Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Mr Owl Foundation

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.

$176k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$55k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202025.

Animals$360kEducation$140kInternational$137kYouth Development$120kHousing & Shelter$106kPhilanthropy$90kPublic Safety & Disaster$47k
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $111k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $55k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM$55,000
NOTICEABILITY INC$25,000
ST FRANCIS HOUSE$16,000
FLYING KITES INC$15,000
PINE STREET INN$15,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$10,000
DIRECT RELIEF$10,000
CROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC$10,000
WINGS OF AMERICA$10,000
THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND$5,000
PRECIOUS PROJECT INC$5,000
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, $106k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PINE STREET INN: $15k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $10k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $10k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $10k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $10k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $10k → 16%ST FRANCIS HOUSE: $16k → 16%ST FRANCIS HOUSE: $5k → 16%ST FRANCIS HOUSE: $5k → 16%ST FRANCIS HOUSE: $5k → 16%ST FRANCIS HOUSE: $5k → 16%ST FRANCIS HOUSE: $5k → 16%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.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 5% of Mr Owl Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 85% of the giving stays in MA; read by stated purpose it is 71% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

Mr Owl Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 14% directed abroad (not shown)

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$999k · 11 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

11 repeat relationships — 11 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
0

Total granted

$999k
$0

Still filing today

100%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
InternationalHuman ServicesAnimalsEducationYouth DevelopmentRecreation & 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

  • NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $360k · revenue +108%
  • NI
    NoticeAbility Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $140k · revenue +13%
  • FK
    FLYING KITES INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $90k · revenue +39%

Funded once

    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
    The Water Research Foundation

    The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

    Environment
    2
    Northeast College of Health Sciences

    Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

    Education
    3
    Boston Architectural College

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

    4
    Us Digital Response

    U.s. digital response is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps governments, nonprofits, and public entities respond quickly to critical public needs. the organization serves the public by leveraging a network of pro bono…

    Public Safety & Disaster
    5
    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…

    6
    Devworks International

    Devworks international is dedicated to a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. we contribute to this by strengthening the capacity of local organizations.

    Human Services
    7
    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
    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
    Ceres Inc

    Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient world. through education and research, we make the business case for action on the most pressing sustainability…

    Environment
    10
    Wheaton College

    Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…

    Education
    11
    Accion International

    Our mission is to create a fair and inclusive economy where underserved people have quality financial choices and opportunities to improve their economic well-being. we find and help build innovative companies with the potential to reach…

    International
    12
    Brighton Marine Inc

    Brighton marine, inc. provides military and veteran families with comprehensive campus-based quality health care, as well as affordable and supportive housing for at-risk veterans and their families.

    Health

    For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Lenny Zakim Fund and the most unlike its peers is NoticeAbility 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

    11 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.

    0
    Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
    1
    Early backer (in before they grew)
    11/11
    Grantees still filing
    8/11
    Grew since you first funded

    Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

    NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION — $360,000 · AnimalsNEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATIONFLYING KITES INC — $90,000 · InternationalFLYING KITES INCDIRECT RELIEF — $46,500 · InternationalDIRECT RELIEFWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $46,500 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHE…NoticeAbility Inc — $140,000 · EducationNoticeAbility I…PINE STREET INN INC — $65,000 · Human ServicesPINE STREET …SAINT FRANCIS HOUSE INC — $41,000 · Human ServicesSAINT FRANCI…THE EARTH CIRCLE FOUNDATION INC — $60,000 · Youth DevelopmentCROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC — $60,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE LENNY ZAKIM FUND — $45,000 · ReligionPRECIOUS PROJECT INC — $45,000 · Philanthropy
    Animals$360,000International$183,000Education$140,000Human Services$106,000Youth Development$60,000Recreation & Sports$60,000Religion$45,000Philanthropy$45,000

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

    25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetNEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION — $360,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetNoticeAbility Inc — $140,000 over 6y, 7.7% of budgetFLYING KITES INC — $90,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetPINE STREET INN INC — $65,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE EARTH CIRCLE FOUNDATION INC — $60,000 over 6y, 3.4% of budgetCROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC — $60,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF — $46,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $46,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LENNY ZAKIM FUND — $45,000 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetPRECIOUS PROJECT INC — $45,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetSAINT FRANCIS HOUSE INC — $41,000 over 6y, 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.

    • Who funds NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION
    • Who funds NoticeAbility Inc
    • Who funds FLYING KITES INC
    • Who funds PINE STREET INN INC
    • Who funds THE EARTH CIRCLE FOUNDATION INC
    • Who funds CROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC
    • Who funds DIRECT RELIEF
    • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    • Who funds THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND
    • Who funds PRECIOUS PROJECT INC
    • Who funds SAINT FRANCIS HOUSE INC

    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.

    Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

    Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Mr Owl 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 · 40%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 12%
    • Saint Francis House Inc18% of income from government
    • New England Aquarium Corporation12% of income from government
    • Pine Street Inn Inc11% of income from government
    • Crossroads for Kids Inc1% of income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    4get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 11 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