Skip to content
The Elsie Procter Van Buren Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Elsie Procter Van Buren 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.

$298k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Philanthropy$3.7MFood & Nutrition$1.0MCivil Rights$468kEnvironment$425kInternational$425kPublic Benefit$390kCrime & Legal$248kReligion$191kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $295k
$15,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$3.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GIVE DIRECTLY$30,000
FEEDING AMERICA$30,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$30,000
TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE-CTR FOR EXPDG VIEWPOINTS$25,000
MASS INC$25,000
THE GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK$20,000
VERMONT FOOD BANK$20,000
RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK$20,000
ATRIUM SCHOOL ATRIUM FUND$15,000
JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF AMERICA$15,000
NORTHEAST WILDERNESS TRUST CORP$15,000
EVERYDAY BOSTON$10,000
NEW BEDFORD LIGHT$10,000
BUZZARDS BAY COALITION$10,000
COMBINED JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES$10,000
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 (FY18–22, $135k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 81% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 10%CHARITY NAVIGATOR: $10k → 7%MASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 10%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $10k → 14%MASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 10%DELIVERING GOOD: $10k → 17%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $5k → 14%MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $5k → 14%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $10k → 16%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 16%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $20k → 17%MASSACHUSETTS HOUSING AND SHELTER ALLIANCE: $10k → 16%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $10k → 17%MASSACHUSETTS HOUSING AND SHELTER ALLIANCE: $5k → 16%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $10k → 17%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $5k → 17%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $5k → 17%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

VT
NH
MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
NE
VA
MD
DC
OK
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

41%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.2M · 59 repeat orgs$4.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +61% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

59 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 51 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

59
60

Total granted

$3.2M
$4.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+61%
+25%

Still filing today

81%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $103k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalEnvironmentCivil RightsHuman ServicesFood & NutritionArts & CultureOther
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

  • Feeding America
    6× · 2019–2025 · $300k · revenue +77%
  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    5× · 2020–2025 · $155k · revenue +21%
  • GB
    GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $155k · revenue +84%

Funded once

  • CP
    CATHERINE & PHIL BYE'S DONOR ADVISED FUND
    one grant, 2022 · $3.7M
  • GG
    Ground Game Fund
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -56%
  • DE
    DOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +7%
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
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
2
Actionaid Usa

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…

Social Science
3
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
4
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
5
Open Markets Institute

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.

Education
6
Friends of the Earth

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…

Environment
7
Food Forward Inc

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.

Food & Nutrition
8
Conservation Law Foundation Inc

Conservation law foundation, inc. (clf) protects new england's environment for the benefit of all people and future generations. we use the law, science, and markets to create solutions that preserve and restore our natural resources,…

Environment
9
Waterorg

Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.

International
10
The Global FoodBanking Network

To nourish the world's hungry through uniting and advancing food banks.

International
11
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
12
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

Iatp works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Delivering Good Inc; the most unlike its peers is Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation. 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

93 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 93 of the 129 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
92/93
Grantees still filing
71/93
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CATHERINE & PHIL BYE'S DONOR ADVISED FUND: $3,682,871 · OtherCATHERINE & PHIL BYE'S DONOR ADVISED FUND+71 more: $1,769,500 · Other+71 moreFeeding America: $300,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding A…RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION: $130,000 · Food & NutritionRHODE ISL…CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC: $75,000 · Food & NutritionCAPITAL A…CITY HARVEST INC: $60,000 · Food & NutritionCITY HARV…VERMONT FOODBANK: $30,000 · Food & Nutrition+3 more: $45,000 · Food & Nutrition+3 moreWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $155,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC: $60,000 · InternationalFEED THE CHILDREN INC: $57,500 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL RELIEF TEAMS: $45,000 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $30,000 · InternationalUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $25,000 · InternationalALIGHT: $25,000 · InternationalOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $20,000 · InternationalDIRECT RELIEF: $20,000 · International+7 more: $60,000 · InternationalREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $115,000 · Civil RightsNATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION: $115,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $70,000 · Civil RightsNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $60,000 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: $50,000 · Civil RightsEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $40,000 · Civil Rights+4 more: $45,000 · Civil RightsENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $135,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICE: $40,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $30,000 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $20,000 · EnvironmentNORTHEAST WILDERNESS TRUST CORPORATION: $15,000 · Environment+6 more: $45,000 · EnvironmentOPPORTUNITY FINANCE NETWORK: $140,000 · Public BenefitGround Game Fund: $100,000 · Public BenefitGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $65,000 · Human ServicesTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesMIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $20,000 · Human ServicesMASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesMASSACHUSETTS HOUSING & SHELTER ALLIANCE: $15,000 · Human ServicesBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesDELIVERING GOOD INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesWAYPOINT: $10,000 · Human ServicesCharity Navigator: $10,000 · Human Services
Other$5,452,371Food & Nutrition$640,000International$497,500Civil Rights$495,000Environment$305,000Public Benefit$240,000Human Services$210,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFeeding America: $300,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $155,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $155,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetOPPORTUNITY FINANCE NETWORK: $140,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $135,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION: $130,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $115,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION: $115,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetGround Game Fund: $100,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetCAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $70,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $70,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARYLAND FOOD BANK INC: $70,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDC Greens Inc: $65,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetEveryday Boston Inc: $65,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $65,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCITY HARVEST INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $60,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFEED THE CHILDREN INC: $57,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL RELIEF TEAMS: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRIDESHARE 2 VOTE AWARE: $45,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $37,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetVERMONT FOODBANK: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCORRECTIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK: $30,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetLAWYERS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT INC: $30,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALIGHT: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE FOR A NEW COMMONWEALTH INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNational Education Opportunity Network Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMIRIAM'S KITCHEN: $20,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBREAD FOR THE CITY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSPOONFULS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCOALITION FOR DC REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS EDUCATION FUND: $20,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Boston Foundation IncEastern Bank Foundati…Amalgamated Charitabl…Silicon Valley Commun…ImpactassetsincJewish Communal FundAmerican Tower Corpor…National Philanthropi…Greater Washington Co…New Venture FundTides FoundationThe Robert Wood Johns…
Boston Foundation IncMA21.5× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Jewish Communal Fund · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Greater Washington Community Foundation · New Venture Fund · Tides Foundation · The Robert Wood Johnson 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Elsie Procter Van Buren Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Elsie Procter Van Buren Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 100%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
  • Buzzards Bay Coalition: 37% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Vermont Foodbank: 13% of income from government
  • New England Innocence Project: 12% of income from government
  • The Maryland Food Bank Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Northeast Wilderness Trust Corporation: 2% of income from government
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Feed the Children Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Documentary Educational Resources Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
  • Global Empowerment Mission Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
10get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Elsie Procter Van Buren Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Elsie Procter Van Buren 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.

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 129 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 Elsie Procter Van Buren’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