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The James L Bildner Charitable Trust at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The James L Bildner Charitable Trust

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.

$278k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$151k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$194kEducation$140kCivil Rights$42kHealth$18kCommunity Improvement$13kHousing & Shelter$10kEnvironment$10kYouth Development$9kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $2k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $276k
$125,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TRUSTEES OF DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY$150,711
MIDLAND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION$125,000
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$2,000
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 (FY18–25, $139k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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.

area typical 9%MIDLAND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $125k → 12%EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $10k → 21%GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA: $3k → 11%BEVERLY CHILDRENS LEARNING CENTER: $500 → 10%NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR HISPANIC HEALTH: $1k → 14%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

ME
NH
WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
NJ
RI
CA
VA
MD
DC
HI
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.

36%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$282k · 19 repeat orgs$497k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +62% since the first grant, against +32% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
46

Total granted

$282k
$222k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+62%
+32%

Still filing today

79%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 1% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $276k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationPhilanthropyHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2017–2022 · $80k · revenue +45%
  • GW
    GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $50k · revenue +5%
  • BS
    BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $40k · revenue +38%

Funded once

  • IP
    IMPACT PARTNERS DOCUMENTARY PROJECT
    one grant, 2021 · $40k
  • NP
    New Profit Foundation
    one grant, 2017 · $31k
  • I
    IDEOORG
    one grant, 2018 · $25k
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
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
3
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.

—
4
United States Telecom Association

See schedule oustelecom exists to ensure members can compete, grow and thrive to build a world where families, enterprises and communities are connected through the power of broadband.our member companies have committed a considerable…

—
5
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
6
American Gas Association

American gas association's (the association) mission is to develop and advocate for informed, innovative, and durable policy that fulfills our nation's energy needs, environmental aspirations and economic potential. we are committed to…

—
7
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
8
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health
9
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
10
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
11
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
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Food Project Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Sapling Foundation. 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

41 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. 41 of the 69 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
41/41
Grantees still filing
32/41
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY: $150,711 · OtherTRUSTEES OF DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITYTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $79,540 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITYIMPACT PARTNERS DOCUMENTARY PROJECT: $40,000 · OtherIMPACT PARTNERS DOCUMENTARY PROJECTNew Profit Foundation: $31,250 · OtherNew Profit FoundationIDEOORG: $25,000 · OtherIDEOORGSERVICE YEAR: $25,000 · OtherSERVICE YEAR+36 more: $91,048 · Other+36 moreMIDLAND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $125,000 · Human ServicesMIDLAND COMMUNITY D…THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE EMPOWERMENT PLA…+3 more: $4,250 · Human ServicesGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $49,667 · Arts & CultureGREATER WASHINGTO…BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $39,500 · Arts & CultureBOSTON SYMPHONY O…FRACTURED ATLAS INC: $27,500 · Arts & CultureFRACTURED ATLAS I…NEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC: $5,417 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $6,996 · Arts & Culture+5 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationBES INC: $10,000 · EducationEDUCATION PIONEERS: $8,958 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $7,250 · Education+3 more: $4,305 · EducationVIRGIN UNITE USA INC: $12,500 · PhilanthropyWatermans Community Center: $11,250 · PhilanthropyTHE SAPLING FOUNDATION: $5,000 · PhilanthropyPUBLIC CITIZEN INC: $6,667 · Public BenefitPUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 · Public BenefitBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $7,500 · Youth Development
Other$442,549Human Services$139,250Arts & Culture$129,080Education$60,513Philanthropy$28,750Public Benefit$9,167Youth Development$7,500

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 budgetMIDLAND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $125,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $79,540 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $49,667 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $39,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $27,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWatermans Community Center: $11,250 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetBES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEDUCATION PIONEERS: $8,958 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: $8,333 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $7,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC CITIZEN INC: $6,667 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC: $5,417 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTREES TO SEAS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetOLYMPIC CLUB FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BOGGY CREEK GANG INC: $3,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCLIMATE CENTRAL INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $3,472 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $2,600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Guiding Eyes Inc DBA Guide Dogs of America: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WILLIAM A FARNSWORTH LIBRARY AND ART MUSEUM INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBizworld Foundation: $1,667 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCAPE ANN MUSEUM INC: $1,666 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $1,650 over 1y, 0.0% of budget10000 DEGREES: $1,388 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR HISPANIC HEALTH: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCatchLight: $1,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNONPROFIT FINANCE FUND: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHEALTHY AMERICAS FOUNDATION: $625 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEVERLY CHILDREN'S LEARNING CENTER INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKQED INC: $430 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE OPEN DOOR CAPE ANN FOOD PANTRY INC: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBEVERLY BOOTSTRAPS COMMUNITY SERVICES I: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetROOT NS INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Food Project Inc: $100 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.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…The Kresge FoundationThe San Francisco Fou…Boston Foundation IncAmerican Endowment Fo…National Philanthropi…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Bank of America C…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY16.5× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 James L Bildner Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The James L Bildner Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Cape Ann Museum Inc: 38% of income from government
  • Root Ns Inc: 26% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
7report 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 James L Bildner Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to The James L Bildner Charitable Trust 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 69 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 James L Bildner’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