Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Melrose Cooperative Bank Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$145k
Granted FY2025still arriving
26
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$27k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2025.

Arts & Culture$244kHuman Services$132kFood & Nutrition$102kHousing & Shelter$62kEducation$61kCommunity Improvement$33kEnvironment$28kHealth$20kOther$0
02FY2025 · 26 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k21 grants · $66k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $80k
$2,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Food Drive$27,000
Mission of Deeds$17,000
Greater Boston Stage Company$15,500
Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation$10,000
Melrose Orchestral Association$10,000
Community Coalition of Melrose Inc$9,500
Housing Families Inc$8,500
Follow Your Art Community Studios Inc$7,500
Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation$5,000
Mystic Valley Elder Services$5,000
MA Federation of Farmers and Gardeners Market Inc$5,000
The Bridge A School and Community Partnership$3,500
Melrose Alliance Against Violence$2,500
Polymnia Choral Society$2,500
The Immigrant Learning Center Inc$2,500
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $142k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Mission of Deeds: $17k → 8%Mission of Deeds: $17k → 8%Mission of Deeds: $15k → 8%Mission of Deeds: $12k → 8%Mission of Deeds: $12k → 8%Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless: $3k → 10%Mission of Deeds: $11k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $9k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $6k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $6k → 8%Mystic Valley Elder Services: $5k → 8%Mystic Valley Elder Services: $5k → 8%Mystic Valley Elder Services: $5k → 8%Mystic Valley Elder Services: $5k → 8%Mystic Valley Elder Services: $5k → 8%Mystic Valley Elder Services: $5k → 8%Potencia Inc: $1k → 8%Housing Families Inc: $1k → 8%The Community Family Inc: $3k → 8%Potencia Inc: $1k → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$656k · 28 repeat orgs$52k to everyone else

28 repeat relationships — 22 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
21

Total granted

$656k
$43k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+37%

Still filing today

82%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $9k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesArts & CultureHealthEducationHousing & ShelterReligionOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • MO
    Mission of Deeds Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $84k · revenue +18%
  • GB
    GREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $76k · revenue +55%
  • TF
    THE FOOD DRIVE INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $73k · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • TF
    THE FITCH HOME INC
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue -2%
  • RI
    REFUGEE IMMIGRATION MINISTRY INC
    one grant, 2020 · $6k · revenue 0%
  • SF
    SDM Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $5k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Meor of Boston Inc
Religion
2
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
3
Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation

Mhic's mission is to be an innovative private financier of afforable housing and community development throughout new england, providing financing that would not otherwise be available, and extending the impact of that financing to ensure…

Housing & Shelter
4
Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership Inc D/B/a Metro Housing Boston

Metro housing boston mobilizes wide-ranging resources to provide innovative and personalized services that lead families and individuals to housing stability, economic security, and an improved quality of life.

Housing & Shelter
5
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance Inc

Maha breaks down barriers facing first-time and first-generation home buyers and owners through education, counseling, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.

Housing & Shelter
6
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

—
7
Historic Boston Incorporated
—
8
Massachusetts Fair Housing Center Inc

Mfhc is committed to ending systemic housing discrimination and creating inclusive communities through education, outreach, advocacy, housing counseling and enforcement.

Housing & Shelter
9
The Cambridge Homes
—
10
Boston Arts Summer Institute Inc
Recreation & Sports
11
Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Inc

Massbio is committed to advancing massachusetts' leadership in the life sciences to grow the industry, add value to the health care system and improve patient lives.

—
12
Massachusetts Assisted Living Association Inc

To lead the assisted living industry in its service of seniors through advocacy, education, operational support, and enhanced growth opportunities.

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mystic Valley Aging Services Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Fitch Home Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyResearch Innovation Acceler…School Parent Engagement Or…Community Access TelevisionLand and River ConservationHigh School Scholarship Fun…Advocacy and Organizing Net…Hospital Systems and Health…Animal Rescue and AdoptionLocal Community FoundationsFamily Philanthropic Founda…International Child & Commu…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 32 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%5%<5yr14%5%5–10yr22%11%10–20yr18%40%20–35yr12%29%35–55yr13%11%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%1%<5yr14%21%5–10yr22%2%10–20yr18%47%20–35yr12%16%35–55yr13%13%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/40
the rest of the field
10%
1,542/14,700

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

40 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 40 of the 53 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/40
Grantees still filing
28/40
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Melrose Orchestral Association Inc — $65,000 · OtherMelrose Orchestral Association IncTHE FRIENDS OF THE MIDDLESEX FELLS RESERVATION INC — $28,000 · OtherTHE FRIENDS OF THE MIDDLESEX FELLS RESERVA…POLYMINIA CHORAL SOCIETY — $27,500 · OtherPOLYMINIA CHORAL SOCIETYMelrose High School PTO- Grad Night — $21,000 · OtherMelrose High School PTO- Grad NightMelrose Family YMCA — $14,500 · OtherMelrose Family YMCATHE IMMIGRANT LEARNING CENTER INC — $12,500 · OtherMelrose Farmers Market — $11,500 · OtherTHE FITCH HOME INC — $10,000 · OtherMELROSE ALLIANCE AGAINST VIOLENCE INC — $13,750 · OtherBREAD OF LIFE INC — $12,500 · Other+23 more — $51,700 · Other+23 moreGREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY — $75,500 · Arts & CultureGREATER BOSTON STAGE COM…FOLLOW YOUR ART COMMUNITY STUDIOS INC — $60,500 · Arts & CultureFOLLOW YOUR ART COMMUNIT…THE FILMMAKERS COLLABORATIVE INC — $7,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more — $8,200 · Arts & Culture+3 moreMission of Deeds Inc — $83,500 · Human ServicesMission of Deeds IncMYSTIC VALLEY AGING SERVICES INC — $30,000 · Human ServicesMYSTIC VALLEY AGING SE…HOUSING FAMILIES INC — $21,500 · Human ServicesHOUSING FAMILIES INC+3 more — $7,000 · Human ServicesTHE FOOD DRIVE INC — $72,500 · Food & NutritionTHE FOOD DR…Community Coalition of Melrose Inc — $27,600 · Community ImprovementMelrose Affordable Housing Corporation — $26,500 · Housing & ShelterCARITAS COMMUNITIES INC — $1,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE BRIDGE A SCHOOLCOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP INC — $10,750 · EducationMELROSE EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC — $7,000 · EducationTHE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC — $1,000 · Education+1 more — $500 · Education
Other$267,950Arts & Culture$151,200Human Services$142,000Food & Nutrition$72,500Community Improvement$27,600Housing & Shelter$27,500Education$19,250

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMission of Deeds Inc — $83,500 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetGREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY — $75,500 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetTHE FOOD DRIVE INC — $72,500 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetMelrose Orchestral Association Inc — $65,000 over 6y, 7.7% of budgetFOLLOW YOUR ART COMMUNITY STUDIOS INC — $60,500 over 6y, 8.0% of budgetMYSTIC VALLEY AGING SERVICES INC — $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF THE MIDDLESEX FELLS RESERVATION INC — $28,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetCommunity Coalition of Melrose Inc — $27,600 over 5y, 4.7% of budgetPOLYMINIA CHORAL SOCIETY — $27,500 over 6y, 44% of budgetMelrose Affordable Housing Corporation — $26,500 over 5y, 4.9% of budgetHOUSING FAMILIES INC — $21,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMELROSE ALLIANCE AGAINST VIOLENCE INC — $13,750 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetBREAD OF LIFE INC — $12,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE IMMIGRANT LEARNING CENTER INC — $12,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BRIDGE A SCHOOLCOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP INC — $10,750 over 5y, 13% of budgetTHE FITCH HOME INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMELROSE EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC — $7,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetTHE FILMMAKERS COLLABORATIVE INC — $7,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE MAY INSTITUTE INC — $6,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetREFUGEE IMMIGRATION MINISTRY INC — $6,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetFriends of Memorial Hall Inc — $5,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetLYNN BUSINESS EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC — $3,500 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetMANCHESTER ESSEX EDUCATION FUND INC — $3,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FAMILY INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMELROSE BANDAIDERS INC — $2,200 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetBaby Cafe USA Inc — $2,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetPOTENCIA INC — $2,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetMELROSEWAKEFIELD HEALTHCARE INC — $1,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCARITAS COMMUNITIES INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRIANGLE INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBroken Leg Productions — $1,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC — $1,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSweet Paws Rescue Inc — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEUROFIBROMATOSIS INC NORTHEAST — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYALE NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPTO-SHOEMAKER SCHOOL CORPORATION — $500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWakefield Food Pantry Inc — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Eastern Bank Foundati…Cambridge Savings Cha…Adelaide Breed Bayrd …Cummings Foundation G…People's United Commu…Boston Foundation IncAmerican Tower Corpor…Salem Five Charitable…Rockland Trust - East…Bushrod H Campbell & …Arbella Insurance Fou…Piccolo Family Charit…
Eastern Bank FoundationMA45.6× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation Inc · Adelaide Breed Bayrd Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · People's United Community Foundation of Eastern Massachusetts Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Rockland Trust - East Boston Savings Bank Foundation Inc · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fund · Arbella Insurance Foundation · Piccolo Family Charitable Foundationinc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Melrose Cooperative Bank Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 180%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Triangle Inc — 90% of income from government
  • The May Institute Inc — 47% of income from government
  • The Community Family Inc — 41% of income from government
  • The Immigrant Learning Center Inc — 34% of income from government
  • Melrose Alliance Against Violence Inc — 19% of income from government
  • Melrosewakefield Healthcare Inc — 18% of income from government
  • Housing Families Inc — 12% of income from government
  • Melrose Orchestral Association Inc — 10% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation — 10% of income from government
  • The Fitch Home Inc — 9% of income from government
  • Bread of Life Inc — 6% of income from government
  • Community Coalition of Melrose Inc — 4% of income from government
  • Follow Your Art Community Studios Inc — 3% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Stage Company — 2% of income from government
  • The Filmmakers Collaborative Inc — 1% of income from government
  • The Food Drive Inc — 1% of income from government
  • Yale New Haven Hospital — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
18get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Melrose Cooperative Bank Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Melrose Cooperative Bank Foundation 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 53 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines