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The Great Island Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Great Island 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.

$6.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$3.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Environment$10MPhilanthropy$1.8MEducation$846kArts & Culture$660kRecreation & Sports$583kFood & Nutrition$280kPublic Safety & Disaster$96kPublic Benefit$70kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+4 grants · $6.3M
$1,000,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$99M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OCEAN RESEARCH & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION (ORCA)$3,000,000
BLUE FOREST FINANCE INC$1,500,000
NEW VENTURE FUND$1,000,000
THE STICHTING EUROPEAN CLIMATE FOUNDATION$750,000
REWILD$50,000
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.

US giving: 74% of grant dollars ($11M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 26% that went abroad ($3.8M) is mapped below.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–22, $75k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 80% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%ON THE RISE: $5k → 8%THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER: $5k → 20%ON THE RISE: $5k → 8%ON THE RISE: $5k → 8%PINE STREET INN: $5k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $5k → 16%PINE STREET INN: $5k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $5k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $5k → 16%COMMUNITY SERVINGS: $5k → 16%HEIGHTS AND HILLS: $25k → 20%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

NY
MA
IA
PA
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL

Beyond the US: 26% of all-years giving ($3.8M)

2 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Netherlands$3.0M · 4 grants
Canada$750k · 1 grant
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 16% of The Great Island Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Great Island Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 26% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.5M · 28 repeat orgs$5.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.

28 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
48

Total granted

$7.5M
$2.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+29%

Still filing today

82%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.0M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureEnvironmentHuman ServicesCivil RightsFood & NutritionOther
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

  • BF
    BLUE FOREST FINANCE INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $1.9M · revenue +361%
  • TS
    THE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $580k · revenue +156%
  • SA
    SAINT ANN'S SCHOOL
    3× · 2020–2022 · $460k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • ON
    OCEANS NORTH CONSERVATION SOCIETY
    one grant, 2023 · $750k
  • UN
    UNITED NATION FOUNDATION'S CLIMATE ALLIANCE
    one grant, 2021 · $350k
  • TK
    THE KELP FOREST FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $300k
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
City Report Inc

CITY REPORT, INC. serves the people of New York through independent journalism that answers their information needs and holds the powerful to account.

Arts & Culture
3
Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation

Brooklyn bridge park corporation's mission, d/b/a brooklyn bridge park ("bbp") mission is to provide an exceptional public space that connects people, nature, and the waterfront, through inclusive, innovative, and sustainable management…

Recreation & Sports
4
Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp

To manage the brooklyn navy yard for the city of new york, specifically to expand job opportunities for new yorkers by fostering the development of small businesses.

Community Improvement
5
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
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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.

Education
7
Ceres Inc

Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient world. through education and research, we make the business case for action on the most pressing sustainability…

Environment
8
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
9
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
10
Natural Areas Conservancy Inc

The natural areas conservancy champions urban natural areas in new york city and across the nation through innovative research, partnerships, and advocacy. we increase the health and resilience of urban forests and wetlands, catalyze…

Environment
11
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
12
United States Naval Institute

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.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Brooklyn Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Mount Auburn Hospital. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

63 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. 63 of the 81 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
63/63
Grantees still filing
53/63
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OCEAN RESEARCH & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $3,000,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN RESEARCH & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INCBLUE FOREST FINANCE INC: $1,950,000 · EnvironmentBLUE FOREST FINANCE INCNEW VENTURE FUND: $1,500,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE FUNDNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $275,000 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Environment+2 more: $106,000 · EnvironmentTHE STICHTING EUROPEAN CLIMATE FOUNDATION: $2,750,000 · OtherTHE STICHTING EUROPEAN CLIMATE FOUNDATIONOCEANS NORTH CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $750,000 · OtherOCEANS NORTH CONSERVATION SOCIETYTHE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER INC: $580,000 · OtherTHE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER …UNITED NATION FOUNDATION'S CLIMATE ALLIANCE: $350,000 · OtherUNITED NATION FOUNDATION'S CLIMATE ALLIANCETHE KELP FOREST FOUNDATION: $300,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $250,000 · Other+42 more: $671,500 · Other+42 moreSAINT ANN'S SCHOOL: $460,000 · EducationKASIISI PROJECT INC: $186,000 · EducationCAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION: $75,000 · EducationBROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY: $30,000 · Education+7 more: $50,000 · EducationSTORM KING ART CENTER: $350,000 · Arts & CultureTHE ISAMU NOGUCHI FOUNDATION AND GARDEN MUSEUM: $162,500 · Arts & CultureDISCALCED INC: $60,000 · Arts & CultureNATIVE RENEWABLES INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureTHEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE INC: $35,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $27,000 · Arts & CultureBROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $206,000 · PhilanthropyFUND FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK INC: $35,000 · PhilanthropyCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyREWILD: $150,000 · AnimalsFOOD LINK INC: $75,000 · Food & NutritionTHE FAMILY PANTRY OF CAPE COD CORP: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Environment$7,081,000Other$5,651,500Education$801,000Arts & Culture$684,500Philanthropy$266,000Animals$150,000Food & Nutrition$85,000

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 budgetBLUE FOREST FINANCE INC: $1,950,000 over 4y, 17% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $1,500,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER INC: $580,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetSAINT ANN'S SCHOOL: $460,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSTORM KING ART CENTER: $350,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $275,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $206,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetKASIISI PROJECT INC: $186,000 over 3y, 20% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $175,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ISAMU NOGUCHI FOUNDATION AND GARDEN MUSEUM: $162,500 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetREWILD: $150,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLAND CORE: $100,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetCAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION: $75,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetFOOD LINK INC: $75,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDISCALCED INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNATIVE RENEWABLES INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetURBAN ASSOCIATION OF FORESTRY AND FIRE PROFESSIONALS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetTHEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE INC: $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFUND FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEIGHTS & HILLS INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetEDVESTORS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetON THE RISE INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPINE STREET INN INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetColorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalit: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA VOICE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget564 PARK AVENUE PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE FAMILY PANTRY OF CAPE COD CORP: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIOWA CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEVERY CAMPUS A REFUGE: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetDemocracy North Carolina: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBROOKLYN COMMUNITY BAIL FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBEACON ACADEMY INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHARLES RIVER CONSERVANCY INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSEACHANGE CAPITAL PARTNERS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCORA INCORPORATED: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREAD 718 INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCOMMON JUSTICE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 IncThe White Cedar Fund …The Jm Kaplan Fund IncThe New York Communit…Combined Jewish Phila…Eastern Bank Foundati…Brooklyn Community Fo…Alchemy FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…Gs Donor Advised Phil…ImpactassetsincBny Mellon Charitable…
Boston Foundation IncMA35.3× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · The White Cedar Fund Formerly Nolen Bradley Family Fund · The Jm Kaplan Fund Inc · The New York Community Trust · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Brooklyn Community Foundation · Alchemy Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Impactassetsinc · Bny Mellon Charitable Gift Fund

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 Great Island Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Great Island Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
  • On the Rise Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Community Servings Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Pine Street Inn Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Food Link Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Mount Auburn Hospital: 5% of income from government
  • Community Rowing Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Beacon Academy Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Edvestors Inc: 1% of income from government
  • The Fessenden School: 0% of income from government
  • Buckingham Browne & Nichols School: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
17report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 Great Island Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Great Island 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 81 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Great Island’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