· Private foundation
Richard K & Nancy L Donahue Charitable 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.
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 · FY2025
- Under $10k11 grants · $48k
- $10k–50k18 grants · $360k
- $50k–250k4 grants · $230k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| JFK LIBRARY | $75,000 |
| PROJECT LEARN | $55,000 |
| MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL ADMIN ASSOC | $50,000 |
| NEQM | $50,000 |
| WHISTLER HOUSE MUSEUM | $45,000 |
| LOWELL FESTIVAL FOUNDATION | $30,000 |
| GIRLS INC OF GREATER LOWELL | $30,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| MERRIMACK REPERTORY THEATRE | $25,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| LASELL UNIVERSITY | $20,000 |
| MERRIMACK VALLEY FOOD BANK | $20,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $20,000 |
| LOWELL COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER | $20,000 |
| MILL CITY GROWS | $15,000 |
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 (FY17–21, $653k) 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.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.
59 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2025, 32 since wound down; 5 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, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $95k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- UIUTEC Inc6× · 2017–2023 · $3.2M · revenue +162%
MASSACHUSETTS DOWN SYNDROME CONGRESS INC4× · 2018–2022 · $2.8M · revenue +153% · 57% of their budget- PLPROJECT LEARN INC5× · 2018–2025 · $780k · revenue +153% · 55% of their budget
Funded once
- BGBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER LOWELL INCgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $1.0M · revenue +103%
- GLGREATER LOWELL FAMILY YMCAgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $250k · revenue +36%
- MGMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITALone grant, 2020 · $100k
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.
Lowell telecommunication corporation's mission is to strengthen the city of lowell as a community media and education center that empowers, connects, and informs all residents, businesses, and organizations in the city. ltc provides…
Lowell makes is a collection of open workshops and laboratories where members and students can collaborate to learn, share, and hone crafts of all kinds. the focus is on providing a space for education, entrepreneurship, and engagement…
To sustain a strategic alliance of community organizations that improves the overall health and wellness of those living in the greater lowell region. by raising awareness and providing resources for our communities, schools, civic and…
The massachusetts legal assistance corporation provides leadership and support to improve civil legal services to low-income people in massachusetts through collaboration with the legal services community, the legislature, the public, the…
Massachusetts education and career opportunities, inc. (massedco, inc.) is a statewide network of service sites that provides education and career advising to over 12,000 low-income, first generation individuals each year. massedco…
We create opportunities for the people of massachusetts to transform their lives and build a more equitable commonwealth through the humanities.
The mission of The Lowell Plan, Inc. is (1) to facilitate and advocate for transformative data-driven change through big-picture, forward thinking visioning and collaboarive strategic planning; and (2) to foster collaboration across…
To provide a significant unified voice in shaping the future growth of the business communities which it serves and to provide a vehicle through which individuals can work to improve the area's business climate and quality of life. A…
We work to ensure that individuals with disabilities can live independently as equal members of society.
How this is measured
51 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. 51 of the 114 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 UTEC Inc ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS DOWN SYNDROME CONGRESS INC ↗
- Who funds Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc ↗
- Who funds LASELL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF GREATER LOWELL INC ↗
- Who funds PROJECT LEARN INC ↗
- Who funds JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY LIBRARY FOUNDATION INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds GIRLS INC ↗
- Who funds MERRIMACK VALLEY FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds LOWELL HOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds ACRE FAMILY CHILD CARE INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER LOWELL FAMILY YMCA ↗
- Who funds Real News Project Inc ↗
- Who funds LOWELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND INC ↗
- Who funds Community Teamwork Inc ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND INC ↗
- Who funds THE LOWELL FESTIVAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MILL CITY GROWS INC ↗
- Who funds CHALLENGE UNLIMITED INC ↗
- Who funds MIDDLESEX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION C/O JACKSON CHEGE ↗
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: Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Aubert J Fay Charitable Fund · We Share A Common Thread Foundation Inc · Demoulas Foundation · Theodore Edson Parker Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · The Battles Foundation Inc · Greater Lowell Health Alliance Chna 10 Inc · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Trustees of the Ayer Home · The Saab Family Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Richard K & Nancy L Donahue Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Richard K & Nancy L Donahue Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Nashua River Watershed Assoc Inc: 54% of income from government
- Cultural Organization of Lowell Inc: 52% of income from government
- Lowell Association for the Blind Inc: 49% of income from government
- Utec Inc: 46% of income from government
- Acre Family Child Care Inc: 45% of income from government
- Lowell Community Health Center Inc: 34% of income from government
- Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell Inc: 27% of income from government
- International Institute of New England Inc: 24% of income from government
- Community Teamwork Inc: 23% of income from government
- United Way of Massachusetts Bay Inc: 23% of income from government
- Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc: 18% of income from government
- The Megan House Foundation Inc: 15% of income from government
- The Lowell Festival Foundation: 12% of income from government
- Angkor Dance Troupe Inc: 10% of income from government
- Mill City Grows Inc: 7% of income from government
- The Lowell General Hospital: 5% of income from government
- Project Learn Inc: 5% of income from government
- Lasell University: 4% of income from government
- Merrimack Valley Food Bank Inc: 3% of income from government
- Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell: 3% of income from government
- New England Quilt Museum Inc: 3% of income from government
- Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc: 2% of income from government
- House of Hope Inc: 1% of income from government
- The Filmmakers Collaborative Inc: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
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