Skip to content
Grayson Family Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Grayson Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
93
Grants FY2024still arriving
13
States reached
$700k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$2.2MSocial Science$1.5MArts & Culture$511kHealth$328kYouth Development$178kHuman Services$77kEnvironment$73kReligion$72kOther$0
02FY2024 · 93 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k63 grants · $189k
  • $10k–50k27 grants · $425k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $175k
  • $250k+1 grant · $700k
$5,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$6.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS HARVARD$700,000
WBUR RADIO STATION FUND$125,000
Individual grant recipient$50,000
AMERICAN TRUST FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY$45,000
MORE THAN WORDS$35,000
HARVARD UNIVERSITY$25,000
TEACH FOR AMERICA$25,000
WBUR RADIO STATION FUND$25,000
DANA FARBER CANCER (JIMMY FUND)$25,000
WBUR RADIO STATION FUND$25,000
CATO INSTITUTE$20,000
MATER CRISTI ANNUAL FUND$20,000
TCC EMPLOYEE EDUCATION FUND$10,000
GREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION$10,000
MATER CRISTI ANNUAL FUND$10,000
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 (FY20–24, $82k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 37% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CRADLES TO CRAYONS: $1k → 8%KING STREET CENTER: $10k → 10%ROGERSON COMMUNITIES: $2k → 16%ROGERSON COMMUNITIES: $1k → 16%KING STREET CENTER: $5k → 10%ROGERSON COMMUNITIES: $1k → 16%KING STREET CENTER: $5k → 10%ROGERSON COMMUNITIES: $1k → 16%TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND: $10k → 8%TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND: $10k → 8%GREATER BURLINGTON YMCA: $500 → 10%TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND: $10k → 8%TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND: $10k → 8%TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND: $10k → 8%BEACON HILL VILLAGE: $2k → 16%BEACON HILL VILLAGE: $2k → 16%BEACON HILL VILLAGE: $1k → 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

ME
VT
NH
MT
MN
IL
NY
MA
WY
OH
PA
CA
KY
VA
MD
DC
LA
AL
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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.7M · 70 repeat orgs$1.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +63% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

70 repeat relationships: 54 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 26 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

70
64

Total granted

$4.7M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+6%

Still filing today

59%
30%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $177k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $784k · revenue +512%
  • MORE THAN WORDS INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $135k · revenue +69%
  • CI
    CATO INSTITUTE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $60k · revenue +93%

Funded once

  • RT
    RHODES TRUST
    one grant, 2023 · $650k
  • PA
    PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS (PLEDGE)
    one grant, 2023 · $150k
  • RI
    RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
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 Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
3
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
4
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
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
Harvard Conservation Trust

To preserve the unique character and natural resources of harvard.

Environment
7
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
8
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
9
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
10
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
11
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
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Childrens Museum; the most unlike its peers is Somerset Trust. 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

73 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. 73 of the 164 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/73
Grantees still filing
50/73
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS HARVARD: $721,000 · OtherPRESIDENT AND FELLOWS HARVARDIndividual grant recipient: $671,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientRHODES TRUST: $650,000 · OtherRHODES TRUSTAMERICAN TRUST FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY: $585,000 · OtherAMERICAN TRUST FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITYWBUR RADIO STATION FUND: $315,000 · OtherWBUR RADIO STATION FUND+111 more: $1,568,250 · Other+111 moreAMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD INC: $784,000 · EducationAMERICAN FRIENDS OF U…Teach for America Inc: $125,000 · EducationTeach for America IncAMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $66,000 · EducationAMERICANS FOR OXFORD …ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $48,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $45,000 · Education+11 more: $131,100 · Education+11 moreASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARS: $290,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $35,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF THE LOBKOWICZ COLLECTIONS INC: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $36,500 · Arts & CultureTHE TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesKING STREET CENTER INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesBEACON HILL VILLAGE INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesROGERSON COMMUNITIES INC: $5,000 · Human Services+2 more: $1,500 · Human ServicesCATO INSTITUTE: $60,000 · Public BenefitJACKSON HOLE LAND TRUST: $20,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC: $14,500 · EnvironmentGREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION: $10,000 · EnvironmentSHELBURNE FARMS: $7,500 · EnvironmentScarborough Land Conservation Trust: $5,000 · EnvironmentAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: $10,000 · HealthECO-SOAP BANK: $5,000 · HealthMAYDAY MEDICINES INC: $5,000 · HealthDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $3,000 · HealthInvisible Wounds Foundation: $2,000 · HealthPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $1,000 · Health+1 more: $500 · Health
Other$4,510,250Education$1,199,100Arts & Culture$376,500Human Services$81,500Public Benefit$60,000Environment$57,000Health$26,500

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 budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD INC: $784,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARS: $290,000 over 5y, 75% of budgetMORE THAN WORDS INC: $135,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $66,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $60,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $48,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $43,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $35,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWARRIOR-SCHOLAR PROJECT FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCODMAN ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetKING STREET CENTER INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetJACKSON HOLE LAND TRUST: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budget826 BOSTON INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $17,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE LOBKOWICZ COLLECTIONS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetGRACE CHURCH SCHOOL: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBEACON HILL CIVIC ASSOCIATION INC: $15,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC: $14,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $11,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTEST TETON NOW INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetTHE COUNTRY CLUB EMPLOYEE EDUCATION FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $9,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEMERALD NECKLACE CONSERVANCY INC: $8,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBROOKLINE EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $7,600 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetREHEARSAL FOR LIFE INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSHELBURNE FARMS: $7,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON BOOK FESTIVAL INC: $6,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPROUTS NECK ASSOCIATION: $6,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetECO-SOAP BANK: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMAYDAY MEDICINES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSafe Passage: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDEXTER SOUTHFIELD INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREVOLUTIONARY SPACES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBEACON HILL VILLAGE INC: $5,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetScarborough Land Conservation Trust: $5,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetLET'S GROW KIDS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROGERSON COMMUNITIES INC: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHAMPLAIN COLLEGE INCORPORATED: $4,500 over 3y, 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.

  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD INC ↗
  • Who funds ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds MORE THAN WORDS INC ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds AMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC ↗
  • Who funds CATO INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds THE TANZANIAN CHILDRENS FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds ST PAUL'S SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds SHARE OUR STRENGTH ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC ↗
  • Who funds WARRIOR-SCHOLAR PROJECT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CODMAN ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds KING STREET CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds JACKSON HOLE LAND TRUST ↗

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…Combined Jewish Phila…King Spruce CompanyWestwind FoundationThe Argosy FoundationLiberty Mutual Founda…The Edward Lee and Sl…The Vermont Community…The Morris & Bessie A…The William & Lia G P…George W Mergens Foun…
Boston Foundation IncMA29.1× affinity16 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 · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · King Spruce Company · Westwind Foundation · The Argosy Foundation · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · The Edward Lee and Slocumb Hollis Perry Foundation · The Vermont Community Foundation · The Morris & Bessie Altman Foundation · The William & Lia G Poorvu Family Foundation · George W Mergens 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 Grayson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Grayson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 140%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • King Street Center Inc: 43% of income from government
  • Beacon Hill Village Inc: 28% of income from government
  • More Than Words Inc: 24% of income from government
  • International Institute of New England Inc: 24% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Historical Society: 22% of income from government
  • Revolutionary Spaces Inc: 20% of income from government
  • Boys and Girls Club of Burlington Inc: 16% of income from government
  • Intervale Center Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Rehearsal for Life Inc: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Rogerson Communities Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Shelburne Farms: 3% of income from government
  • 826 Boston Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Community Rowing Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Boston Book Festival Inc: 2% of income from government
  • The Childrens Museum: 1% of income from government
  • Friends of the Public Garden Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Emerald Necklace Conservancy Inc: 0% of income from government
  • American Repertory Theatre Co Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Champlain College Incorporated: 0% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
14get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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 164 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 Grayson Family’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