· Private foundation
The Christensen Dunn Early Foundations Fund
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, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| GiveDirectly | $2,000 |
| Catie's Closet | $1,750 |
| More Than Words | $1,750 |
| All Our Kin Inc | $1,000 |
| The BASE | $1,000 |
| Steppingstone Foundation | $1,000 |
| Roca Boston Inc | $1,000 |
| Citizen School | $1,000 |
| Camp Starfish | $1,000 |
| Cradles to Crayons | $1,000 |
| Greater Boston Food Bank | $1,000 |
| Green Mountain Farm-To-School | $1,000 |
| Boston Partners in Education | $1,000 |
| International Institute New England | $1,000 |
| Milton Foundation for Education | $1,000 |
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 (FY20–25, $13k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 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.
22 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
Catie's Closet Inc6× · 2020–2025 · $7k · revenue +14%
STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC6× · 2020–2025 · $6k · revenue +125%
MILTON FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION INC6× · 2020–2025 · $6k · revenue +55%
Funded once
- IIInternational Institute of New Engone grant, 2021 · $1k
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.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.
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…
New england law/boston dedicates itself to preparing students to be successful lawyers and leaders in the public and private sectors through integrated practical, theoretical and ethical education of the highest caliber and to contributing…
The massachusetts business alliance for education (mbae) is committed to excellence, opportunity and innovation in our public education system to prepare all students to engage successfully in a global economy and society.
The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
To inspire excitement for learning, create paths to and through college, and promote careers in education.
Boston after school & beyond, inc. is a public private partnership that pursues a unified after-school and summer learning system that promotes stakeholder alignment, a focus on results, and access to learning opportunities, particularly…
Wentworth institute of technology is a nationally recognized private coeducational and residential university of higher education with a mission to empower, inspire and innovate through experiential learning with a core purpose of career…
The institute for nonprofit practice's mission is to transform communities by equipping the most promising nonprofit leaders with the skills, confidence, and resources they need to make their organizations effective, innovative, and…
The principal intent of the organization is to conduct activities to advance education reform in public schools, including public charter schools. specifically, the organization will engage in activities to support and transform…
The massachusetts alliance for early college (ma4ec) is a cross-sector coalition focused on significantly increasing the number of students with access to high-quality early college in massachusetts to promote college and career success…
How this is measured
20 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. 20 of the 24 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 Catie's Closet Inc ↗
- Who funds STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds MILTON FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds ALL OUR KIN INC ↗
- Who funds CRADLES TO CRAYONS INC ↗
- Who funds GIRLS INC ↗
- Who funds CITIZEN SCHOOLS INC ↗
- Who funds VERMONT FARM-TO-SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds DWIGHT HALL AT YALE ↗
- Who funds CAMP STARFISH INC ↗
- Who funds BOSTON PARTNERS IN EDUCATION INC ↗
- Who funds MORE THAN WORDS INC ↗
- Who funds THE BASEBALL INC ↗
- Who funds GIVEDIRECTLY INC ↗
- Who funds COMMONWEALTH ZOOLOGICAL CORPORATION D/B/A ZOO NEW ENGLAND ↗
- Who funds NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM INC ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND INC ↗
- Who funds SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTER ↗
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: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Christensen Dunn Early Foundations Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Christensen Dunn Early Foundations Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
- More Than Words Inc: 24% of income from government
- International Institute of New England Inc: 24% of income from government
- Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
- Camp Starfish Inc: 18% of income from government
- New England Aquarium Corporation: 12% of income from government
- Citizen Schools Inc: 8% of income from government
- Vermont Farm-to-School Inc: 7% of income from government
- Catie's Closet Inc: 4% of income from government
- Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
- Commonwealth Zoological Corporation D/B/a Zoo New England: 2% of income from government
- The Baseball Inc: 1% of income from government
- All Our Kin Inc: 1% of income from government
- Steppingstone Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Christensen Dunn Early Foundations’ filings →