· Private foundation
Ploughshares Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2025.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k246 grants · $1.1M
- $10k–50k112 grants · $1.9M
- $50k–250k10 grants · $610k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PARTNERS IN HEALTH | $85,000 |
| LENNY ZAKIM FUND | $75,000 |
| DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS | $70,000 |
| UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SERVICE COMMITTEE | $60,000 |
| EARLHAM COLLEGE | $60,000 |
| AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE | $60,000 |
| UNITED MID COAST CHARITIES INC | $50,000 |
| FIRST PARISH IN CAMBRIDGE | $50,000 |
| MERCY CORPS | $50,000 |
| SAVE THE CHILDREN | $50,000 |
| INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE | $45,000 |
| DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL | $45,000 |
| AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE | $41,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC | $40,000 |
| AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC | $40,000 |
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.
Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 70% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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.
Which US states your grants reach
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.
Where the work is directed
The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.
About 12% of Ploughshares 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.
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.
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.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +27% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.
410 repeat relationships — 341 still active in FY2025, 69 since wound down; 18 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $137k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION6× · 2020–2025 · $570k · revenue +33%
MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC6× · 2020–2025 · $540k · revenue +39%- IRInternational Rescue Committee INC6× · 2020–2025 · $365k · revenue +63%
Funded once
- CHCAMBRIDGE HOUSING ASSISTANCE FUNDone grant, 2020 · $12k
- SUSTATES UNITED TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENC CO GPEC-ICHVone grant, 2020 · $6k · revenue -67%
- NJNEW JEWISH NARRATIVE (FORMERLY AMERICANS FOR PEACE NOW)one grant, 2024 · $5k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…
To lead and coordinate the global initiative to address and prevent criminalization, violence, and impunity against indigenous peoples towards strengthening their collectives, solidarity, and actions.
Aclu foundation of ma was established to defend freedoms guaranteed in the constitution and bill of rights through public education and litigation.
Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…
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…
To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.
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,…
The center for international policy is a woman-led, progressive, independent nonprofit center for research, education, and advocacy working to advance a more peaceful, just, and sustainable u.s. approach to foreign policy. through…
Building bridges across diverse sectors, and developing innovative technologies and tools for policy makers. a leader in the conflict assessment and early warning field, the fund for peace focuses on the problems of weak and failing…
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.
To drive transformational adaptation to protect communities across the country from higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hope for Haiti Inc and the most unlike its peers is Asylum Seeker Network of Support. 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.
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 33 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 2% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.
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.
330 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. 330 of the 451 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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 PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND ↗
- Who funds International Rescue Committee INC ↗
- Who funds Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Inc ↗
- Who funds Earlham College Inc ↗
- Who funds DIRECT RELIEF ↗
- Who funds Mercy Corps ↗
- Who funds Save The Children Federation Inc ↗
- Who funds Boston Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds UNITED MIDCOAST CHARITIES INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE INC ↗
- Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ↗
- Who funds OXFAM-AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC ↗
- Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
- Who funds CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds 350ORG ↗
- Who funds UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF ↗
- Who funds PROJECT BREAD-THE WALK FOR HUNGER INC ↗
- Who funds GLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC ↗
- Who funds CURE VIOLENCE GLOBAL ↗
- Who funds GREATER BOSTON LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds WORLD MONUMENTS FUND INC ↗
- Who funds NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds Maine Coast Heritage Trust ↗
- Who funds BENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES ↗
- Who funds MILLS COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds CASA MYRNA VAZQUEZ INC ↗
- Who funds Natural Resources Council of Maine 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.
Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fund · The Klarman Family Foundation · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Cambridge Community Foundation · Adelard & Valeda Roy Foundation · The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation · Barr 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 Ploughshares 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.
- Hias Inc — 88% of income from government
- Respond Inc — 80% of income from government
- Roca Inc — 78% of income from government
- Partakers Inc — 59% of income from government
- Justice Resource Institute Inc — 48% of income from government
- Mercy Corps — 47% of income from government
- The Young People's Project Inc — 39% of income from government
- Transition House Inc — 39% of income from government
- On the Rise Inc — 39% of income from government
- Louis D Brown Peace Institute Corp — 32% of income from government
- Bridge Over Troubled Waters Inc — 32% of income from government
- Somerville Homeless Coalition Inc — 31% of income from government
- Save the Children Federation Inc — 30% of income from government
- Roxbury Stone House Inc — 29% of income from government
- More Than Words Inc — 24% of income from government
- Boston Medical Center Corporation — 23% of income from government
- Greater Boston Food Bank Inc — 22% of income from government
- Horizons for Homeless Children — 21% of income from government
- HomeStart Inc — 20% of income from government
- Brookline Greenspace Alliance Inc — 19% of income from government
- Saint Francis House Inc — 18% of income from government
- Community Servings Inc — 12% of income from government
- Rehearsal for Life Inc — 11% of income from government
- Pine Street Inn Inc — 11% of income from government
- De Novo Center for Justice and Healing — 9% of income from government
- Youthbuild Boston Inc — 9% of income from government
- Communities for Restorative Justice Inc — 8% of income from government
- Cambridge Community Center Inc — 8% of income from government
- Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc — 8% of income from government
- Bma Tenpoint Inc — 7% of income from government
- The Center for Teen Empowerment Inc — 7% of income from government
- Bread of Life Inc — 6% of income from government
- Casa Myrna Vazquez Inc — 5% of income from government
- Musiconnects Inc — 5% of income from government
- Zumix Inc — 5% of income from government
- Evkids Inc — 4% of income from government
- Friends of the Children - Boston Inc — 4% of income from government
- Familyaid Boston Inc — 4% of income from government
- Greater Boston Legal Services Inc — 3% of income from government
- Food for Free Committee Inc — 3% of income from government
- Handel and Haydn Society — 2% of income from government
- Boston Baroque Inc — 2% of income from government
- Cradles to Crayons Inc — 2% of income from government
- Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc — 2% of income from government
- The Trustees of Reservations — 2% of income from government
- Boston Children's Chorus Inc — 2% of income from government
- Inquilinos Boricuas En Accion Inc — 2% of income from government
- A Far Cry Inc — 1% of income from government
- New England Conservatory of Music — 1% of income from government
- Conservatory Lab Foundation Inc — 1% of income from government
- Worcester County Food Bank Inc — 1% of income from government
- The Bottom Line Inc — 0% of income from government
- Americares Foundation Inc — 0% of income from government
- Hope for Haiti Inc — 0% of income from government
- Museum of Fine Arts — 0% of income from government
- Rosie's Place Inc — 0% of income from government
- Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation — 0% of income from government
- Boston Foundation Inc — 0% of income from government
- Oxfam-America Inc — 0% of income from government
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.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ploughshares Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Ploughshares 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.