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Ruby W and Lavon P Linn Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ruby W and Lavon P Linn 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.

$2.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$949k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$3.8MHousing & Shelter$3.7MFood & Nutrition$2.1MHealth$2.0MPhilanthropy$1.3MArts & Culture$1.3MHuman Services$1.3MScience & Tech$700kOther$0
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $558k
  • $250k+5 grants · $2.0M
$208,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$69M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Northeastern University$949,399
Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center$350,000
Caritas Communities$250,000
USS Constitution Museum$250,000
St Francis House$250,000
Plimoth Patuxent Museums$208,000
Mount Vernon Ladies Association$100,000
Veterans Association of Bristol County$100,000
Lazarus House Ministries$100,000
The Home for Little Wanderers$50,000
Perkins School for the Blind$40,000
Community Systems$20,000
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 (FY20–25, $1.5M) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% 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 Systems: $20k → 8%Pine Street Inn: $350k → 16%Pine Street Inn: $275k → 16%Pine Street Inn: $225k → 16%Pine Street Inn: $150k → 16%The Home for Little Wanderers: $50k → 16%St Francis House: $250k → 16%Rogerson Communities: $153k → 16%St Francis House: $50k → 16%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

NH
NY
MA
RI
CA
VA
MD
SC
TX
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.

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 22 repeat orgs$4.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.

22 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
32

Total granted

$12M
$4.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+2%

Still filing today

86%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $770k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CulturePublic BenefitHuman ServicesFood & NutritionHealthOther
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

  • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2022–2025 · $3.2M · revenue +32%
  • GB
    GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +1%
  • PINE STREET INN INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $1.0M · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • MG
    Massachusetts General Hospital
    one grant, 2023 · $734k
  • LI
    LEO Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $300k
  • SM
    St Mary's Center for Women & Children Incgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $250k · revenue +33%
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 Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
2
Brighton Marine Inc

Brighton marine, inc. provides military and veteran families with comprehensive campus-based quality health care, as well as affordable and supportive housing for at-risk veterans and their families.

Health
3
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.

—
4
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
5
Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership Inc D/B/a Metro Housing Boston

Metro housing boston mobilizes wide-ranging resources to provide innovative and personalized services that lead families and individuals to housing stability, economic security, and an improved quality of life.

Housing & Shelter
6
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance Inc

Maha breaks down barriers facing first-time and first-generation home buyers and owners through education, counseling, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.

Housing & Shelter
7
Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation

Mhic's mission is to be an innovative private financier of afforable housing and community development throughout new england, providing financing that would not otherwise be available, and extending the impact of that financing to ensure…

Housing & Shelter
8
Neighborhealth Corporation

Neighborhealth's mission is to promote and sustain healthy communities, families, and individuals by providing accessible, person-centered, and compassionate, high-quality health care services to all who live and work in our service area,…

Health
9
Massachusetts Council of Human Services Providers Inc

To advance the interests of the human services sector and providers through advocacy, education, and engagement of diverse stakeholders for collective impact.

—
10
Massachusetts Business Roundtable Inc

The mission of the roundtable is to make massachusetts the most desirable place to live, work and do business by engaging private sector executives and public leaders to ensure access to a robust, diverse and talented workforce that…

—
11
Mass General Brigham Health Plan Inc

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.

Health
12
United Way of Greater New Bedford Inc

Our mission is to mobilize people, partnerships and resources to catalyze change that strengthens the communities served.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Veterans Legal Services Inc; the most unlike its peers is United Way of Massachusetts Bay 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

49 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. 49 of the 60 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
48/49
Grantees still filing
27/49
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $1,380,671 · OtherGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INCMassachusetts General Hospital: $733,600 · OtherMassachusetts General HospitalLinn Health & Rehabilition: $403,770 · OtherLinn Health & RehabilitionFAMILYAID BOSTON INC: $325,000 · OtherLEO Inc: $300,000 · OtherSt Mary's Center for Women & Children Inc: $250,000 · OtherYMCA of Metro North: $250,000 · OtherBOSTONIAN SOCIETY INC: $250,000 · OtherMount Vernon Ladies Association: $225,000 · OtherBOSTON AREA GLEANERS INC: $250,000 · OtherWOMEN IN MILITARY SERVICE FOR AMERICA MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 · OtherCLEAR PATH FOR VETERANS NEW ENGLAND INC: $241,890 · Other+22 more: $1,861,877 · Other+22 moreNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $3,166,564 · EducationNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITYPERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND: $290,000 · EducationPERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE B…BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FUND INC: $171,570 · Education+3 more: $175,000 · EducationVIETNAM VETERANS WORKSHOP INC DBA NEW ENGLAND CENTER AND HOME FOR VETERANS: $800,000 · Housing & ShelterVIETNAM VETE…CARITAS COMMUNITIES INC: $735,293 · Housing & ShelterCARITAS COMM…LAZARUS HOUSE INC: $300,000 · Housing & ShelterLAZARUS HOUS…COALITION FOR A BETTER ACRE INC: $95,000 · Housing & ShelterMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $700,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF…PLIMOTH PATUXET MUSEUMS INC: $358,000 · Arts & CulturePLIMOTH P…USS CONSTITUTION MUSEUM INC: $250,000 · Arts & CultureUSS CONST…SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGL: $176,000 · Arts & CultureSOCIETY F…+1 more: $50,000 · Arts & CulturePINE STREET INN INC: $1,000,000 · Human ServicesPINE STRE…SAINT FRANCIS HOUSE INC: $300,000 · Human ServicesSAINT FRA…ROGERSON COMMUNITIES INC: $152,700 · Human ServicesROGERSON …+2 more: $70,000 · Human ServicesUnited Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc: $825,000 · PhilanthropyBoston Foundation Inc: $500,000 · PhilanthropyALDERSBRIDGE COMMUNITIES (F/K/A UNITED METHODIST ELDER CARE): $415,505 · HealthHARVARD STREET NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CENTER INC: $350,000 · HealthBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION: $75,000 · Health+1 more: $3,671 · Health
Other$6,721,808Education$3,803,134Housing & Shelter$1,930,293Arts & Culture$1,534,000Human Services$1,522,700Philanthropy$1,325,000Health$844,176

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $3,166,564 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $1,380,671 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetPINE STREET INN INC: $1,000,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetUnited Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc: $825,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetVIETNAM VETERANS WORKSHOP INC DBA NEW ENGLAND CENTER AND HOME FOR VETERANS: $800,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetCARITAS COMMUNITIES INC: $735,293 over 4y, 5.2% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $700,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $500,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetALDERSBRIDGE COMMUNITIES (F/K/A UNITED METHODIST ELDER CARE): $415,505 over 2y, 10% of budgetPLIMOTH PATUXET MUSEUMS INC: $358,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetHARVARD STREET NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CENTER INC: $350,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetFAMILYAID BOSTON INC: $325,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetSAINT FRANCIS HOUSE INC: $300,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetLAZARUS HOUSE INC: $300,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetPERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND: $290,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSt Mary's Center for Women & Children Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetUSS CONSTITUTION MUSEUM INC: $250,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetBOSTON AREA GLEANERS INC: $250,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetWOMEN IN MILITARY SERVICE FOR AMERICA MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetCLEAR PATH FOR VETERANS NEW ENGLAND INC: $241,890 over 2y, 13% of budgetTHE URBAN FOOD INITIATIVE INC: $200,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetFISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPROJECT BREAD-THE WALK FOR HUNGER INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGL: $176,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetBOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FUND INC: $171,570 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetROGERSON COMMUNITIES INC: $152,700 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetWright Tavern Legacy Trust: $130,000 over 1y, 55% of budgetPETER FANEUIL DEVELOPMENT GROUP INC: $108,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetSIMMONS UNIVERSITY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVETERANS LEGAL SERVICES INC: $100,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetVETERANS ASSOCIATION OF BRISTOL COUNTY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetNUESTRA COMUNIDAD DEVELOPMENT CORP: $100,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCOALITION FOR A BETTER ACRE INC: $95,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetGREATER LAWRENCE COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOUR BLOCK FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCongressional Medal of Honor Society of the United States of America: $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetTHE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPORTSMOUTH SUBMARINE & MARITIME ASSOCIATION: $50,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetCHILDRENS CENTER FOR COMMUNICATION INC BEVERLY SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetVALOR RANCH: $45,600 over 1y, 34% of budgetBREAD OF LIFE INC: $40,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetBREAD & ROSES INC: $40,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetTHE OPEN DOOR CAPE ANN FOOD PANTRY INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOPERATION GRATITUDE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY SYSTEMS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOWELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND INC: $3,671 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

Eastern Bank Foundati…Boston Foundation IncHighland Street Conne…Cambridge Savings Cha…Amelia Peabody Charit…Yawkey Foundation IILiberty Mutual Founda…Cummings Foundation G…The Hamilton Company …Salem Five Charitable…Fidelity FoundationUnited Way Of Massach…
Eastern Bank FoundationMA34.1× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · Highland Street Connection and Subsidiaries · Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation Inc · Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund Trust · Yawkey Foundation II · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Foundation · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay 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 Ruby W and Lavon P Linn Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ruby W and Lavon P Linn Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 15%
  • Wright Tavern Legacy Trust: 100% of income from government
  • Community Systems Inc: 92% of income from government
  • Vietnam Veterans Workshop Inc Dba New England Center and Home for Veterans: 66% of income from government
  • Clear Path for Veterans New England Inc: 62% of income from government
  • Lowell Association for the Blind Inc: 49% of income from government
  • St Mary's Center for Women & Children Inc: 40% of income from government
  • The Home for Little Wanderers Inc: 38% of income from government
  • United Way of Massachusetts Bay Inc: 23% of income from government
  • Boston Medical Center Corporation: 23% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Boston Area Gleaners Inc: 20% of income from government
  • Saint Francis House Inc: 18% of income from government
  • Uss Constitution Museum Inc: 17% of income from government
  • Veterans Legal Services Inc: 16% of income from government
  • Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Inc: 15% of income from government
  • Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Pine Street Inn Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Perkins School for the Blind: 7% of income from government
  • Rogerson Communities Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Bread of Life Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Familyaid Boston Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Society for the Preservation of New Engl: 2% of income from government
  • Plimoth Patuxet Museums Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Simmons University: 1% of income from government
  • Lazarus House Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
  • Childrens Center for Communication Inc Beverly School for the Deaf: 0% of income from government
  • Steppingstone Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
4rely on government for over half their income
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.

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 60 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Ruby W and Lavon P Linn’s 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