25
Human ServicesEducationHousing & ShelterCrime & LegalCivil RightsOther
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

  • MU
    MUJERES UNIDAS AVANZANDO INC
    5× · 2017–2023 · $30k · revenue +158%
  • BP
    BOSTON PUBLIC HOUSING CORPORATION
    3× · 2017–2024 · $25k · revenue +526%
  • ASIAN TASK FORCE AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $20k · revenue +114%

Funded once

  • SA
    SPRINGFIELD ADULT LEARNING CENTER
    one grant, 2019 · $5k
  • SM
    ST MARK COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +29%
  • JP
    JAMAICA PLAIN COMMUNITY CENTERS INC
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +8%
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
Asian American Civic Association Inc

Aaca's mission is to empower low-income individuals and families by providing education, guidance, resources, and support. our goal is to help them achieve economic stability and mobility, enabling them to build wealth and secure a strong…

Human Services
2
Indo-American Center

The Indo-American Center creates and provides services that facilitate South Asian immigrant adjustment, socio-economic wellbeing, and community through direct service, education and advocacy.

Human Services
3
East Boston Community Council Inc

Neighborhood based organization that promotes the advancement of immigrants of all ages through education, services, advocacy, community organizing, and leadership development.

Human Services
4
Jackson Mann Community School and Council Inc

Community center providing educational, cultural, social, recreational, and community services to individuals and families in the allston-brighton neighborhood of boston, massachusetts.

Education
5
New England Community Project Inc

Necp believes that social change happens when those most impacted by issues of systemic injustice, organize at the block level to address issues within their neighborhoods. through their involvement at a community level, residents engage…

Community Improvement
6
Berkshire Immigrant Center Inc

Immigration services are performed by bic's caseworkers who are u.s. department of justice partially accredited representatives. our immigration legal services further charitable and educational exempt purposes by providing low-cost legal…

Human Services
7
English At Large Inc

Literacy training skills to enable learners to attain self-sufficiency and become fully engaged in the commumity.

—
8
Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center

To promote the general welfare and independence of asian elders via a network of culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate programs and services.

Human Services
9
Multicultural Institute

The Multicultural Institute (MI) is dedicated to assist immigrants in their transition from isolation and poverty to workforce participation and prosperity. Programs are offered at three locations in Alameda County (West Berkeley), San…

Human Services
10
Randolph Community Partnership Inc

To provide early childhood classes, adult basic education classes ESL for residents of the randolph area.

Education
11
Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts

development of Latin American community

Human Services
12
Vine Street Community Center Inc

Provides after school and tutoring enrichment programs for children and also provides recreational activities for residents and seniors of Boston, MA

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Quincy Asian Resources Inc; the most unlike its peers is Blackstone Community Center Council Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the 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 21 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/18
Grantees still filing
17/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE LITERACY PROJECT: $18,625 · OtherTHE LITERACY PROJECTTHE WELCOME PROJECT INC: $10,000 · OtherTHE WELCOME PROJECT INCSPRINGFIELD ADULT LEARNING CENTER: $5,000 · OtherSPRINGFIELD ADULT LEARNING CENTERST MARK COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM INC: $5,000 · OtherST MARK COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM INCJAMAICA PLAIN COMMUNITY CENTERS INC: $5,000 · OtherJAMAICA PLAIN COMMUNITY CENTERS INCSOMERVILLE CENTER FOR ADULT LEARNING EXPERIENCES: $5,000 · OtherSOMERVILLE CENTER FOR ADULT LEARNING EXPER…NORTH SHORE COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMS INC: $5,000 · OtherNORTH SHORE COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMS INCCATHOLIC CHARITABLE BUREAU OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON INC: $5,000 · OtherCATHOLIC CHARITABLE BUREAU OF THE ARCHDIOC…BROOKLINE HOUSING AUTHORITY: $5,000 · OtherBROOKLINE HOUSING AUTHORITYCENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS INC: $5,000 · OtherCENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS INCBLACKSTONE COMMUNITY CENTER COUNCIL INC: $2,900 · OtherMUJERES UNIDAS AVANZANDO INC: $29,500 · EducationMUJERES UNIDAS AVANZ…GILBERT ALBERT COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $5,000 · EducationGILBERT ALBERT COMMU…BOSTON PUBLIC HOUSING CORPORATION: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterBOSTON PUBLIC HO…NEIGHBORHOOD OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING INC: $3,500 · Housing & ShelterNEIGHBORHOOD OF …BOSTON CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesBOSTON CHINATOWN…SOUTH MIDDLESEX OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesSOUTH MIDDLESEX …QUINCY ASIAN RESOURCES INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesQUINCY ASIAN RES…YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $3,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRI…ASIAN TASK FORCE AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INC: $20,000 · Crime & LegalASIAN TASK …INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND INC: $10,000 · Civil Rights
Other$71,525Education$34,500Housing & Shelter$28,500Human Services$28,000Crime & Legal$20,000Civil Rights$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 budgetMUJERES UNIDAS AVANZANDO INC: $29,500 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetBOSTON PUBLIC HOUSING CORPORATION: $25,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetASIAN TASK FORCE AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE LITERACY PROJECT: $18,625 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetTHE WELCOME PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBOSTON CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTH MIDDLESEX OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJAMAICA PLAIN COMMUNITY CENTERS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetQUINCY ASIAN RESOURCES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITABLE BUREAU OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetGILBERT ALBERT COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $3,000 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.

Eastern Bank Foundati…Cummings Foundation G…English for New Bosto…Boston Foundation IncUnited Way Of Massach…Rockland Trust - Blue…The Beveridge Family …Peoples United Commun…Agnes M Lindsay TrustAmerican Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Eastern Bank FoundationMA24.1× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · English for New Bostonians Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Rockland Trust - Blue Hills Charitable Foundation · The Beveridge Family Foundation · Peoples United Community Foundation · Agnes M Lindsay Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 First Literacy Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from First Literacy Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 32%
  • Center for New Americans Inc: 45% of income from government
  • Mujeres Unidas Avanzando Inc: 44% of income from government
  • Quincy Asian Resources Inc: 43% of income from government
  • Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center Inc: 38% of income from government
  • Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence Inc: 32% of income from government
  • International Institute of New England Inc: 24% of income from government
  • South Middlesex Opportunity Council Inc: 18% of income from government
  • North Shore Community Action Programs Inc: 12% of income from government
  • The Welcome Project Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 First Literacy Inc?

Find your warmest path to First Literacy 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 21 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on First Literacy’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