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Highland Partners Charitable Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Highland Partners Charitable Fund

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.

$3.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
78
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$275k
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, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$2.5MHealth$1.3MFood & Nutrition$1.3MEnvironment$1.1MYouth Development$998kEmployment$875kArts & Culture$602kHuman Services$470kOther$0
02FY2024 · 78 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k21 grants · $99k
  • $10k–50k37 grants · $893k
  • $50k–250k18 grants · $1.6M
  • $250k+2 grants · $530k
$25,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$55M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEWTON WELLELSEY HOSPITAL$275,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB-NEWPORT COUNTY$255,000
GREATER BOSTON YMCA$225,000
GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK$201,000
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB$180,000
MAB COMMUNITY SERVICES$150,000
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$100,000
YEAR UP$100,000
SUDBURY VALLEY TRUSTEES$100,000
CAPITAL CITY MEDICAL TEAMS$60,525
ST ANTHONY'S SHRINE$50,000
NATIONAL BRAILLE PRESS$50,000
BOSTON HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM$50,000
U ASPIRE$50,000
MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL$50,000
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 (FY21–24, $465k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%GREATER BOSTON YMCA: $225k → 16%GREATER BOSTON YMCA: $35k → 16%GREATER BOSTON YMCA: $5k → 16%BOSTON HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM: $100k → 16%BOSTON HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM: $50k → 16%CATIE'S CLOSET: $20k → 8%DRESS FOR SUCCESS - BOSTON: $5k → 16%DRESS FOR SUCCESS - BOSTON: $5k → 16%FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - BOSTON: $20k → 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

IL
NY
MA
OR
PA
RI
CA
VA
MD
AZ
FL
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.8M · 74 repeat orgs$466k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

74 repeat relationships: 66 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

74
17

Total granted

$9.8M
$289k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+26%

Still filing today

68%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $178k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHealthEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesOther
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

  • Appalachian Mountain Club
    5× · 2020–2024 · $930k · revenue +92%
  • GB
    GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $851k · revenue +1%
  • MC
    MAB COMMUNITY SERVICES INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $450k · revenue +92%

Funded once

  • NF
    NEWTON FREE LIBRARY
    one grant, 2020 · $150k
  • PE
    PLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue -14%
  • Catie's Closet Incgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue +26%
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
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
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.…

—
4
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

—
5
New England Lawboston

New england law/boston dedicates itself to preparing students to be successful lawyers and leaders in the public and private sectors through integrated practical, theoretical and ethical education of the highest caliber and to contributing…

Education
6
Trustees of Boston College

Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…

Education
7
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
8
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Bb&n, an all gender day school in cambridge, massachusetts, was established in 1974 by the merger of two independent schools, the buckingham school and the browne & nichols school, founded respectively in 1889 and 1883. located on multiple…

Education
9
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
10
Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston

The Boston Public Library provides educational and cultural enrichment free to all by engaging the public through programming and active spaces, restoring and preserving our history, providing access to borrow from our vast collection of…

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
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Childrens Museum; the most unlike its peers is The Anderson Foundation. 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

67 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. 67 of the 104 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
67/67
Grantees still filing
47/67
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $851,000 · OtherGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INCNEWTON WELLELSEY HOSPITAL: $425,000 · OtherNEWTON WELLELSEY HOSPITALBOYS & GIRLS CLUB-NEWPORT COUNTY: $295,500 · OtherMASS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $230,000 · OtherBENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES: $200,000 · OtherWOMEN'S LUNCH PLACE INC: $190,000 · OtherBREAKTIME UNITED INC: $250,000 · OtherJACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK: $215,000 · OtherTHE MASS MENTORING PARTNERSHIP INC: $250,000 · Other+59 more: $2,743,509 · Other+59 moreTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $500,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UN…YEAR UP INC: $500,000 · EducationYEAR UP INCUASPIRE INC: $250,000 · EducationUASPIRE INCBREAKTHROUGH GREATER BOSTON INC: $250,000 · EducationBREAKTHROUGH GREAT…BELMONT HILL SCHOOL INC: $125,000 · EducationBELMONT HILL SCHOO…THE FRANCIS OUIMET SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC: $105,000 · EducationTHE FRANCIS OUIMET…Special Operations Fund: $100,000 · EducationSpecial Operations…+2 more: $22,500 · EducationAppalachian Mountain Club: $930,000 · EnvironmentAppalachian…SUDBURY VALLEY TRUSTEES INC: $200,000 · EnvironmentSUDBURY VAL…+3 more: $30,600 · EnvironmentMAB COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $450,000 · HealthMAB COMMUNI…CAPITOL CITY MEDICAL TEAMS: $243,925 · HealthCAPITOL CIT…VICTORY PROGRAMS INC: $225,000 · HealthVICTORY PRO…BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS INC: $210,000 · HealthBRIDGE OVER…+2 more: $15,000 · HealthNATIONAL BRAILLE PRESS INC: $350,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $35,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: $32,500 · Arts & CultureTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $29,999 · Arts & CultureMASSPOETRY INC: $20,000 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $40,000 · Arts & CultureYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $265,000 · Human ServicesBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $150,000 · Human ServicesCatie's Closet Inc: $20,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - BOSTON INC: $20,000 · Human Services+1 more: $10,000 · Human ServicesBoston Foundation Inc: $265,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $195,000 · Philanthropy
Other$5,650,009Education$1,852,500Environment$1,160,600Health$1,143,925Arts & Culture$507,499Human Services$465,000Philanthropy$460,000

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 budgetAppalachian Mountain Club: $930,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $851,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $500,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetYEAR UP INC: $500,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMAB COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $450,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL BRAILLE PRESS INC: $350,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $265,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $265,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE MASS MENTORING PARTNERSHIP INC: $250,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetBREAKTIME UNITED INC: $250,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetUASPIRE INC: $250,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH GREATER BOSTON INC: $250,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetCAPITOL CITY MEDICAL TEAMS: $243,925 over 4y, 15% of budgetVICTORY PROGRAMS INC: $225,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetJACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK: $215,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetBRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS INC: $210,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetBENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES: $200,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetSUDBURY VALLEY TRUSTEES INC: $200,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $195,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN'S LUNCH PLACE INC: $190,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $150,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT: $150,000 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetBOSTON PARTNERS IN EDUCATION INC: $140,000 over 3y, 5.4% of budgetMINDS MATTER OF BOSTON INC: $140,000 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetLITERATIONS CORP: $140,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetBELMONT HILL SCHOOL INC: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $120,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetSUMMER SEARCH: $115,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNEWTON FOOD PANTRY INC: $115,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetEMERALD NECKLACE CONSERVANCY INC: $105,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTHE FRANCIS OUIMET SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC: $105,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetSpecial Operations Fund: $100,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetROSIE'S PLACE INC: $90,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetGREATER LA JOLLA MEALS ON WHEELS INC: $65,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMORE THAN WORDS INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFAMILYAID BOSTON INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $35,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWABAN IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY INC: $35,000 over 2y, 74% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: $32,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $29,999 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetLIVING DESERT THE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $24,316 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPLAY FOR PINK INC: $22,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCatie's Closet Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMASSPOETRY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetUniversity of Miami: $20,000 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.

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…Boston Foundation IncCummings Foundation G…Highland Street Conne…Liberty Mutual Founda…Combined Jewish Phila…American Tower Corpor…Bushrod H Campbell & …The New England Patri…Rockland Trust Charit…The Hamilton Company …United Way Of Massach…
Eastern Bank FoundationMA43.8× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Highland Street Connection and Subsidiaries · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fund · The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation Inc · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay 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 Highland Partners Charitable Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Highland Partners Charitable Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Mab Community Services Inc: 69% of income from government
  • The Mass Mentoring Partnership Inc: 63% of income from government
  • Victory Programs Inc: 49% of income from government
  • Bridge Over Troubled Waters Inc: 32% of income from government
  • More Than Words Inc: 24% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Hyde Park Art Association Inc: 18% of income from government
  • New England Innocence Project: 12% of income from government
  • New England Aquarium Corporation: 12% of income from government
  • Sudbury Valley Trustees Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Boston Community Pediatrics Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Silver Lining Mentoring Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Women's Lunch Place Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc: 8% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Friends of the Children - Boston Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Catie's Closet Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Familyaid Boston Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc: 2% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Commonwealth Zoological Corporation D/B/a Zoo New England: 2% of income from government
  • The Childrens Museum: 1% of income from government
  • Appalachian Mountain Club: 1% of income from government
  • Plimoth Patuxet Museums Inc: 1% of income from government
  • The Institute of Contemporary Art Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Breaktime United Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Hyde Park Main Streets Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Uaspire Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Emerald Necklace Conservancy Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Rosie's Place Inc: 0% of income from government
  • National Braille Press Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 Highland Partners Charitable Fund?

Find your warmest path to Highland Partners Charitable Fund 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 104 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 Highland Partners’ 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