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Further Forward Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Further Forward Foundation Inc

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.

$313k
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% 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$842kEducation$596kHuman Services$217kFood & Nutrition$150kEmployment$120kHealth$52kAnimals$45kEnvironment$43kOther$0
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $208k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$18,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$8.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CRODODILE RIVER MUSIC$100,000
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY$37,000
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY$25,000
FIVESPARKS$25,000
FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN-BOSTON$20,000
BOSTON MINERAL CLUB$18,000
OASIS OF PEACE$18,000
SOMERVILLE HOMELESS COALITION$15,000
RURAL AMERICA INITIATIVE$10,000
LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY$10,000
CENTRE STREET FOOD PANTRY$10,000
THE HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY$10,000
CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER$10,000
THE WILEY NETWORK$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 (FY20–25, $188k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 87% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIVE AMERICANS: $3k → 14%FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN-BOSTON: $20k → 16%AFRICAN COMMUNITY EDUCATION: $70k → 11%AFRICAN COMMUNITY EDUCATION: $70k → 11%CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%SOMERVILLE HOMELESS COALITION: $15k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

NY
MA
OR
SD
PA
CT
CA
KY
MD
DC
HI
LA
TX
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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 22 repeat orgs$483k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +78% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.

22 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
28

Total granted

$1.3M
$408k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+78%
+35%

Still filing today

73%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $75k 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 & CultureHuman ServicesFood & NutritionEnvironmentEmploymentEducationOther
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

  • CROCODILE RIVER MUSIC INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $240k · revenue +20%
  • AC
    AFRICAN COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $140k · revenue +2%
  • JEWISH VOCATIONAL SERVICE INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $120k · revenue +103%

Funded once

  • HU
    HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION
    one grant, 2019 · $100k
  • MG
    MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED
    one grant, 2019 · $42k
  • BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ARTgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +57%
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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
2
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
3
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
4
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
5
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.

—
6
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
7
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
8
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
9
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
10
Bartlett Arboretum Association Inc

To cultivate and develop an expansive collection of trees, gardens, and plants for all to explore, enjoy and study; and to provide through education and stewardship, a greener, healthier, more beautiful environment.

Environment
11
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

Our mission is to solve hunger in central pennsylvania by ensuring that everyone struggling with hunger has access to enough wholesome food every day. we will achieve this bold goal with the help of our generous donors, volunteers and…

Food & Nutrition
12
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Boston Food Bank Inc; the most unlike its peers is Baltimore Museum of Art. 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

43 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. 43 of the 60 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/43
Grantees still filing
32/43
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION: $100,000 · OtherHEBREW UNION COLLEGE-JEWISH INSTITUTE OF R…LEO BAECK INSTITUTE INC: $90,000 · OtherLEO BAECK INSTITUTE INCWHITNEY MUSEUM OF ART: $75,000 · OtherWHITNEY MUSEUM OF ARTFIVESPARKS: $63,000 · OtherFIVESPARKSOASIS OF PEACE: $54,000 · OtherOASIS OF PEACEMASSACHUSETTS MUSEUM OF ART: $50,000 · OtherMASSACHUSETTS MUSEUM OF ARTMAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger: $45,000 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $42,000 · OtherNASHUA RIVER WATERSHED ASSOC INC: $33,000 · Other+26 more: $301,000 · Other+26 moreBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $427,000 · EducationBRANDEIS UNIVERSITYTHE WILY NETWORK: $27,500 · EducationTHE WILY NETWORKSKIDMORE COLLEGE: $18,000 · EducationCROCODILE RIVER MUSIC INC: $240,000 · Arts & CultureCROCODILE RIVER MUSIC …FRACTURED ATLAS INC: $85,000 · Arts & CultureFRACTURED ATLAS INCWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $50,000 · Arts & CultureWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMER…BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $25,000 · Arts & CultureBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF AR…HARVARD CULTURAL COLLABORATIVE: $18,000 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $36,000 · Arts & Culture+4 moreJEWISH VOCATIONAL SERVICE INC: $120,000 · EmploymentJEWISH VO…THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $75,000 · EmploymentTHE GROUN…AFRICAN COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM INC: $140,000 · Human ServicesAFRICAN C…FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - BOSTON INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS O…SOMERVILLE HOMELESS COALITION INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesSOMERVILL…CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $10,000 · Human Services+1 more: $3,000 · Human ServicesWORCESTER COUNTY FOOD BANK INC: $25,000 · Food & NutritionTHE FAMILY PANTRY OF CAPE COD CORP: $18,000 · Food & NutritionCENTRE STREET FOOD PANTRY INC: $10,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding America: $6,000 · Food & NutritionHAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $40,000 · AnimalsXERCES SOCIETY INC: $5,000 · Animals
Other$853,000Education$472,500Arts & Culture$454,000Employment$195,000Human Services$188,000Food & Nutrition$59,000Animals$45,000

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 budgetBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $427,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCROCODILE RIVER MUSIC INC: $240,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetAFRICAN COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM INC: $140,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetJEWISH VOCATIONAL SERVICE INC: $120,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetLEO BAECK INSTITUTE INC: $90,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $85,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $75,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger: $45,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetHAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $40,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetNASHUA RIVER WATERSHED ASSOC INC: $33,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetTHE WILY NETWORK: $27,500 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetWORCESTER COUNTY FOOD BANK INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALL HANDS AND HEARTS SMART RESPONSE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHIAS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - BOSTON INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe Open Pantry of Greater Lowell Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetSKIDMORE COLLEGE: $18,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FAMILY PANTRY OF CAPE COD CORP: $18,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DRAWING CENTER INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSOMERVILLE HOMELESS COALITION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOSTON RESCUE MISSION INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEAGLE HILL FOUNDATION OF MASSACHUSETTSINC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRURAL AMERICA INITIATIVES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNative American Heritage Association: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JEWISH FOUNDATION FOR THE RIGHTEOUS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNATIVE PLANT TRUST INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFeeding America: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOTUIT CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetXERCES SOCIETY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPartnership With Native Americans: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL RELIEF TEAMS: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,000 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.

Boston Foundation IncEastern Bank Foundati…Rockland Trust Charit…Cummings Foundation G…Combined Jewish Phila…Liberty Mutual Founda…Analog Devices Founda…Fidelity FoundationWellington Management…The Pfizer Foundation…Bushrod H Campbell & …Cambridge Savings Cha…
Boston Foundation IncMA22.6× affinity10 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 · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Analog Devices Foundation · Fidelity Foundation · Wellington Management Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fund · Cambridge Savings 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 Further Forward Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Further Forward Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Nashua River Watershed Assoc Inc: 54% of income from government
  • Jewish Vocational Service Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Somerville Homeless Coalition Inc: 31% of income from government
  • Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Brandeis University: 9% of income from government
  • Cambridge Community Center Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Friends of the Children - Boston Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Baltimore Museum of Art: 4% of income from government
  • Native Plant Trust Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Harvard Cultural Collaborative: 3% of income from government
  • Boston Center for the Arts Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Cotuit Center for the Arts Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Worcester County Food Bank Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Crocodile River Music Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely 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.

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 60 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 Further Forward’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