Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Michael & Karen Tichnor Family Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$54k
Granted FY2021
21
Grants FY2021
4
States reached
$44k
Largest
01What you fund
0182% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202021.

Arts & Culture$63kReligion$15kHuman Services$10kHealth$2kInternational$1kPhilanthropy$350Environment$300Food & Nutrition$217Other$0
02FY2021 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k20 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $44k
$100
Median grant
4
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CJP$44,044
JFS OF METROWEST$5,000
CONGREGATION OR ATID$1,612
FIDF$500
Individual grant recipient$360
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$300
WGBH$260
YOUNG AUDIENCES OF MASSACHUSETTS$250
JNF$250
GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK$117
BRADY CAMPAIGN$100
WEST END HOUSE$100
NE FRIENDS OF THE MARCH OF THE LIVING$100
HIAS$100
CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$100
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 (FY20–21, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JFS OF METROWEST: $5k → 8%JFS OF METROWEST: $5k → 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.

60%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$100k · 12 repeat orgs$66k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +85% since the first grant, against +45% for the ones you funded once.

12 repeat relationships — 12 still active in FY2021, 0 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
6

Total granted

$100k
$65k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+85%
+45%

Still filing today

50%
17%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $967 went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21
InternationalHealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureEnvironmentRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • JF
    JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $10k · revenue +42%
  • FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
    2× · 2020–2021 · $800 · revenue +211%
  • AF
    ARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $500 · revenue +59%

Funded once

  • A
    AJC
    one grant, 2020 · $63k
  • AA
    ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2020 · $1k
  • O
    Oneinforty
    one grant, 2020 · $900

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
Mass General Brigham Health Plan Inc

Mass general brigham health plan's mission is to promote the health and wellness of our members, and to help ensure equitable, affordbale health care for the diverse communities we serve.

Health
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
Metropolitan Jewish Health System Inc

Mjhs health system is a charitable not-for-profit established to support the activities of affiliated organizations. mjhs is built on the core values of compassion, dignity and respect, first established by the four brooklyn ladies in…

Health
4
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

5
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health
6
Emerson Health System Inc

Emerson health systems is the parent organization of four subsidiaries - emerson hospital, emerson occupational health services, emerson property development and emerson health care foundation. emerson health systems provides its…

Health
7
Massachusetts Business Roundtable Inc

The mission of the roundtable is to make massachusetts the most desirable place to live, work and do business by engaging private sector executives and public leaders to ensure access to a robust, diverse and talented workforce that…

8
The Bridgespan Group Inc

Bridgespan's mission is to build a better world by strengthening the ability of mission-driven organizations and philanthropists to achieve breakthrough results in addressing society's most important challenges and opportunities.

Community Improvement
9
Jgs Lifecare Corporation

Non-profit organization dedicated to improving the physical, spiritual and emotional health of individuals and families.

Health
10
Boston Foundation Inc

As Greater Boston's community foundation, the Boston Foundation devotes its resources to expanding opportunities, improving lives and strengthening communities. See Schedule OThe Foundation fulfills this mission in three principal ways:…

Philanthropy
11
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

12
Minneapolis Jewish Federation

Minneapolis jewish federation is a nonprofit organization that promotes a culture of philanthropy, leverages resources to meet local and global jewish needs, and facilitates community planning to ensure a thriving and secure future.

Philanthropy

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Family Service of Metrowest Inc and the most unlike its peers is Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. 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

12 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 12 of the 27 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
11/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CJP — $71,544 · OtherCJPAJC — $62,500 · OtherAJCOR ATID CONSERVATIVE JEWISH ASSOCIATION — $14,612 · OtherOR ATID CONSERVATIVE JEWISH ASSOCIATION+14 more — $4,697 · OtherJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES — $800 · InternationalHIAS INC — $200 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM — $100 · InternationalARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC — $500 · Arts & CultureTHE PARMENTER FOUNDATION INC — $200 · HealthChildren's Hospital Corporation — $100 · HealthBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $50 · HealthSUDBURY VALLEY TRUSTEES INC — $250 · EnvironmentWEST END HOUSE INC — $100 · Recreation & Sports
Other$153,353Human Services$10,000International$1,100Arts & Culture$500Health$350Environment$250Recreation & Sports$100

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES — $800 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetARTS FOR LEARNING MASSACHUSETTS INC — $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSUDBURY VALLEY TRUSTEES INC — $250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHIAS INC — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PARMENTER FOUNDATION INC — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC — $117 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWEST END HOUSE INC — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $50 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston IncMA15.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Boston Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Michael & Karen Tichnor Family 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
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 11%
  • Hias Inc88% of income from government
  • Boston Medical Center Corporation23% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc22% of income from government
  • Sudbury Valley Trustees Inc11% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation10% of income from government
  • Arts for Learning Massachusetts Inc4% of income from government
  • West End House Inc2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get 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, FY2025

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.

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 27 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph