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· Private foundation

The Lee L and Judith E Selwyn 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.

$341k
Granted FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$160k
Largest
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$949kReligion$253kScience & Tech$225kEnvironment$89kArts & Culture$83kMembership Benefit$32kEducation$20kHealth$20kOther$0
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $210k
$6,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$4.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Combined Jewish Philanthropies$160,000
MIT Department of Chemistry$50,000
MIT Hillel$25,000
Revolutionary Spaces$20,000
Buzzards Bay Coalition$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Mattapoisett Land Trust$10,000
The Forward Association$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Tifereth Israel Congregation$6,000
New Bedford Art Museum$6,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
BPL Leventhal Map & Education Center$5,000
Temple Emeth$4,000
Center for Eye Research and Education$2,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 95% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Temple Emeth: $5k → 7%Mattapoisett Land Trust: $10k → 8%MIT Department of Chemistry: $50k → 8%Jewish Journal: $10k → 10%Buzzards Bay Coalition: $10k → 11%Pasadena Jewish Temple: $10k → 14%The Forward Association: $10k → 17%Temple Emeth: $5k → 7%Mattapoisett Land Trust: $6k → 8%MIT Department of Chemistry: $50k → 8%Jewish Journal: $5k → 10%Buzzards Bay Coalition: $10k → 11%The Forward Association: $10k → 17%Temple Emeth: $5k → 7%Mattapoisett Land Trust: $5k → 8%MIT Dept of Chemistry: $50k → 8%Buzzards Bay Coalition: $10k → 11%The Forward Association: $5k → 17%Mattapoisett Land Trust: $5k → 8%MIT Department of Chemistry: $50k → 8%Buzzards Bay Coalition: $10k → 11%Mattapoisett Land Trust: $5k → 8%MIT Hillel: $25k → 8%Buzzards Bay Coalition: $10k → 11%MIT Hillel: $25k → 8%Tifereth Israel Congregation: $8k → 11%Jewish Cemetery Assn of Massachusetts: $8k → 7%MIT Hillel: $25k → 8%Buzzards Bay Coalition: $7k → 11%Jewish Cemetery Assn of Massachusetts: $5k → 7%MIT Hillel: $25k → 8%New Bedford Art Museum: $6k → 11%MIT Hillel: $25k → 8%Tifereth Israel Congregation: $6k → 11%MIT Department of Chemistry: $25k → 8%Tifereth Israel Congregation: $5k → 11%BPL Leventhal Map & Education Center: $5k → 16%MIT Hillel: $25k → 8%Tifereth Israel Congregation: $5k → 11%Jewish Cemetery Assn of Mass: $10k → 8%Combined Jewish Philanthropies: $205k → 16%Combined Jewish Philanthropies: $170k → 16%Combined Jewish Philanthropies: $160k → 16%Combined Jewish Philanthropies: $145k → 16%Combined Jewish Philanthropies: $144k → 16%Combined Jewish Philanthropies: $125k → 16%Revolutionary Spaces: $20k → 16%Revolutionary Spaces: $8k → 16%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$712k · 26 repeat orgs$20k to everyone else

26 repeat relationships — 20 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
4

Total granted

$712k
$10k

Still filing today

46%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
Arts & CultureHealthEnvironmentEducationOther

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

  • BUZZARDS BAY COALITION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $57k · revenue +88%
  • RS
    REVOLUTIONARY SPACES INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $39k · revenue +71%
  • ML
    Mattapoisett Land Trust Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $32k · revenue +76%

Funded once

  • HA
    Hillel at Stanford
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
  • TR
    TEMPLE REYIM
    one grant, 2020 · $4k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $250

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
Historic Boston Incorporated
2
Trustees of the Berkshire Museum

Bringing people together for experiences that spark creativity and innovative thinking by making inspiring educational connections among art, history, and natural science.

Arts & Culture
3
Boston Jewish Film Inc

The organization celebrates the richness of the jewish experience through film and media. throughout the year, the festival engages and inspires the community to explore the full spectrum of jewish life, values and culture.

4
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

5
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
6
The Trustees of Reservations

Overview - founded in boston by pioneering landscape architect and open space visionary charles eliot in 1891, the trustees is the nation's first and the commonwealth's largest conservation and preservation nonprofit.

Environment
7
Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Inc

Massbio is committed to advancing massachusetts' leadership in the life sciences to grow the industry, add value to the health care system and improve patient lives.

8
Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston

The Boston Public Library provides educational and cultural enrichment free to all by engaging the public through programming and active spaces, restoring and preserving our history, providing access to borrow from our vast collection of…

Education
9
Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc

The greater boston convention and visitors bureau, inc.'s mission is to elevate boston's vibrant neighborhoods and diverse people, amplifying their stories and sharing them locally and across the globe. we deliver exciting and inclusive…

10
Boston Society of Architects

The boston society of architects (bsa/aia) exists to improve the quality of life for boston-area residents by championing innovation in the built environment. as a membership association, we achieve this mission in partnership with the bsa…

11
New England Museum Association

New england museum association's mission is to connect a community engaged in learning, collaboration, and action to cultivate a better museum world.

12
Managers of Boston Port and Seamen's Aid Society

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Buzzards Bay Coalition and the most unlike its peers is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc. 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

13 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. 13 of the 32 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
11/13
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc — $948,500 · PhilanthropyCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston IncMIT Dept of Chemistry — $225,000 · OtherMIT Dept of ChemistryMIT Hillel — $150,000 · OtherMIT HillelTIFERETH ISRAEL CONGREGATION — $31,400 · OtherTIFERETH ISRAEL CONGREGATIONTemple Emeth — $26,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $22,000 · Other+17 more — $97,747 · Other+17 moreBUZZARDS BAY COALITION — $56,500 · EnvironmentMattapoisett Land Trust Inc — $32,000 · EnvironmentREVOLUTIONARY SPACES INC — $38,500 · Arts & CultureThe Forward Association Inc — $25,000 · Arts & CultureBUZZARDS BAY MUSICFEST INC — $2,500 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR EYE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC — $15,000 · HealthDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc — $2,000 · HealthJBI INTERNATIONAL INC — $1,500 · HealthBOSTON PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INC — $6,000 · Education
Philanthropy$948,500Other$552,147Environment$88,500Arts & Culture$66,000Health$18,500Education$6,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc — $948,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetBUZZARDS BAY COALITION — $56,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetREVOLUTIONARY SPACES INC — $38,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetMattapoisett Land Trust Inc — $32,000 over 6y, 1.8% of budgetThe Forward Association Inc — $25,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE JEWISH CEMETERY ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS — $16,797 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCENTER FOR EYE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC — $15,000 over 6y, 2.6% of budgetArt Museum New Bedford Inc — $11,150 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetBOSTON PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INC — $6,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetTOURO SYNAGOGUE FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetBUZZARDS BAY MUSICFEST INC — $2,500 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc — $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJBI INTERNATIONAL INC — $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc
  • Who funds BUZZARDS BAY COALITION
  • Who funds REVOLUTIONARY SPACES INC
  • Who funds Mattapoisett Land Trust Inc
  • Who funds The Forward Association Inc
  • Who funds THE JEWISH CEMETERY ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS
  • Who funds CENTER FOR EYE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INC
  • Who funds Art Museum New Bedford Inc
  • Who funds BOSTON PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INC
  • Who funds TOURO SYNAGOGUE FOUNDATION
  • Who funds BUZZARDS BAY MUSICFEST INC
  • Who funds Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc
  • Who funds JBI INTERNATIONAL INC

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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA5.5× affinity10 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Lee L and Judith E Selwyn 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 · 50%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 20%
  • Buzzards Bay Coalition37% of income from government
  • Revolutionary Spaces Inc20% of income from government
  • Mattapoisett Land Trust Inc13% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 Lee L and Judith E Selwyn Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Lee L and Judith E Selwyn 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 32 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

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