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Herb and Maxine Jacobs Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Herb and Maxine Jacobs Foundation Inc

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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
12
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$4.2MHousing & Shelter$1.0MScience & Tech$786kPhilanthropy$375kEmployment$275kHuman Services$250kFood & Nutrition$25kYouth Development$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $1.1M
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$125,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$22M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BUNKER HILL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDAITON$250,000
CAMBRIDGE HOUSING FOUNDATION$245,000
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY$180,000
TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDA$165,000
MASSBAY FOUNDATION$150,000
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST$125,000
HACK DIVERSITY INC$95,000
CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER$62,175
ALRAY TAYLOR SECONDCHANCE$60,000
CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$25,000
CIVIC HEART COMMUNITY SERVICES$25,000
STEPS TO SUCCESS$15,000
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 (FY22–24, $250k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 10% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CIVIC HEART COMMUNITY SERVICES: $25k → 16%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST: $125k → 8%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST: $50k → 8%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST: $50k → 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.
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.5M · 14 repeat orgs$190k to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
7

Total granted

$6.5M
$165k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+36%

Still filing today

64%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k 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
EducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionEmploymentOther
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

  • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +63%
  • Bunker Hill Community College Foundation Inc
    5× · 2020–2024 · $939k · revenue +88%
  • FS
    FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $367k · revenue +403%

Funded once

  • S
    SKILLWORKS
    one grant, 2020 · $75k
  • MC
    MONTGOMERY COUNTY WOMENS CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +5%
  • TS
    TSNESTS STEOPS TO SUCCESS
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
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
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
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
The Boston Higher Education Resource Center Inc

The Boston Higher Education Resource Center equips first generation youth to obtain a higher education, break the cycle of poverty, and become agents of change in their communities.

Education
5
Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc

To inspire excitement for learning, create paths to and through college, and promote careers in education.

Education
6
Massachusetts Education & Career Opportunities Inc

Massachusetts education and career opportunities, inc. (massedco, inc.) is a statewide network of service sites that provides education and career advising to over 12,000 low-income, first generation individuals each year. massedco…

Education
7
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.…

—
8
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.

—
9
North Central Massachusetts Chamber Foundation

Scholarships are awarded to highlight the acedemic excellence of high school seniors in the community

—
10
Berkshire Community College Foundation Inc

To encourage, receive and administer gifts and bequests of property and funds for educational and charitable purposes for the advancement of berkshire community college.

Philanthropy
11
Cambridge College Inc

To provide academically excellent, time-efficient and cost-effective higher education for a diverse population of working adults for whom those opportunities may have been limited or denied.

Education
12
Nichols College

Nichols college strives to develop tomorrow's leaders through a dynamic, career-focused business education. the college transforms students into successful graduates who respond to challenges, are eager for responsibility, and assume…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Family Service of Metrowest Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Houston Food Bank. 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

16 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. 16 of the 24 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
11/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDA: $820,000 · OtherTRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDAMASSBAY FOUNDATION: $785,698 · OtherMASSBAY FOUNDATIONCAMBRIDGE HOUSING FOUNDATION: $712,000 · OtherCAMBRIDGE HOUSING FOUNDATIONFRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $367,000 · OtherFRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INCCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER: $297,175 · OtherCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER+6 more: $243,000 · Other+6 moreNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $1,366,500 · EducationNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITYALRAY TAYLOR SECOND CHANCE SCHOLARSHIP FUND CORPORATION: $196,200 · EducationALRAY TAYLOR SECOND CHANCE …STEPS TO SUCCESS INC: $60,000 · EducationMIDDLESEX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION C/O JACKSON CHEGE: $60,000 · Education+1 more: $5,000 · EducationBunker Hill Community College Foundation Inc: $939,410 · PhilanthropyBunker Hill Community…CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $300,000 · PhilanthropyCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY F…Boston Foundation Inc: $75,000 · PhilanthropyBoston Foundation IncCAMBRIDGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CORP: $335,000 · Housing & ShelterJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC: $225,000 · Human ServicesCivic Heart Community Services: $25,000 · Human ServicesHACK DIVERSITY INC: $200,000 · EmploymentDANIEL'S TABLE INC: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$3,224,873Education$1,687,700Philanthropy$1,314,410Housing & Shelter$335,000Human Services$250,000Employment$200,000Food & Nutrition$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 budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $1,366,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBunker Hill Community College Foundation Inc: $939,410 over 5y, 9.7% of budgetFRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $367,000 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetCAMBRIDGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CORP: $335,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 5y, 3.3% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC: $225,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetHACK DIVERSITY INC: $200,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetALRAY TAYLOR SECOND CHANCE SCHOLARSHIP FUND CORPORATION: $196,200 over 4y, 15% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPS TO SUCCESS INC: $60,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetMIDDLESEX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION C/O JACKSON CHEGE: $60,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetMONTGOMERY COUNTY WOMENS CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCivic Heart Community Services: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDANIEL'S TABLE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE WILY NETWORK: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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 IncCummings Foundation G…Combined Jewish Phila…Eastern Bank Foundati…Liberty Mutual Founda…The Pfizer Foundation…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…The Blackbaud Giving …Jpmorgan Chase Founda…American Endowment Fo…Network for Good
Boston Foundation IncMA23.9× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Network for Good

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 Herb and Maxine Jacobs Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Herb and Maxine Jacobs Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Steps to Success Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get 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
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 Herb and Maxine Jacobs Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Herb and Maxine Jacobs Foundation 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 24 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 Herb and Maxine Jacobs’ 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