How much did THE BOSTON CAPITAL FOUNDATION grant in FY2019?

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 55% of THE BOSTON CAPITAL FOUNDATION’s grantee dollars go to organizations outside the IRS cause taxonomy (common for large international and research funders), so a chart would be mostly “unclassified” and misrepresent the portfolio.

03FY2019 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2019

Under $10k32 grants · $86k
$10k–50k4 grants · $67k

$2,500

Median grant

States reached

$2k

Total assets

Largest grants

JOHN F KENNEDY LIBRARY FOUNDATION$23,560
FAMILY AID BOSTON$21,250
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS$12,140
COMPASS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING$10,000
THE COMMUNITY BUILDERS$9,650
MGH ASPIRE$8,800
BOSTON CARES HANDS AT WORK$7,500
ALLIANCE FOR BUSINESS LEADERSHIP$5,000
YMCA OF THE NORTH SHORE$5,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF LAWRENCE$5,000
BOSTON UNIVERSITY$5,000
LIFESTEPS$5,000
CHINATOWN CDC$4,850
NORTH SHORE CDC$4,340
CARITAS COMMUNITIES INC$2,600

02The need

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.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–19, $9k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11% — the area typically sits at 11%. 40% of those dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

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, United Way ALICE — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge

repeat funding

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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.

$308k · 22 repeat orgs$104k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships — 17 still active in FY2019, 5 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

Total granted

$308k

$50k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%

+60%

Still filing today

55%

44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $54k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Housing & ShelterHuman ServicesEducationHealthFood & NutritionCommunity ImprovementOther

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

TC
THE COMMUNITY BUILDERS
3× · 2017–2019 · $24k · revenue +20%
L
LIFESTEPS
3× · 2017–2019 · $15k · revenue +2%
THE ALLIANCE FOR BUSINESS LEADERSHIP
3× · 2017–2019 · $15k · revenue +38%

Funded once

EM
EDWARD M KENNEDY INSTITUTE FOR THE UNITED STATE SENATE INC
one grant, 2017 · $23k
LAWRENCE BOYS & GIRLS CLUBgraduated
one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +52%
HH
HOUSTON HUMANE SOCIETY (HURRICANE HARVEY RELIEF)
one grant, 2017 · $3k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

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 Boston Home Inc

To improve the lives of adults with advanced multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders.

Health

Massachusetts Affordable Housing

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

Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership

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

Massachusetts Fair Housing Center Inc

Mfhc is committed to ending systemic housing discrimination and creating inclusive communities through education, outreach, advocacy, housing counseling and enforcement.

Housing & Shelter

Massachusetts Housing Investment

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

Boston Public Housing Corporation

To engage in activities consistent with the mission of the boston housing authority.

Housing & Shelter

Greater Boston Real Estate Board

Grants to charitable 501(c) organizations whose activities are conducted in the Greater Boston area.

Human Services

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

Lowell Area Housing Inc

—

Southwest Boston Community Development

The southwest boston community development corporation is led by principles of racial equity and inclusion, to alleviate social and economic disparities that impact people's quality of life and future opportunities. it shall be led by and…

Community Improvement

Historic Boston Incorporated

—

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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Massachusetts Coalition for the and the most unlike its peers is John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 41 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) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund

3%1/34

the rest of the field

10%

4,108/42,324

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.

05the grantee network

34 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

32/34

Grantees still filing

31/34

Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Other$234,894Education$91,420Housing & Shelter$41,090Health$15,601Social Science$15,000Human Services$9,000Youth Development$5,000

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.

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.

Eastern Bank FoundationMA32.4× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Arbella Insurance Foundation · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · The Hamilton Company Charitable · Suffolk Cares Charitable Foundation · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall · Highland Street Connection · Cambridge Savings Charitable

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 organisation THE BOSTON CAPITAL 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.

2025

’20’21’22’23’24’25

no gov moneyreceives it· size = income

2get no government money at all

0rely on government for over half their income

typical government reliance, FY20–25

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. 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.

05Through Plinth

Through Plinth

Your grantmaking, live and operational

This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: THE ALLIANCE FOR BUSINESS LEADERSHIP.

Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk

Financial management

high risk

~3 months of operating runway; revenue grew over 6 filed years.

Track record & reputation

high risk

6 years of Form 990 filings, no recent filing.

Legal standing

medium risk

US 501(c)(3); EIN 260847220 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.

Governance

Live in Plinth

Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.

Compliance & sanctions

Live in Plinth

OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.

Program capacity

Live in Plinth

Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.

Live · Plinth’s real DD engine

Run the actual assessment on THE ALLIANCE FOR BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, cold from public data.

Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.

Post-award monitoring · continuous checks

FlagFinancial stability— Roughly 3 months of cash on hand.
FlagSustained operations— No recent filing on record.
On trackReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 2% of their budget — diversified.
Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.

What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.

Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing

Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro

How do I get to The Boston Capital Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Boston Capital Foundation through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.

Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.

THE BOSTON CAPITAL FOUNDATION

What you funded, over time

Where the money goes

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Who you back again

Backed again, and grew

Funded once

34 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.

Government reliance of your grantees

Your grantmaking, live and operational

How do I get to The Boston Capital Foundation?

More from the funding graph

THE BOSTON CAPITAL FOUNDATION

What you funded, over time

Where the money goes

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Who you back again

Backed again, and grew

Funded once

34 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.

Government reliance of your grantees

Your grantmaking, live and operational

How do I get to The Boston Capital Foundation?

More from the funding graph