· Private foundation
The Ajana 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.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k2 grants · $90k
- $50k–250k15 grants · $1.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE URBAN FOOD INITIATIVE DBA DAILY TABLE | $150,000 |
| URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE | $130,000 |
| TRUSTEES OF TUFTS | $130,000 |
| HARVARD LAW SCHOOL FOOD LAW & POLICY CLINIC | $125,000 |
| GREEN CITY FORCE | $105,000 |
| THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND FBO MASSACHUSETTS FOOD SYSTEM COLLABORATIVE | $100,000 |
| REFED | $100,000 |
| BOSTON AREA GLEANERS | $100,000 |
| COMMONWEALTH KITCHEN | $100,000 |
| HALEY HOUSE | $100,000 |
| THE FOOD PROJECT | $100,000 |
| THE BHUTAN FOUNDATION | $100,000 |
| LOVIN' SPOONFULS INC | $100,000 |
| WORLD FARMERS | $50,000 |
| MASHPEE WAMPANOAG TRIBE | $50,000 |
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 (FY17–24, $276k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% 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.
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 +68% since the first grant, against +25% for the ones you funded once.
59 repeat relationships — 17 still active in FY2024, 42 since wound down.
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 FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
- RIREFED INC5× · 2019–2024 · $600k · revenue +202%
- TBThe Bhutan Foundation8× · 2017–2024 · $591k · revenue +141%
THE URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE OF BOSTONINC5× · 2019–2024 · $540k · revenue +361%
Funded once
THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INCone grant, 2021 · $85k · revenue +14%- PAPRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE - CENTERone grant, 2021 · $75k
YMCA OF THE NORTH SHORE INCone grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +23%
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.
The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.
The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…
Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…
To drive transformational adaptation to protect communities across the country from higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.
Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.
The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.
Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.
To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.
Improve the food value chain in developing countries by mobilizing corporate volunteers to share knowledge and expertise with small and growing food processors.
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…
The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…
Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Evidence Action and the most unlike its peers is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc. 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 31 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 11% 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.
154 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. 154 of the 171 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
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 REFED INC ↗
- Who funds The Bhutan Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE OF BOSTONINC ↗
- Who funds SPOONFULS ↗
- Who funds COMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC ↗
- Who funds BOSTON AREA GLEANERS INC ↗
- Who funds The Food Project Inc ↗
- Who funds HALEY HOUSE INC & AFFILIATES ↗
- Who funds GREEN CITY FORCE INC ↗
- Who funds THE URBAN FOOD INITIATIVE INC ↗
- Who funds NEW VENTURE FUND ↗
- Who funds WORLD FARMERS INC ↗
- Who funds EQUITY ADVOCATES INC ↗
- Who funds THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC ↗
- Who funds Stone Barns Restoration Corp DBA Stone Barns Center for Food & Agri ↗
- Who funds FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
- Who funds YMCA OF THE NORTH SHORE INC ↗
- Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
- Who funds Community Foundation for MetroWest Inc ↗
- Who funds TREES THAT FEED FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ↗
- Who funds GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds HOPE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds Evanston Community Foundation ↗
- Who funds WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION ↗
- Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds CARITAS OF AUSTIN ↗
- Who funds FOUNDATION FOR THE HOMELESS INC ↗
- Who funds ISLAND FOOD PANTRY OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD INC ↗
- Who funds STEM ALLIANCE OF LARCHMONT- MAMARONECK INC ↗
- Who funds SEND IT ↗
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 · Patagoniaorg · Eastern Bank Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · The Cabot Family Charitable Trust · Impactassetsinc · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · The Lazard Charitable Foundation · The New York Community Trust · The 1434 Foundation Inc · Merck Family Fund
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 The Ajana 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.
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution — 63% of income from government
- World Farmers Inc — 39% of income from government
- Rize Massachusetts Foundation Inc — 39% of income from government
- Bridge Over Troubled Waters Inc — 32% of income from government
- Center for Coastal Studies Inc — 26% of income from government
- More Than Words Inc — 24% of income from government
- Franklin County Community Development Corporation — 22% of income from government
- Greater Boston Food Bank Inc — 22% of income from government
- Boston Area Gleaners Inc — 20% of income from government
- City Year Inc — 11% of income from government
- Sibling Connections Inc — 10% of income from government
- Preservation Worcester Inc — 10% of income from government
- Commonwealth Kitchen Inc — 9% of income from government
- School On Wheels of Massachusetts Inc — 7% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College — 7% of income from government
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc — 7% of income from government
- Ymca of the North Shore Inc — 6% of income from government
- Friday Night Supper Program Inc — 5% of income from government
- Gaining Ground Inc — 5% of income from government
- The Urban Farming Institute of Bostoninc — 4% of income from government
- Community Foundation for MetroWest Inc — 4% of income from government
- Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake Inc — 4% of income from government
- Third Sector New England Inc — 3% of income from government
- Cradles to Crayons Inc — 2% of income from government
- Artists for Humanity Inc — 2% of income from government
- One Family Inc — 1% of income from government
- Rosie's Place Inc — 0% of income from government
- Animal Rescue League of Boston — 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 The Ajana Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Ajana 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.