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Gravestar Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gravestar Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$148k
Granted FY2024still arriving
27
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Community Improvement$213kFood & Nutrition$145kEducation$134kHuman Services$79kHealth$63kRecreation & Sports$47kArts & Culture$45kPhilanthropy$30kOther$0
02FY2024 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k26 grants · $128k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
$5,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC$20,000
RISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC$7,000
ANNA JAQUES HOSPITAL$7,000
THE COLEBROOK KIWANIS FOUNDATION INC$5,000
ARMENIA TREE PROJECT$5,000
MSPCA-ANGELL$5,000
SOLON COMMUNITY LIVING$5,000
HELPING OUR WOMEN$5,000
GREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY$5,000
LEND A HAND SOCIETY$5,000
CITY YEAR INC$5,000
AMIGOS HOSPITALITO ATITLAN$5,000
CENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC$5,000
SHRINERS CHILDRENS$5,000
ESPERANZA ACADEMY$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 (FY17–24, $197k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 58% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $5k → 8%RISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC: $7k → 11%ORRAN: $1k → 14%HELPING HANDS NORTH INC: $5k → 13%RISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 11%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $5k → 8%RISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 11%WINCHESTER COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER CHANGE INC: $5k → 8%RISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 11%HELPING HANDS NORTH INC: $3k → 13%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $5k → 8%LEND A HAND SOCIETY: $5k → 16%HELPING HANDS NORTH INC: $3k → 13%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $3k → 8%LEND A HAND SOCIETY: $5k → 16%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $3k → 8%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $2k → 8%HELPING OUR WOMEN: $2k → 8%ACTION INC: $5k → 10%OUR NEIGHBOR'S TABLE: $5k → 10%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $20k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $19k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $14k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $10k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $10k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $10k → 16%CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER: $5k → 8%THE COMMUNITY ART CENTER INC: $5k → 8%THE COMMUNITY ART CENTER INC: $5k → 8%NUPATH INC: $5k → 8%NUPATH INC: $2k → 8%THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS: $5k → 16%THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
NH
IL
MI
NY
MA
OH
PA
RI
CA
VA
TN
DC
GA
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.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$662k · 31 repeat orgs$262k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +66% since the first grant, against +45% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
55

Total granted

$662k
$197k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+45%

Still filing today

84%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $65k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationPhilanthropyFood & NutritionHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • CK
    COMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC
    4× · 2017–2022 · $196k · revenue +186%
  • COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC
    6× · 2017–2024 · $84k · revenue +127%
  • CITY YEAR INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $48k · revenue +15%

Funded once

  • AC
    AUBURNDALE COMMUNITY LIBRARY INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
  • SE
    SOMERVILLE-CAMBRIDGE ELDER SERVICES INCORPORATED
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +21%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
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 Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

—
2
Cambridge Chamber of Commerce

The mission of the cambridge chamber of commerce is to make cambridge a better place in which to live, to work, to do business, to visit and to study.

—
3
Massachusetts Council of Human Services Providers Inc

To advance the interests of the human services sector and providers through advocacy, education, and engagement of diverse stakeholders for collective impact.

—
4
Greater Boston Food Bank Inc

Our costs consist of acquiring, sorting and distributing food to 617 member agencies, transportation and logistics, and community outreach to 69 direct distribution sites such as gbfb mobile markets, and federal distributions for low…

—
5
The Arc of Bristol County Inc

To foster community partnerships, promote individual advocacy and create a pathway for growth and innovation by offering exceptional support and services to people with all abilities through the attraction, development and retention of…

—
6
Brighton Marine Inc

Brighton marine, inc. provides military and veteran families with comprehensive campus-based quality health care, as well as affordable and supportive housing for at-risk veterans and their families.

Health
7
Community Counseling of Bristol County Inc

The purpose and mission of community counseling of bristol county, inc. (ccbc) is to develop and deliver compassionate, responsive, culturally competent, and quality mental health and substance abuse services to meet the…

Health
8
Child Care of the Berkshires Inc

The organization provides child care services to families through child care centers and a network of family child care homes. child care of the berkshires also strengthens families through support services and home visiting focused on…

—
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
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
11
Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities & Public Policy Inc

We create opportunities for the people of massachusetts to transform their lives and build a more equitable commonwealth through the humanities.

Arts & Culture
12
Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals Inc

Support the advocacy of community hospitals.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Commonwealth Kitchen Inc; the most unlike its peers is Young Legends Street Hockey 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

72 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. 72 of the 99 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)
23
Early backer (in before they grew)
70/72
Grantees still filing
54/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CITY YEAR INC: $48,245 · OtherCITY YEAR INCYOUNG LEGENDS STREET HOCKEY INC: $13,250 · OtherCENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC: $13,000 · Other+56 more: $275,858 · Other+56 moreCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $83,500 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INCHELPING OUR WOMEN INC: $25,136 · Human ServicesHELPING OUR WOMEN INCRISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC: $19,700 · Human ServicesRISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INCHELPING HANDS NORTH INC: $10,836 · Human ServicesTHE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesLEND A HAND SOCIETY: $10,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY ART CENTER INC: $9,800 · Human ServicesNUPATH INC: $7,400 · Human Services+7 more: $27,650 · Human Services+7 moreCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC: $195,500 · Community ImprovementCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC+1 more: $1,000 · Community ImprovementSUDBURY COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY: $25,000 · Food & NutritionCOMMUNITY FARMS OUTREACH INC: $20,500 · Food & NutritionCEDAR CIRCLE FARM AND EDUCATION CENTER INC: $5,000 · Food & NutritionEDESIA INC: $3,000 · Food & NutritionPhilabundance: $2,836 · Food & NutritionESPERANZA ACADEMY INC: $23,486 · EducationWINCHESTER SPORTS FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF CAMBRIDGE RINDGE AND: $5,000 · EducationColebrook Kiwanis Foundation Inc: $5,000 · EducationSTONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB INC: $2,650 · EducationALHUDA ACADEMY INC: $2,400 · Education+2 more: $2,650 · EducationTHE BOSTON GLOBE FOUNDATION INC: $25,136 · PhilanthropyAmigos Hospitalito Atitlan: $5,000 · PhilanthropyKREMPELS BRAIN INJURY CENTER: $4,486 · PhilanthropyFRIENDS OF PROJECT LITERACY INCORPORATED: $3,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyStoneham Community Access Inc: $11,500 · Arts & CultureGREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY: $5,000 · Arts & CultureARTS & BUSINESS COUNCIL OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $4,500 · Arts & CultureSUDBURY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $3,000 · Arts & CultureTHE WINNIPESAUKEE PLAYHOUSE: $2,836 · Arts & Culture
Other$350,353Human Services$204,022Community Improvement$196,500Food & Nutrition$56,336Education$51,186Philanthropy$38,622Arts & Culture$26,836

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 budgetCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC: $195,500 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $83,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $48,245 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHELPING OUR WOMEN INC: $25,136 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetTHE BOSTON GLOBE FOUNDATION INC: $25,136 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetSUDBURY COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY: $25,000 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetESPERANZA ACADEMY INC: $23,486 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FARMS OUTREACH INC: $20,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetRISE ABOVE FOUNDATION INC: $19,700 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetCENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC: $13,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetStoneham Community Access Inc: $11,500 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetHELPING HANDS NORTH INC: $10,836 over 3y, 11% of budgetSOLON COMMUNITY LIVING INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCranston League for Cranstons Future: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetLEND A HAND SOCIETY: $10,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetWINCHESTER SPORTS FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 2y, 9.5% of budgetARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOMERVILLE-CAMBRIDGE ELDER SERVICES INCORPORATED: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ART CENTER INC: $9,800 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetINNERCITY WEIGHTLIFTING INC: $9,650 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWoburn Council of Social Concern Inc: $7,836 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF THE MIDDLESEX FELLS RESERVATION INC: $7,400 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetNUPATH INC: $7,400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetANNA JAQUES HOSPITAL INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLACK ECONOMIC COUNCIL OF MASSACHUSETTS INC: $6,036 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetREADING SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $6,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBARN SANCTUARY: $5,250 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCEDAR CIRCLE FARM AND EDUCATION CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNew England Equine Rescue - North Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF BOSTON: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmigos Hospitalito Atitlan: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetWinchester Committee for A Better Chance: $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetThe Cornerstone Creative Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetOur Neighbors' Table Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS OF MASSACHUSETTS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLESLEY UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHARLES RIVER CONSERVANCY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetACTION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetColebrook Kiwanis Foundation Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetARTS & BUSINESS COUNCIL OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $4,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetKREMPELS BRAIN INJURY CENTER: $4,486 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGIRLS ON THE RUN GREATER BOSTON: $3,750 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $3,750 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…Boston Foundation IncCambridge Savings Cha…Salem Five Charitable…Essex County Communit…American Tower Corpor…United Way Of Massach…Arbella Insurance Fou…Massachusetts Bankers…Barr FoundationAnalog Devices Founda…
Eastern Bank FoundationMA42.8× affinity24 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) · Boston Foundation Inc · Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation Inc · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Essex County Community Foundation Inc · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Arbella Insurance Foundation · Massachusetts Bankers Association Charitable Foundation Inc · Barr Foundation · Analog Devices 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 Gravestar Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gravestar Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 200%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Nupath Inc: 84% of income from government
  • The Home for Little Wanderers Inc: 38% of income from government
  • Center for Coastal Studies Inc: 26% of income from government
  • Community Farms Outreach Inc: 20% of income from government
  • Helping Our Women Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Community Art Center Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Rise Above Foundation Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Community Servings Inc: 12% of income from government
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports: 11% of income from government
  • Emmaus Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Commonwealth Kitchen Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Cambridge Community Center Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Our Neighbors' Table Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Girls On the Run Greater Boston: 4% of income from government
  • Anna Jaques Hospital Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Action Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Stage Company: 2% of income from government
  • Sudbury Historical Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Lesley University: 1% of income from government
  • Animal Rescue League of Boston: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
20get no government money at all
10report 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 Gravestar Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Gravestar 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 99 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Gravestar’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