How much does Riff Foundation give?

Riff Foundation reported 60 grants totaling $4,240,000 in its FY2020 IRS filing. It funded between 16 and 53 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2020.

What does Riff Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2023, its largest causes are Philanthropy (84%), Civil Rights (6%), Crime & Legal (2%).

Who are Riff Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2018 to FY2023: Community Initiatives ($250k), Grassroots International Inc ($250k), Thousand Currents ($250k).

Does Riff Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2020, 85% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does Riff Foundation accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

Which funders back the same organizations as Riff Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc, Tides Foundation, Proteus Fund Inc.

Where is Riff Foundation based?

Riff Foundation is based in MA.

Foundation Dossiers

Massachusetts · Private foundation

Riff 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.

$4.2M
Granted FY2020: 60
Grants FY2020: 53
Organizations funded FY2020: 85%
First-time grantees FY2020

Read the full brief

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Riff Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Riff Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 46 organizations, $4M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

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Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

Median grant, FY2020: $75,000
Largest grant, FY2020: $250,000
Organizations funded a year: 16 to 53; FY2018 to FY2020
States reached, FY2020: 21
Total assets, FY2020: $32M
Applications: Preselected organizations only; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2020, 85% of the organizations Riff Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 81% of its grant dollars.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2020	53	$4.2M	85%
FY2018	16	$1.2M	n/a

96% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Philanthropy$27MCivil Rights$2.1MCrime & Legal$575kCommunity Improvement$565kInternational$500kEmployment$300kHuman Services$195kEnvironment$160kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2023, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Community Initiatives	$250,000	2	0%
Grassroots International Inc	$250,000	1	2%
Thousand Currents	$250,000	1	0%
Essie Justice Group	$200,000	2	3%
Voces de la Frontera Inc	$200,000	2	11%
Initiate Justice	$170,000	2	7%
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women	$150,000	2	9%
NEO Philanthropy Inc	$150,000	1	0%
Mijente Support Committee	$150,000	2	1%
Native Movement	$150,000	2	6%

Show all 50 grantees

All grantees of Riff Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Community Initiatives	$250,000	2	0%
Grassroots International Inc	$250,000	1	2%
Thousand Currents	$250,000	1	0%
Essie Justice Group	$200,000	2	3%
Voces de la Frontera Inc	$200,000	2	11%
Initiate Justice	$170,000	2	7%
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women	$150,000	2	9%
NEO Philanthropy Inc	$150,000	1	0%
Mijente Support Committee	$150,000	2	1%
Native Movement	$150,000	2	6%
Ndn Collective Inc	$110,000	1	0%
Alliance for Global Justice Corp	$110,000	1	2%
Highlander Research & Education Center Inc	$100,000	1	0%
Mujeres Unidas y Activas	$100,000	1	1%
Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota	$100,000	1	6%
Transgender Law Center	$100,000	1	1%
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights Inc	$100,000	1	7%
Grassroots Global Justice	$100,000	1	2%
Indigenous Environmental Network	$100,000	1	3%
St James Infirmary	$100,000	1	3%
Southerners on New Ground Inc	$100,000	1	1%
DRUM Desis Rising Up and Moving Inc	$100,000	1	5%
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En Lucha	$100,000	1	4%
Demos a Network for Ideas and Action Ltd	$100,000	1	1%
Florida Immigrant Coalition Inc	$100,000	1	2%
Farmworker Association of Florida Inc	$85,000	1	7%
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc	$75,000	1	0%
Tewa Women United	$75,000	1	3%
Familia Trans Queer Liberation Movement	$75,000	1	n/a
Youth United for Change	$70,000	1	n/a
Affect Real Change Inc	$70,000	1	n/a
Juntos	$70,000	1	10%
Chinese Progressive Association	$50,000	1	1%
HEART Women & Girls	$50,000	1	6%
Southeastern Transgender Resource	$50,000	1	n/a
United Workers Association Inc	$50,000	1	3%
Inquiring Systems Inc	$50,000	1	1%
Equality Arizona	$20,000	1	7%
Migrant Justice Inc	$20,000	1	2%
Poder in Action	$20,000	1	1%
Soul Sisters Leadership Collective Inc	$20,000	1	n/a
Lawyers for Good Government Inc	$20,000	1	1%
Ubuntu Village Nola	$20,000	1	5%
Love Me Without Limited 4 Life	$20,000	1	n/a
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges Inc	$10,000	1	3%
Men & Women in Prison Ministries	$10,000	1	1%
Indigenous Rights Center	$10,000	1	7%
The Black Swan Academy Inc	$10,000	1	2%
Stewardship Utah Foundation	$10,000	1	0%
African Communities Together Inc	$10,000	1	0%

Plus 13 recipients with no EIN on record ($960k), not named here.

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Riff Foundation supplied at peak.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 44.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC51.9× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · Proteus Fund Inc · New Venture Fund · Common Counsel Foundation · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Impactassetsinc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Groundswell Fund · Tides Center · Solidaire Network Inc · Novo Foundation

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.

Compare Riff Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Riff Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Riff 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.

About Riff Foundation

How much does Riff Foundation give?: Riff Foundation reported 60 grants totaling $4,240,000 in its FY2020 IRS filing. It funded between 16 and 53 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2020.
What does Riff Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2023, its largest causes are Philanthropy (84%), Civil Rights (6%), Crime & Legal (2%).
Who are Riff Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2018 to FY2023: Community Initiatives ($250k), Grassroots International Inc ($250k), Thousand Currents ($250k).
Does Riff Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2020, 85% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Riff Foundation accept unsolicited applications?: Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as Riff Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc, Tides Foundation, Proteus Fund Inc.
Where is Riff Foundation based?: Riff Foundation is based in MA.