Massachusetts · Public charity
Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc
The mbf was organized to collect and distribute funds to programs throughout massachusetts that enhance the delivery of civil legal services to low-income individuals, advance law-related and judicial education, and improve the administration of justice and the public awareness of the law.
- $6.5M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 82
- Itemized grants FY2024
- 68
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 13%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Itemized, FY2024
- $6.3M
- The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
- Median grant, FY2024
- $45,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $578,900
- Organizations funded a year
- 54 to 68
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 1
- Total assets, FY2024
- $20M
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 13% of the organizations Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 6% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $198k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 80 | $6.3M | 15% |
| FY2023 | 68 | $3.5M | 13% |
| FY2022 | 64 | $2.6M | 6% |
| FY2021 | 58 | $2.6M | 10% |
| FY2020 | 58 | $2.6M | 5% |
| FY2019 | 55 | $2.5M | 4% |
| FY2018 | 58 | $2.3M | 7% |
| FY2017 | 54 | $2.0M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Legal Aid Inc | $2,214,392 | 8 | 2% |
| Greater Boston Legal Services Inc | $1,764,266 | 8 | 1% |
| Franklin N Flaschner Judicial Institute Inc | $1,643,900 | 8 | 53% |
| Northeast Legal Aid Inc | $1,114,966 | 8 | 2% |
| Political Asylumimmigration Representation Project Inc | $965,000 | 8 | 12% |
| Metrowest Legal Services Inc | $945,990 | 8 | 5% |
| De Novo Center for Justice and Healing | $941,670 | 8 | 5% |
| Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fall River Massachusetts Inc | $886,764 | 8 | 1% |
| South Coastal Counties Legal Services Inc | $830,768 | 4 | 2% |
| Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services Inc Dba Prisoners' Legal Svcs | $648,000 | 8 | 4% |
Show all 94 grantees
Where it is load-bearing
Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 9 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 89 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Boston Bar Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Boston Foundation Inc · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corp · The Clowes Fund Incorporated · The Cabot Family Charitable Trust · Barr Foundation · Wagner Foundation · Essex County Community Foundation Inc · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc?
Find your warmest path to Massachusetts Bar 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.
About Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc
- How much does Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc give?
- Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc reported 82 itemized grants totaling $6,341,825, out of $6,530,381 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 54 and 68 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Crime & Legal (89%), Civil Rights (5%), Housing & Shelter (3%).
- Who are Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Community Legal Aid Inc ($2.2M), Greater Boston Legal Services Inc ($1.8M), Franklin N Flaschner Judicial Institute Inc ($1.6M).
- Does Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 13% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Eastern Bank Foundation, Boston Bar Foundation, Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc).
- Where is Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc based?
- Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc is based in MA.
Play a game based on Massachusetts Bar’s filings →