· Private foundation
The John and Gertrude Donovan 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k32 grants · $38k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $23k
Anchored by a single position: about 93% of reported assets are held in Truist.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CIRCLE OF HOPE | $12,500 |
| FIRST PARISH OF WESTWOOD | $10,000 |
| HALE EDUCATION | $5,000 |
| FRIENDS OF FALMOUTH DOGS | $3,000 |
| MARINE CORPS LEAGUE | $2,100 |
| AMERICAN LEGION | $2,100 |
| FALMOUTH SERVICE CENTER | $2,000 |
| GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA | $2,000 |
| MCLEAN FUND | $2,000 |
| PAN MASS CHALLENGE | $1,000 |
| FOCUS ON TANZANIAN COMMUNITIES | $1,000 |
| HEIFER INTERNATIONAL | $1,000 |
| HABITAT FOR HUMANITY | $1,000 |
| CUMMINGS SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY | $1,000 |
| HOUSING ASSISTANCE | $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 (FY17–25, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 11% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.
49 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $17k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- COCIRCLE OF HOPE INC9× · 2017–2025 · $194k · revenue +181%
TRINITY COLLEGE3× · 2021–2023 · $31k · revenue +13%- HEHALE EDUCATION INC8× · 2017–2025 · $30k · revenue +79%
Funded once
- OHOLLIE'S HOUSEone grant, 2017 · $3k
- MDMISSING DOGS OF MASSACHUSETTSone grant, 2022 · $2k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2019 · $2k
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.
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 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.
The mission of the women's institute is to promote economic resilience and stable homes by developing and preserving high quality affordable and supportive housing, with an emphasis on under-served populations.
Mhic's mission is to be an innovative private financier of afforable housing and community development throughout new england, providing financing that would not otherwise be available, and extending the impact of that financing to ensure…
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
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,…
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.
The wildlands trust works throughout southeastern massachusetts to conserve and permanently protect native habitats, farmland, and lands of high ecologic and scenic value that serve to keep our communities healthy and our residents…
Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…
Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.
Massachusetts taxpayers foundation provides public & private sector decision makers with accurate, timely, unbiased research & constructive solutions that drive public policy in order to strengthen the state's finances & position the…
Danbury animal welfare society , inc.(daws) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of animals in our community and beyond. we promote responsible pet guardianship and the humane treatment of animals, and work toward…
How this is measured
45 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. 45 of the 86 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 CIRCLE OF HOPE INC ↗
- Who funds TRINITY COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds HALE EDUCATION INC ↗
- Who funds Jeff's Place Children's Bereavement Center Inc ↗
- Who funds HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC ↗
- Who funds FALMOUTH SERVICE CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds FOCUS ON TANZANIAN COMMUNITIES INC ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds The American Legion ↗
- Who funds HOUSING ASSISTANCE CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds MARA ELEPHANT PROJECT USA INC ↗
- Who funds PAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC ↗
- Who funds BOSTON RESCUE MISSION INC ↗
- Who funds Westwood Land Trust Inc ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF FALMOUTH DOGS A NON PROFIT CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds PINE STREET INN INC ↗
- Who funds CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY INC ↗
- Who funds WESTWOOD COMMUNITY CHEST ↗
- Who funds AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ↗
- Who funds Trustees of Tufts College ↗
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: Boston Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Rockland Trust - Blue Hills Charitable Foundation · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · The Altamira Foundation · Massachusetts Bankers Association Charitable Foundation Inc · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Citizens Charitable Foundation · The Bromley Charitable Trust · Arbella Insurance Foundation · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The John and Gertrude Donovan Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John and Gertrude Donovan Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Joslin Diabetes Center Inc: 35% of income from government
- Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
- Pine Street Inn Inc: 11% of income from government
- Housing Assistance Corporation: 10% of income from government
- Special Olympics Massachusetts Inc: 1% of income from government
- Trinity College: 0% of income from government
- Amherst College Trustees: 0% of income from government
- Rosie's Place Inc: 0% of income from government
- Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on John and Gertrude Donovan’s filings →