· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k3 grants · $24k
- $10k–50k42 grants · $1.4M
- $50k–250k33 grants · $3.2M
- $250k+4 grants · $1.7M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Flaschner Judicial Institute | $578,900 |
| Greater Boston Legal Services | $452,000 |
| Community Legal Aid Inc | $400,000 |
| South Coastal Counties Legal Services | $275,000 |
| University of Massachusetts Dartmouth | $225,000 |
| Northeast Legal Aid | $214,000 |
| De Novo Center for Justice and Healing | $203,000 |
| Political AsylumImmigration Representation Projec | $191,000 |
| MetroWest Legal Services | $180,000 |
| Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fall River M | $136,764 |
| Ascentria Community Services Inc | $125,000 |
| Hampden County Bar Association | $115,000 |
| Prisoners' Legal Services | $111,000 |
| Essex County Bar Association | $102,100 |
| Massachusetts Advocates for Children | $98,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY23–24, $1.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +67% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.
80 repeat relationships: 68 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $499k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
COMMUNITY LEGAL AID INC8× · 2017–2024 · $2.2M · revenue +213%- GBGREATER BOSTON LEGAL SERVICES INC8× · 2017–2024 · $1.8M · revenue +120%
NORTHEAST LEGAL AID INC8× · 2017–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +176%
Funded once
- CCCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF WORCESTERgraduatedone grant, 2023 · $30k · revenue +30%
GREATER LAWRENCE COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL INCone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -1%
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.
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.
The massachusetts legal assistance corporation provides leadership and support to improve civil legal services to low-income people in massachusetts through collaboration with the legal services community, the legislature, the public, the…
The legal aid justice center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.
Midpenn legal services is a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to providing equal access to justice and high quality civil legal services to low income residents and survivors of domestic violence in 18 counties in central…
Mfhc is committed to ending systemic housing discrimination and creating inclusive communities through education, outreach, advocacy, housing counseling and enforcement.
Connecticut legal services provides access to justice and protects critical civil legal rights of low income individuals and families through representation, systemic advocacy, advice, collaboration, and education.
Enforcing and protecting the rights of individuals and families by providing accessible, creative, and high quality legal assistance and working collaboratively for systemic change.
Lawny increases access to justice through excellent legal representation, advocacy and service.
Securing justice for, protecting the rights of and rendering legal assistance and representation to indigent residents and non-residents of westchester county.
To provide free high quality legal services to maine residents aged sixty & over, who qualify for legal services under the older americans act, 42 usca sec. 3001 et seq, as amended.
The wba encourages the professional interaction and exchange of ideas among its members through events, leadership development, networking opportunities and advocacy.
Championing the rights of noncitizens.
To empower people to resolve conflicts peacefully through mutual understanding and respect
How this is measured
91 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. 91 of the 95 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 COMMUNITY LEGAL AID INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER BOSTON LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds FRANKLIN N FLASCHNER JUDICIAL INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds NORTHEAST LEGAL AID INC ↗
- Who funds POLITICAL ASYLUMIMMIGRATION REPRESENTATION PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds METROWEST LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds DE NOVO CENTER FOR JUSTICE AND HEALING ↗
- Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
- Who funds SOUTH COASTAL COUNTIES LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS CORRECTIONAL LEGAL SERVICES INC DBA PRISONERS' LEGAL SVCS ↗
- Who funds HAMPDEN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds Children Law Center of Massachusetts Inc ↗
- Who funds ASCENTRIA COMMUNITY SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS LAW REFORM INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds ESSEX COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds CASA MYRNA VAZQUEZ INC ↗
- Who funds CASA PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN INC ↗
- Who funds VETERANS LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds RIAN IMMIGRANT CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds HOUSING FAMILIES INC ↗
- Who funds NEW BEDFORD WOMEN'S CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds FRANKLIN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION ADVOCATES INC ↗
- Who funds THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC ↗
- Who funds YWCA CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
- Who funds JEANNE GEIGER CRISIS CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds HEALTH LAW ADVOCATES INC ↗
- Who funds DOVE INC ↗
- Who funds JUSTICE AT WORK INC ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE ADVOCACY COALITION INC ↗
- Who funds LAWYERS CLEARINGHOUSE ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS INC ↗
- Who funds DISMAS HOUSE OF MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
- Who funds BARNSTABLE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS INC ↗
- Who funds WOMEN'S BAR FOUNDATION OF MASSACHUSETTS ↗
- Who funds FINEX HOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds HAMPSHIRE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION INC ↗
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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Massachusetts Bar Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- Collaborative Resolutions Group Inc: 100% of income from government
- Victim Rights Law Center Inc: 89% of income from government
- Pilgrim Advocates Inc: 89% of income from government
- Finex House Inc: 89% of income from government
- Southcoast Fair Housing Inc: 86% of income from government
- Independence House Inc: 85% of income from government
- New Bedford Women's Center Inc: 84% of income from government
- Alianza Dv Services Inc: 82% of income from government
- Roca Inc: 78% of income from government
- Harborcov Inc: 76% of income from government
- Essex County Bar Association Inc: 70% of income from government
- Quabbin Mediation Inc: 64% of income from government
- Community Action Pioneer Valley: 62% of income from government
- Saheli Inc: 61% of income from government
- Dove Inc: 60% of income from government
- The Resolution Center Inc Fka North Shore Community Mediationinc: 60% of income from government
- Safe Passage Inc: 55% of income from government
- Health Law Advocates Inc: 52% of income from government
- Justice Resource Institute Inc: 48% of income from government
- Metrowest Mediation Services Inc Dba Framingham Court Mediation Services: 47% of income from government
- Center for New Americans Inc: 45% of income from government
- Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center Inc: 40% of income from government
- Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence Inc: 32% of income from government
- The Second Step Inc: 26% of income from government
- Boston Casa Inc: 20% of income from government
- Veterans Legal Services Inc: 16% of income from government
- Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Inc: 15% of income from government
- North Shore Community Action Programs Inc: 12% of income from government
- Housing Families Inc: 12% of income from government
- Pine Street Inn Inc: 11% of income from government
- Family Services of the Merrimack Valley Inc: 11% of income from government
- Project Citizenship Inc: 10% of income from government
- Metrowest Legal Services Inc: 10% of income from government
- De Novo Center for Justice and Healing: 9% of income from government
- Hampshire County Bar Association Inc: 9% of income from government
- Mediation Works Incorporated: 9% of income from government
- Berkshire Immigrant Center Inc: 9% of income from government
- Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition Inc: 8% of income from government
- One Can Help Inc: 8% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
- Northeast Legal Aid Inc: 7% of income from government
- Casa Myrna Vazquez Inc: 5% of income from government
- Community Legal Aid Inc: 5% of income from government
- Hampden County Bar Association Inc: 5% of income from government
- Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
- Greater Boston Legal Services Inc: 3% of income from government
- Franklin County Bar Association Inc: 3% of income from government
- Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fall River Massachusetts Inc: 2% of income from government
- Youth Advocacy Foundation Inc: 1% of income from government
- Western New England University: 1% of income from government
- Jewish Family & Children's Service Inc: 1% of income from government
- The Somerville Community Corporation Inc: 1% of income from government
- Lawyers for Civil Rights Inc: 1% of income from government
- We Can Corporation: 0% of income from government
- Rosie's Place Inc: 0% of income from government
- Massachusetts Bar Association: 0% of income from government
- Justice at Work Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
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