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MFS Charitable Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

MFS Charitable Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$46k
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$15k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$116kHuman Services$102kFood & Nutrition$14kPublic Safety & Disaster$1kCivil Rights$1kReligion$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k21 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
$1,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$205k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Cardinal Cushing Centers$15,000
SOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$10,000
Augusta Food Bank$1,000
OHI Brewer Area Food Pantry$1,000
Kaydenz Food Pantry$1,000
North Haven Community Services$1,000
Marshfield Council on Aging Boosters$1,000
Biddeford Food Bank$1,000
Worcester County Food Bank$1,000
Lorraine's Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry$1,000
Martin Luther King Center$1,000
Westbay Community Action Food Pantry$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
Good Shepherd Food Bank$1,000
Falmouth Food Bank$1,000
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 (FY17–24, $59k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 94% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE: $5k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 14%OLD COLONY YMCA: $9k → 8%OLD COLONY YMCA: $9k → 8%OLD COLONY YMCA: $8k → 8%OLD COLONY YMCA: $8k → 8%OLD COLONY YMCA: $8k → 8%Hopewell Inc: $3k → 7%OLD COLONY YMCA: $8k → 8%HOPEWELL INC: $1k → 7%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 94% of MFS Charitable Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 83% of the giving stays in MA; by stated purpose, 6%.

MFS Charitable Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$198k · 6 repeat orgs$39k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 21 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
4

Total granted

$198k
$18k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+8%

Still filing today

67%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 54% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Food & NutritionHuman ServicesHealthOther
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

  • SS
    SOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $51k · revenue +39%
  • OC
    OLD COLONY YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC
    6× · 2017–2022 · $50k · revenue +49%
  • CARDINAL CUSHING CENTERS INC
    2× · 2017–2025 · $20k · revenue +40%

Funded once

  • SS
    South Shore Hospital FOUN
    one grant, 2023 · $11k
  • NE
    NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE INC
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue +8%
  • TI
    TALKING INFORMATION CENTER INC
    one grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue -4%
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
Merrimack Valley Food Bank Inc

The focus of the merrimack valley food bank is to help meet a person's most profound need - adequate nutrition and freedom from hunger. only through cooperative efforts can society initiate change, develop strategies to alleviate hunger,…

Food & Nutrition
2
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Inc

The food bank of western massachusetts' mission is to feed our neighbors in need and lead the community to end hunger. the food bank provides food both directly and through its member food pantries, meal sites, shelters and other social…

—
3
Greater Boston Food Bank Inc

Our costs consist of acquiring, sorting and distributing food to 617 member agencies, transportation and logistics, and community outreach to 69 direct distribution sites such as gbfb mobile markets, and federal distributions for low…

—
4
Community Servings Inc

Community servings' mission is to actively engage the community to provide medically tailored, nutritious, scratch-made meals and medically tailored groceries to chronically and critically ill individuals and their families.

Human Services
5
Coordinating Council for Health and Welfare

Our mission is to improve the overall experience for each guest of the food bank, alleviate food insecurity, and to meet the ongoing food needs of the community. We need to accomplish this task by effectively managing the resources of the…

—
6
The Maryland Food Bank Inc

The maryland food bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization dedicated to feeding people, strengthening communities, and ending hunger for more marylanders.

—
7
Vermont Foodbank

To gather and share quality food and nurture partnerships so that no one in vermont will go hungry.

Food & Nutrition
8
Food Bank of Eastern Michigan

The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan's mission is to be the Food Source for people in need. Partnering with organizations to feed the hungry, we advocate and build a community solution to a community problem. By leveraging an abundance of…

Food & Nutrition
9
Community Cooks Inc

Community cooks mobilizes individuals, businesses, civic educational and faith-based groups to prepare home-cooked food for vulnerable populations seeking assistance from human service agencies throughout greater boston. the agency…

Food & Nutrition
10
Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia

Leading the effort to eliminate hunger in our community.

Food & Nutrition
11
The People Who Care Food Cupboard

The mission of the food cupboard is to nourish and feed those in our community who are unable to do so on their own primarily due to limited financial resources.

Food & Nutrition
12
Westbrook Food Pantry

The westbrook community food & resource center is an all volunteer non-profit organization providing free supplemental food to westbrook, maine residents on

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Worcester County Food Bank Inc; the most unlike its peers is Lorraine's Soup Kitchen and Pantry Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the 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 31 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
9/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FRIENDSHIP HOME: $40,000 · OtherFRIENDSHIP HOMESOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $33,000 · OtherSOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONCARDINAL CUSHING CENTERS INC: $20,000 · OtherCARDINAL CUSHING CENTERS INCSouth Shore Hospital FOUN: $11,000 · OtherSouth Shore Hospital FOUN+17 more: $17,000 · Other+17 moreOLD COLONY YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesOLD COLONY YOUNG MEN'S CHRIS…NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE INC: $4,500 · Human ServicesNEW ENGLAND VILLAGE INCHOPEWELL INC: $3,500 · Human ServicesHOPEWELL INC+1 more: $1,000 · Human ServicesSOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL INC: $51,000 · HealthSOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL INCAUGUSTA FOOD BANK: $1,000 · Food & NutritionWORCESTER COUNTY FOOD BANK INC: $1,000 · Food & NutritionWALES COMMUNITY PANTRY: $1,000 · Food & NutritionWayside Food Programs: $1,000 · Food & NutritionGood Shepherd Food Bank: $1,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$121,000Human Services$59,000Health$51,000Food & Nutrition$5,000

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 budgetSOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL INC: $51,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOLD COLONY YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC: $50,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCARDINAL CUSHING CENTERS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ENGLAND VILLAGE INC: $4,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPEWELL INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAUGUSTA FOOD BANK: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORCESTER COUNTY FOOD BANK INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTALKING INFORMATION CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWALES COMMUNITY PANTRY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMY BROTHER'S TABLE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGood Shepherd Food Bank: $1,000 over 1y, 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.

The New England Patri…Eastern Bank Foundati…Amelia Peabody Charit…Rockland Trust Charit…Boston Foundation IncImagine IncSouth Shore Bank Char…James & Beatrice Sala…Yawkey Foundation IIAgnes M Lindsay TrustArbella Insurance Fou…Verizon Foundation
The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation IncMA19.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund Trust · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · Imagine Inc · South Shore Bank Charitable Foundation Inc · James & Beatrice Salah Charitable Trust Dtd 08-09-2001 · Yawkey Foundation II · Agnes M Lindsay Trust · Arbella Insurance Foundation · Verizon Foundation

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 MFS Charitable Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from MFS Charitable Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 68%
  • Hopewell Inc: 83% of income from government
  • Talking Information Center Inc: 71% of income from government
  • New England Village Inc: 68% of income from government
  • Cardinal Cushing Centers Inc: 40% of income from government
  • South Shore Hospital Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Worcester County Food Bank Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
3rely 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 MFS Charitable Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to MFS Charitable 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 31 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on MFS’ 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