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· Private foundation

The Jack and Kathy Shields Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$113k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202025.

Youth Development$989kFood & Nutrition$942kEducation$927kHuman Services$769kHousing & Shelter$471kHealth$375kEnvironment$260kEmployment$100kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $51k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $364k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $601k
$35,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$11M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC$112,800
THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT$100,000
SCHOOL ON WHEELS OF MASSACHUSETTS INC$75,000
BULLARD FAMILY FOUNDATION$62,500
STARTING RIGHT NOW$50,750
SURIVOR VENTURES$50,000
HOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC$50,000
FATHER BILLS & MAINSPRING INC$50,000
LOVIN SPOONFULS INC$50,000
CHARITY GUILD INC$40,000
TAMPA BAY WATCH$40,000
HOPE FLOATS HEALING & WELLNESS CENTER INC$40,000
THE BASE$35,000
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL INC$35,000
COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC$35,000
02The need
03

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 (FY20–25, $1.3M) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 66% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT: $100k → 8%MARTHA'S VINEYARD COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $40k → 8%AFYA FOUNDATION: $13k → 9%SURIVOR VENTURES: $50k → 19%THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT: $100k → 8%HOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC: $75k → 11%SURIVOR VENTURES: $50k → 19%THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT: $100k → 8%HOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC: $50k → 11%THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT: $60k → 8%HOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC: $50k → 11%THRIVE SUPPORT & ADVOCACY: $25k → 8%EL BUEN SAMARITANO FOOD PROGRAM INC: $7k → 11%HOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC: $50k → 11%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $50k → 16%METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC: $32k → 13%EL BUEN SAMARITANO FOOD PROGRAM INC: $7k → 11%HOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC: $50k → 11%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $50k → 16%METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC: $32k → 13%LINKED MENTORING INC: $20k → 8%GSA LINK INC: $20k → 11%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $50k → 16%METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC: $32k → 13%FRIENDSHIP HOME: $5k → 8%EL BUEN SAMARITANO FOOD PROGRAM INC: $7k → 11%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $50k → 16%METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC: $7k → 13%THRIVE SUPPORT & ADVOCACY: $7k → 8%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $35k → 16%METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC: $5k → 13%BULLARD FAMILY FOUNDATION: $63k → 13%THRIVE SUPPORT & ADVOCACY: $7k → 8%COMMUNITY SERVINGS INC: $25k → 16%BULLARD FAMILY FOUNDATION: $25k → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
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 linein 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 — 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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$4.5M · 34 repeat orgs$518k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +59% since the first grant, against +35% for the ones you funded once.

34 repeat relationships — 27 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

34
16

Total granted

$4.5M
$513k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+35%

Still filing today

91%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesFood & NutritionEducationHealthRecreation & SportsHousing & ShelterOther

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

  • CROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $634k · revenue +117%
  • TV
    THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $360k · revenue +122%
  • SO
    SCHOOL ON WHEELS OF MASSACHUSETTS INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $310k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • TT
    THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $150k · revenue +35%
  • WR
    WORCESTER REGIONAL FOOD HUB
    one grant, 2021 · $100k
  • CH
    CAMP HARBOR VIEW FOUNDATION INC CO CONNORS FAMILY OFFICE
    one grant, 2020 · $50k

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.

1
Greater Boston Food Bank Inc

Our costs consist of acquiring, sorting and distributing food to 617 member agencies, transportation and logistics, and community outreach to 69 direct distribution sites such as gbfb mobile markets, and federal distributions for low…

2
Food Link Inc

Food link is working to create a more equitable food system throughout greater boston by rescuing and distributing high-quality, customized food to under-resourced communities and by advocating for systems change.

Food & Nutrition
3
Community Cooks Inc

Community cooks mobilizes individuals, businesses, civic educational and faith-based groups to prepare home-cooked food for vulnerable populations seeking assistance from human service agencies throughout greater boston. the agency…

Food & Nutrition
4
Citizens Inn Inc

The organization's mission is to prevent and end hunger and homelessness by providing integrated services that promote long-term stability, health, and independence. (see schedule o for full description)

Housing & Shelter
5
Merrimack Valley Food Bank Inc

The focus of the merrimack valley food bank is to help meet a person's most profound need - adequate nutrition and freedom from hunger. only through cooperative efforts can society initiate change, develop strategies to alleviate hunger,…

Food & Nutrition
6
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc

The mission of the boston health care for the homeless program (bhchp) is to provide or assure access to the highest quality health care for all individuals and families experiencing homelessness in our community.

Human Services
7
East Boston Community Soup Kitchen Inc

To feed, shelter and assist with recovery and self-care the hungry and homeless in our community, and to do so without judgement or exclusivity

Human Services
8
Familyaid Boston Inc

Familyaid boston empowers parents and caregivers facing homelessness to secure and sustain housing and build strong foundations for their children's futures.

9
Project Hope Boston Inc

Project hope is a multi service agency that moves families up and out of poverty.project hope works in partnership with women and families in the dorchester and roxbury neighborhoods of boston on their journeys up and out of poverty. we do…

Human Services
10
Mass General Brigham Incorporated

Patient care, teaching, research and serving the community.

Health
11
Interfaith Social Services Inc

To provide south shore residents with the resources necessary to support a healthy and fulfilling life. our team delivers programs focused on alleviating hunger, providing mental health counseling, preventing homelessness, and bringing joy…

Human Services
12
The Brien Center for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

The brien center provides a continuum of care for children, adolescents, adults and families living with significant and persistent mental health and substance use disorders. we are guided by the belief that everyone in berkshire county…

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Servings Inc and the most unlike its peers is Bee Project. 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 22 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%5%<5yr14%20%5–10yr20%25%10–20yr18%23%20–35yr12%18%35–55yr14%10%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%1%<5yr14%16%5–10yr20%20%10–20yr18%27%20–35yr12%16%35–55yr14%21%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/44
the rest of the field
13%
5,019/39,520

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.

04the grantee network

42 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 42 of the 51 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/42
Grantees still filing
31/42
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT INC — $360,000 · Human ServicesTHE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT INCHOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC — $275,000 · Human ServicesHOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INCCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC — $260,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INCMETROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC — $108,000 · Human ServicesMETROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INCSURVIVOR VENTURES INC — $100,000 · Human ServicesSURVIVOR VENTURES INCBULLARD FAMILY FOUNDATION INC — $87,500 · Human ServicesBULLARD FAMILY FOUNDATION INC+6 more — $157,500 · Human Services+6 moreBROCKTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF METRO SOUTH — $185,425 · OtherBROCKTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLU…STARTING RIGHT NOW — $172,060 · OtherSTARTING RIGHT NOWTHE CAPE AND ISLANDS VETERANS OUTREACH CENTER INC — $168,000 · OtherTHE CAPE AND ISLANDS VETERA…WORCESTER REGIONAL FOOD HUB — $100,000 · OtherWORCESTER REGIONAL FOOD HUBBIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC — $75,000 · OtherBIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF G…CAMP HARBOR VIEW FOUNDATION INC CO CONNORS FAMILY OFFICE — $50,000 · OtherSOUTH SHORE RESOURCE AND ADVOCACY CENTER — $42,500 · OtherFATHER BILL'S & MAINSPRING INC — $153,200 · OtherFATHER BILL'S & MAINSPRING …+11 more — $248,700 · Other+11 moreCROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC — $633,800 · Recreation & SportsCROSSROADS FOR K…THE BASEBALL INC — $95,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE BASEBALL INCSCHOOL ON WHEELS OF MASSACHUSETTS INC — $310,000 · EducationSCHOOL ON WHEEL…THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE — $150,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF…HOPE FLOATS HEALING & WELLNESS CENTER INC — $100,000 · EducationHOPE FLOATS HEA…Found in Translation Inc — $100,000 · EducationFound in Transl…+1 more — $7,000 · EducationTHE CHARITY GUILD INC — $220,000 · Food & NutritionTHE CHARITY…SPOONFULS — $200,000 · Food & NutritionSPOONFULSMARSHFIELD FOOD PANTRY INC — $38,000 · Food & NutritionMARSHFIELD …DIGGER FOODS INC — $20,000 · Food & Nutrition+2 more — $15,000 · Food & NutritionCAPE WELLNESS COLLABORATIVE INC — $100,000 · HealthTAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC — $96,000 · HealthHEALTH IMPERATIVES INC — $45,000 · HealthRhode Island Hospital Foundation — $25,000 · HealthSouth Shore Peer Recovery Inc — $20,000 · HealthTAMPA BAY WATCH INC — $140,000 · EnvironmentREGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL INC — $120,000 · Environment
Human Services$1,348,000Other$1,194,885Recreation & Sports$728,800Education$667,000Food & Nutrition$493,000Health$286,000Environment$260,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCROSSROADS FOR KIDS INC — $633,800 over 6y, 4.1% of budgetTHE VALEDICTORIAN PROJECT INC — $360,000 over 4y, 20% of budgetSCHOOL ON WHEELS OF MASSACHUSETTS INC — $310,000 over 5y, 5.6% of budgetHOUSE OF POSSIBILITIES INC — $275,000 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY SERVINGS INC — $260,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetTHE CHARITY GUILD INC — $220,000 over 4y, 21% of budgetSPOONFULS — $200,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetSTARTING RIGHT NOW — $172,060 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetTHE CAPE AND ISLANDS VETERANS OUTREACH CENTER INC — $168,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetFATHER BILL'S & MAINSPRING INC — $153,200 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE — $150,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTAMPA BAY WATCH INC — $140,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetREGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL INC — $120,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC — $108,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCAPE WELLNESS COLLABORATIVE INC — $100,000 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetHOPE FLOATS HEALING & WELLNESS CENTER INC — $100,000 over 3y, 5.2% of budgetFound in Translation Inc — $100,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetSURVIVOR VENTURES INC — $100,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetTAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC — $96,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE BASEBALL INC — $95,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetBULLARD FAMILY FOUNDATION INC — $87,500 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetBIG SISTER ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC — $75,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetHEALTH IMPERATIVES INC — $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLINKED MENTORING INC — $40,000 over 2y, 48% of budgetMARTHA'S VINEYARD COMMUNITY SERVICES INC — $40,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHRIVE SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY INC — $39,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPLYMOUTH AREA COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS — $38,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetWEYMOUTH COUNCIL FOR THE HUNGRY INC — $38,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetMARSHFIELD FOOD PANTRY INC — $38,000 over 6y, 3.2% of budgetBROCKTON NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CENTER INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRhode Island Hospital Foundation — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE DUXBURY COUNCIL ON AGING INC — $21,200 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetDIGGER FOODS INC — $20,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetSouth Shore Peer Recovery Inc — $20,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetTHE AFYA FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC — $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOSTON AREA GLEANERS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBOSTON GREEN ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC — $7,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetBEE PROJECT — $6,000 over 1y, 47% of budgetCOASTAL FOODSHED — $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFRIENDSHIP HOME INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
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 FoundationMA41× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · Arbella Insurance Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · Point32health Foundation Inc · Bluestone Bank Charitable Foundation Inc · Riley Mabel Louise Tr Uwill · Project Bread-The Walk for Hunger Inc · Yawkey Foundation II · Eversource Energy Foundation Inc · Goddard Health Services Inc · Abington Bank Community Foundation Inc F/K/A Envision Bank Foundation Inc

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 Jack and Kathy Shields Family 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.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 110%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 12%
  • Thrive Support and Advocacy Inc93% of income from government
  • Health Imperatives Inc79% of income from government
  • House of Possibilities Inc76% of income from government
  • South Shore Peer Recovery Inc71% of income from government
  • Friendship Home Inc66% of income from government
  • Coastal Foodshed66% of income from government
  • Boston Green Academy Foundation Inc59% of income from government
  • Father Bill's & Mainspring Inc24% of income from government
  • Boston Area Gleaners Inc20% of income from government
  • Digger Foods Inc15% of income from government
  • Community Servings Inc12% of income from government
  • The Charity Guild Inc10% of income from government
  • Brockton Neighborhood Health Center Inc9% of income from government
  • School On Wheels of Massachusetts Inc7% of income from government
  • Regional Environmental Council Inc6% of income from government
  • Marshfield Food Pantry Inc4% of income from government
  • Martha's Vineyard Community Services Inc3% of income from government
  • Crossroads for Kids Inc1% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College1% of income from government
  • The Baseball Inc1% of income from government
  • Metropolitan Ministries Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
11get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
7rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY2025

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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Jack and Kathy Shields Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Jack and Kathy Shields Family 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 51 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph