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Friendship Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Friendship 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.

$90k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% 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$347kCommunity Improvement$115kHuman Services$110kEducation$80kYouth Development$47kEnvironment$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $80k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$761k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC$20,000
BRISTOL MIDDLE PASSAGE PROJECT$10,000
THE WHEELER SCHOOL$10,000
THE REVOLVE DANCE PROJECT$10,000
ARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS$10,000
FRIENDS OF THE FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY$10,000
ON STAGE INC$10,000
ACTORS STUDIO OF NEWBURYPORT$5,000
Individual grant recipient$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 (FY17–25, $117k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 6% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC: $20k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC: $20k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER: $15k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER: $13k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER: $12k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER: $10k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER: $10k → 10%JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER: $10k → 10%ARISE: $7k → 14%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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$574k · 11 repeat orgs$140k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +18% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
10

Total granted

$574k
$95k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
0%

Still filing today

73%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $45k 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 & CultureEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentPublic BenefitOther
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

  • LEADERSHIP RHODE ISLAND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $110k · revenue +164%
  • JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $110k · revenue +107%
  • AF
    ARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $93k · revenue +15%

Funded once

  • BR
    BALLET RI
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +3%
  • SOPHIA ACADEMYgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +38%
  • BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF PROVIDENCE
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue -17%
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
Rhode Island Youth Theatre

Rhode island youth theatre is a non-profit educational theatre company that provides opportunites for youth to explore their interests and develop their theatre skills.

Arts & Culture
2
Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts

Trinity academy for the performing arts utilizes an interdisciplinary arts-integrated program to prepare our artist-scholars for collegiate and professional success.

Education
3
Academy of Performing Arts Inc

The academy of performing arts is an innovative theatrical venue for hands-on learning, creativity, and entertainment for the cape cod community.

Arts & Culture
4
Boston Arts Summer Institute Inc
Recreation & Sports
5
Seacoast Repertory Theatre

The seacoast repertory theatre is a non-profit, professional regional theater located in historic downtown portsmouth, nh. its mission is to entertain, educate and inspire through the power of live theater. this mission is achieved through…

Arts & Culture
6
North Shore Children's Theatre Inc

The North Shore Children's Theater provides an inclusive and affordable theater arts education to children in the North Shore of Massachusetts and surrounding areas.

Arts & Culture
7
Newton Theatre Company Inc

To create high quality theatre with a focus on womens voices. Professional productions, educational programs, and community outreach foster civically engaged audiences and the joy of live theatre.

—
8
Studio East Training for the Performing Arts

Studio east creates opportunities for young people to discover and explore the performing arts.

Arts & Culture
9
Barrington Stage Company Inc

Barrington stage company is a theatre company in the berkshires with a mission to produce top-notch compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways of bringing new audiences into the theatre, especially…

Education
10
Blackstone River Theatre

None

Arts & Culture
11
Arts Academy of New Hampshire

Granite state arts academy's educational mission is to nurture creative thinkers, active citizens, and independent learners with a curriculum that integrates the arts and academics.

Education
12
Young Dancers in Repertory Inc

The mission of Young Dancers in Repertory, Inc. (YDR) is to provide professional training that fosters growth and communication through dance via creative educational arts programming and performances for children, youth and general public.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Arts for Learning Massachusetts Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Lady Project. 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

17 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. 17 of the 26 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
10/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC: $92,500 · Arts & CultureARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INCActors Studio of Newburyport Inc: $54,000 · Arts & CultureActors Studio of Newburyport IncOn Stage Inc: $40,000 · Arts & CultureOn Stage IncSOCIETY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTS: $37,500 · Arts & CultureSOCIETY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTSBALLET RI: $25,000 · Arts & CultureBALLET RIExit Dance Theatre Inc: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $2,500 · Arts & CultureRHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC: $50,000 · OtherRHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONICSEED INNOVATION MEETS EDUCATION: $40,000 · OtherSEED INNOVATION MEETS EDUC…THEATER IN THE OPEN: $20,000 · OtherTHEATER IN THE OPENYEAR UP RHODE ISLAND: $10,000 · OtherYEAR UP RHODE ISLANDBRISTOL MIDDLE PASSAGE PROJECT: $10,000 · OtherBRISTOL MIDDLE PASSAGE PRO…CHILDREN'S FRIEND: $10,000 · OtherCHILDREN'S FRIENDREVOLVE DANCE PROJECT INC: $10,000 · OtherREVOLVE DANCE PROJECT INC+3 more: $15,000 · Other+3 moreJEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC: $109,500 · Human ServicesJEANNE GEIGER CRIS…ALLIANCE OF RHODE ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIANS FOR EDUCATION: $7,000 · Human ServicesALLIANCE OF RHODE …LEADERSHIP RHODE ISLAND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $110,000 · Public BenefitLEADERSHIP RHODE …SOPHIA ACADEMY: $15,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF THE FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10,000 · EducationTHE WHEELER SCHOOL: $10,000 · EducationCRANSTON WEST ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 · EducationBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF PROVIDENCE: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUTH DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INC: $10,000 · Youth Development
Arts & Culture$261,500Other$165,000Human Services$116,500Public Benefit$110,000Education$40,000Youth Development$20,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLEADERSHIP RHODE ISLAND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $110,000 over 8y, 3.2% of budgetJEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC: $109,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC: $92,500 over 9y, 1.6% of budgetActors Studio of Newburyport Inc: $54,000 over 9y, 7.8% of budgetOn Stage Inc: $40,000 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTS: $37,500 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetBALLET RI: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSOPHIA ACADEMY: $15,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF PROVIDENCE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetYOUTH DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE WHEELER SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE OF RHODE ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIANS FOR EDUCATION: $7,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetCRANSTON WEST ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetPROVIDENCE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $2,500 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.

  • Who funds LEADERSHIP RHODE ISLAND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds ARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
  • Who funds Actors Studio of Newburyport Inc ↗
  • Who funds On Stage Inc ↗
  • Who funds SOCIETY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTS ↗
  • Who funds BALLET RI ↗
  • Who funds SOPHIA ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF PROVIDENCE ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Exit Dance Theatre Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE WHEELER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds ALLIANCE OF RHODE ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIANS FOR EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds CRANSTON WEST ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE LADY PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds PROVIDENCE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM ↗

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.

United Way of Rhode I…The Rhode Island Comm…Ralph R Papitto & Bar…The Champlin Foundati…Amica Companies Found…June Rockwell Levy Fo…The Loring Wolcott & …Institution for Savin…The Nordson Corporati…Citizens Charitable F…The Pfizer Foundation…The Bank of America C…
United Way of Rhode Island IncRI19.6× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Rhode Island Inc · The Rhode Island Community Foundation · Ralph R Papitto & Barbara a Papitto Private Family Foundation · The Champlin Foundation · Amica Companies Foundation · June Rockwell Levy Foundation Incorporated · The Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Charitable Trust-I · Institution for Savings in Newburyport & Its Vicinity Charitable Foundation Inc · The Nordson Corporation Foundation · Citizens Charitable Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable 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 Friendship Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Friendship Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Exit Dance Theatre Inc: 100% of income from government
  • Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center Inc: 40% of income from government
  • Youth Development Organization Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Arts for Learning Massachusetts Inc: 4% of income from government
  • On Stage Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Actors Studio of Newburyport Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 Friendship Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Friendship 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 26 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 Friendship’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