Skip to content
Oedipus Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Oedipus Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$26k
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$12k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$72kPhilanthropy$26kArts & Culture$17kEnvironment$14kRecreation & Sports$7kAnimals$7kCivil Rights$6kHealth$5kOther$0
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k22 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
$1,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$229k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COMMUNITY SERVINGS$12,240
VARIOUS CHARITIES$2,104
Individual grant recipient$1,223
BUSTIN' BARRIERS$1,041
CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION$1,041
STOP HANDGUN VIOLENCE$1,041
BELLFORGE ARTS CENTER$1,041
WILD SPIRIT WOLF SANCTUARY$1,041
DOVER LAND CONSERVATION TRUST$1,041
GLOBALGIVING$1,041
NON-EVENT$1,041
CHANEL FOUNDATION$1,000
SAM & DEWRAH FOUNDATION$325
WMBR$208
PAN MASS CHALLENGE$208
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, $73k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $12k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $12k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $11k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $10k → 16%NEW ENGLAND MUSICIANS RELIEF FUND: $1k → 8%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $10k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $7k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $6k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $5k → 16%DOVER NEIGHBORS FUND: $100 → 7%DOVER NEIGHBORS FUND: $100 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
VT
MN
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
CA
NM
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$148k · 23 repeat orgs$13k to everyone else

23 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
25

Total granted

$148k
$11k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+14%

Still filing today

70%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsEnvironmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $72k · revenue +127%
  • CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $7k · revenue +38%
  • WS
    Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary Inc
    6× · 2017–2024 · $7k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • LD
    LES DAMES D'ESCOFFIER LTDgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $2k · revenue +30%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
  • IH
    INTERIM HOUSE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue +36%
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
Boston Center for the Arts Inc

Boston center for the arts (bca) is a not-for-profit performing and visual arts campus that supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to the community.

Arts & Culture
2
Boston Early Music Festival Inc

The promotion of public interest in music written & recorded before 1800.

Arts & Culture
3
Boston Musica Viva Inc

To broaden experience, knowledge and enjoyment of every style of new music by embracing the full range of today's compositional activity and giving voice to music that might otherwise not be heard.

—
4
Guild of Boston Artists Inc
—
5
Masscreative Inc

Masscreative advocates for a well-resourced and equitable creative sector essential to the economic and civic vibrancy of massachusetts. working with its organizational and individual members, masscreative advances the public policy,…

Arts & Culture
6
Boston Arts Summer Institute Inc
Recreation & Sports
7
Boston Public Library Fund Inc

The boston public library fund provides financial support to the boston public library (bpl), ensuring that it remains viable, engaging, accessible, and free to all. the library fund fulfills this mission by working in partnership with…

Education
8
The Record Company Inc

To remove the technical and social barriers between boston's music makers and their creative visions through truly affordable music workspace and professional development programs.

Arts & Culture
9
Boston Harbor Now Inc

Our mission is to ensure that the people of greater boston benefit from a vibrant, resilient, and inclusive waterfront, harbor, and islands; these spaces are equitable, accessible, and adapted to climate change; and to ensure our public,…

Environment
10
Boston Critic Inc Dba Boston Review

The organization's mission is to publish a literary and political magazine that discusses key current issues and topics including philosophy, art, and criticism, publishing in print and for free online.

Arts & Culture
11
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation Inc

Mass moca's mission is to foster and present visual and performing arts and related educational programs for the benefit of the public.

Education
12
Boston Baroque Inc

The organization operates america's first permanent period orchestra and chorus which reach local, national, and international audiences through a subscription series, touring engagements, recordings, and broadcasts.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Cultural Alliance of Medfield Dba Bellforge Arts Center; the most unlike its peers is Conservation Law Foundation Inc. 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

32 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. 32 of the 50 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/32
Grantees still filing
20/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $72,161 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC+2 more: $1,200 · Human ServicesVARIOUS CHARITIES: $24,727 · OtherVARIOUS CHARITIESWMBR: $5,248 · OtherWMBRIndividual grant recipient: $2,264 · OtherFRIENDS OF DOVER LIBRARY: $2,000 · Other+26 more: $10,507 · Other+26 moreCONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION INC: $7,142 · EnvironmentCONSERVAT…DOVER LAND CONSERVATION TRUST: $6,623 · EnvironmentDOVER LAN…Non-Event Inc: $3,123 · Arts & CultureCULTURAL ALLIANCE OF MEDFIELD DBA BELLFORGE ARTS CENTER: $2,082 · Arts & CultureMobius Inc: $2,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $1,000 · Arts & CultureBOSTON RAISING POWERFUL MUSICIANS: $712 · Arts & CultureBRAIN ARTS ORGANIZATION INC: $480 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $936 · Arts & CultureBUSTIN BARRIERS: $5,108 · Recreation & SportsLES DAMES D'ESCOFFIER LTD: $1,600 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $42 · Recreation & SportsWild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary Inc: $6,669 · AnimalsSTOP HANDGUN VIOLENCE INC: $6,082 · Crime & Legal
Human Services$73,361Other$44,746Environment$13,765Arts & Culture$10,333Recreation & Sports$6,750Animals$6,669Crime & Legal$6,082

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $72,161 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION INC: $7,142 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary Inc: $6,669 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetDOVER LAND CONSERVATION TRUST: $6,623 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetSTOP HANDGUN VIOLENCE INC: $6,082 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetBUSTIN BARRIERS: $5,108 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetNon-Event Inc: $3,123 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetCULTURAL ALLIANCE OF MEDFIELD DBA BELLFORGE ARTS CENTER: $2,082 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMobius Inc: $2,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetLES DAMES D'ESCOFFIER LTD: $1,600 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetINTERIM HOUSE INC: $1,041 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $1,041 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ENGLAND MUSICIANS RESOURCE FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON RAISING POWERFUL MUSICIANS: $712 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $624 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHELPHOPELIVE INC: $504 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRAIN ARTS ORGANIZATION INC: $480 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $312 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetZUMIX INC: $312 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJenna Tatro Memorial Fund: $208 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLADDAGH FUND CHARITIES INC: $208 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetARTS & BUSINESS COUNCIL OF GREATER BOSTON INC: $208 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DOVER NEIGHBORS FUND INC: $200 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS INC: $104 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS INC: $104 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSQUASHBUSTERS INC: $104 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCaringBridge: $104 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION: $104 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF BOSTON'S HOMELESS INC: $76 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON SEA ROVERS INC: $42 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.

Boston Foundation IncEastern Bank Foundati…Wagner FoundationAmelia Peabody Charit…New England Foundatio…Barr FoundationCummings Foundation G…American Tower Corpor…Vanguard Charitable E…Network for GoodNational Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…
Boston Foundation IncMA22.2× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Wagner Foundation · Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund Trust · New England Foundation for the Arts Incorporated · Barr Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 140%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Community Servings Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Interim House Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston Inc: 8% of income from government
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Zumix Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
14get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 Oedipus Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Oedipus 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 50 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Oedipus’ 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