· Private foundation
Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust Hemenway & Barnes LLP
Its FY2026 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2026
- $10k–50k4 grants · $96k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $310k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENEAUM | $110,000 |
| NORWELL VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION INC | $100,000 |
| ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM | $100,000 |
| TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE FBO SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS AT TUFTS | $27,500 |
| BOSTON ARTS ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC | $25,000 |
| UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST URBAN MINISTRY | $25,000 |
| NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART INC | $18,750 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY21–21, $570) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
10 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2026, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (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 FY2026, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $110k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM INC9× · 2017–2026 · $868k · revenue +117%- NVNorwell Visiting Nurse Association Inc3× · 2017–2026 · $283k · revenue +114%
THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS3× · 2019–2021 · $150k · revenue +36%
Funded once
HALEY HOUSE INC & AFFILIATESgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $8k · revenue +97%- SOSCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS AT TUFTS UNIVERSITYone grant, 2019 · $8k
- MVMYSTIC VALLEY AGING SERVICES INCgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $570 · revenue +68%
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.
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.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
New england museum association's mission is to connect a community engaged in learning, collaboration, and action to cultivate a better museum world.
Bringing people together for experiences that spark creativity and innovative thinking by making inspiring educational connections among art, history, and natural science.
The boston society of architects (bsa/aia) exists to improve the quality of life for boston-area residents by championing innovation in the built environment. as a membership association, we achieve this mission in partnership with the bsa…
To advance the health of individuals and communities by serving as the leading voice for all massachusetts hospitals and healthcare systems and to help them provide high quality, cost-effective and equitable patient care.
To cultivate and develop an expansive collection of trees, gardens, and plants for all to explore, enjoy and study; and to provide through education and stewardship, a greener, healthier, more beautiful environment.
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.
The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.
The mwm owns and operates the waterworks museum (the "museum"), including a community meeting room. the museum is a single condominium unit of the museum building condominium, one of separate condominium building regimes on the site. the…
The nantucket historical association preserves and interprets the history of nantucket through its programs, collections, and properties, in order to promote the island's significance and foster an appreciation of it among all audiences.
The mission of the national academy of design is to promote the fine arts in america through exhibition and education.
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.
How this is measured
8 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 14 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM INC ↗
- Who funds Norwell Visiting Nurse Association Inc ↗
- Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS ↗
- Who funds BOSTON ARTS ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART INC ↗
- Who funds BENEVOLENT FRATERNITY OF UNITARIAN CHURCHES ↗
- Who funds HALEY HOUSE INC & AFFILIATES ↗
- Who funds MYSTIC VALLEY AGING SERVICES INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust Hemenway & Barnes LLP funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust Hemenway & Barnes LLP. Bigger dots raise more.
- New Britain Museum of American Art Inc: 7% of income from government
- The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
- Boston Arts Academy Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
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