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The Martin & Deborah Hale Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Martin & Deborah Hale 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.

$167k
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$45k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$436kEducation$330kHealth$179kEnvironment$144kRecreation & Sports$54kFood & Nutrition$40kCivil Rights$30kReligion$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $143k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$3.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Yale University$45,000
Pine Island Camp$30,763
Whitney Museum of Art$27,500
PBS Foundation$10,000
St Ann's Warehouse$10,000
Mass General Hospital$10,000
Museum of Fine Arts$10,000
Milton Academy$8,762
National Public Radio$5,000
Foundation for Women's Health$3,500
Packer Collegiate Institute$2,500
Brooklyn Kindergarten Society$1,500
QueerArt$1,000
Mothers Against Media Addiction$1,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 67% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Tutor Trustees of the Reservation: $20k → 10%Museum of Fine Arts Boston: $15k → 16%Windward School: $10k → 14%Cate School: $15k → 14%Whitney Museum of Art: $47k → 17%Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims: $25k → 20%Student Conservation Association (SCA): $15k → 6%PBS Foundation: $10k → 7%Pine Island Camp: $31k → 7%Tutor Trustees of the Reservation: $20k → 10%School of the MFA at Tufts: $10k → 16%Cate School: $15k → 14%Whitney Museum of Art: $28k → 17%Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy: $13k → 20%Student Conservation Association (SCA): $15k → 6%New England Genealogical Historic Society: $10k → 7%Pine Island: $10k → 7%Trustees of the Reservation: $15k → 10%Museum of Fine Arts: $10k → 16%Cate School: $11k → 14%St Ann's Warehouse: $10k → 20%Student Conservation Association (SCA): $15k → 6%New England Genealogical Historic Society: $10k → 7%Harvard Art Museums: $10k → 8%Trustees of the Reservation: $15k → 10%Cate School: $10k → 14%Student Conservation Association (SCA): $12k → 6%Whitney Museum: $20k → 17%Student Conservation Association (SCA): $11k → 6%Whitney Museum: $10k → 17%Student Conservation Association (SCA): $10k → 6%Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: $20k → 17%Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: $20k → 17%Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: $10k → 17%Trinity Boston Connects: $15k → 16%Thrinity Boston Connects: $10k → 16%The Dalton School: $10k → 17%Boston Trinity Foundation: $10k → 16%The Dalton School: $10k → 17%Mass General Hospital: $15k → 16%Massachusetts General Hospital: $15k → 16%Mass General Hospital: $10k → 16%Massachusetts General Hospital: $10k → 16%Boston Public Gardens: $40k → 16%Boston Athenaeum: $20k → 16%NSCDA Colonial Dames: $15k → 16%Boston Athenaeum: $15k → 16%Boston Athenaeum: $15k → 16%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
MI
NY
MA
CT
CA
VA
MD
DE
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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$964k · 39 repeat orgs$363k to everyone else

39 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 34 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
28

Total granted

$964k
$247k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+24%

Still filing today

51%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 30% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $116k 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 & CultureEducationEnvironmentHousing & ShelterRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyOther
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

  • CATE SCHOOL
    5× · 2017–2023 · $56k · revenue +51%
  • DS
    DALTON SCHOOLS INC
    4× · 2017–2023 · $33k · revenue +16%
  • WM
    WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
    3× · 2017–2019 · $31k · revenue +161%

Funded once

  • YU
    Yale University Development
    one grant, 2024 · $79k
  • BP
    Boston Public Gardens
    one grant, 2020 · $40k
  • MO
    Museum of Fine Arts Boston
    one grant, 2023 · $15k
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
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
3
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Inc

Organization's mission statement true to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the isabella stewart gardner museum is: - to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection; - to…

Arts & Culture
4
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
5
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
6
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
7
Harvard Conservation Trust

To preserve the unique character and natural resources of harvard.

Environment
8
Williams College

Williams College strives to achieve educational excellence by fostering a community of learning in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, devoted alumni and parents.

Education
9
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
10
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
11
New York Botanical Garden

The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…

Environment
12
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Trustees of Reservations; the most unlike its peers is Charles River Watershed Association 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

43 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. 43 of the 77 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/43
Grantees still filing
27/43
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Whitney Museum of Art: $82,344 · OtherWhitney Museum of ArtYale University Development: $78,644 · OtherYale University DevelopmentStudent Conservation Association (SCA): $78,000 · OtherStudent Conservation Association (SCA)Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: $55,000 · OtherMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterMassachusetts General Hospital: $55,000 · OtherMassachusetts General HospitalYALE UNIVERSITY: $45,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITYTutor Trustees of the Reservation: $40,000 · OtherBoston Public Gardens: $40,000 · OtherSociety of Colonial Dames: $37,000 · OtherNew England Genealogical Historic Society: $36,000 · OtherMass General Hospital: $35,000 · OtherPlymouth Church of the Pilgrims: $30,000 · OtherTrustees of the Reservation: $30,000 · Other+25 more: $176,814 · Other+25 morePROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM: $70,000 · EducationPROPRIETORS OF THE B…CATE SCHOOL: $56,000 · EducationCATE SCHOOLDALTON SCHOOLS INC: $32,500 · EducationDALTON SCHOOLS INCPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $23,000 · EducationPresident and Fellow…Trevor Day School: $12,500 · EducationPIONEER INSTITUTE INC: $11,000 · EducationMILTON ACADEMY: $10,262 · EducationWINDWARD SCHOOL: $10,000 · Education+6 more: $15,000 · Education+6 moreWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $31,000 · Arts & CultureWHITNEY MUSE…MARTHA'S VINEYARD MUSEUM INC: $27,000 · Arts & CultureMARTHA'S VIN…SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGL: $22,500 · Arts & CultureSOCIETY FOR …HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY: $22,500 · Arts & CultureHANDEL AND H…ST ANN'S WAREHOUSE INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureST ANN'S WAR…PBS FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Arts & CulturePBS FOUNDATI…MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: $10,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF FI…NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureMASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $6,200 · Arts & CultureSHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EnvironmentMOTHERS OUT FRONT INC: $15,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $10,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC: $10,000 · EnvironmentLAGUNA CANYON FOUNDATION: $3,000 · EnvironmentPOLLY HILL ARBORETUM INC: $3,000 · EnvironmentCHARLES RIVER WATERSHED ASSOCIATION INC: $2,500 · EnvironmentPine Island Camp: $30,763 · Recreation & SportsTRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS INC: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentFRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC: $19,000 · Housing & ShelterFOUNDATION FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH: $3,500 · Philanthropy
Other$818,802Education$240,262Arts & Culture$149,200Environment$63,500Recreation & Sports$30,763Youth Development$25,000Housing & Shelter$19,000Philanthropy$3,500

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 budgetPROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM: $70,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetCATE SCHOOL: $56,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetDALTON SCHOOLS INC: $32,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $31,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPine Island Camp: $30,763 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetMARTHA'S VINEYARD MUSEUM INC: $27,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $23,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGL: $22,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY: $22,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetSHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC: $19,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMOTHERS OUT FRONT INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $13,144 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTrevor Day School: $12,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPIONEER INSTITUTE INC: $11,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMILTON ACADEMY: $10,262 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWINDWARD SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST ANN'S WAREHOUSE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPBS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPACKER COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAGUNA CANYON FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLYN KINDERGARTEN SOCIETY: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPOLLY HILL ARBORETUM INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHARLES RIVER WATERSHED ASSOCIATION INC: $2,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMARTHA'S VINEYARD PLAYHOUSE INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE MAX WARBURG COURAGE CURRICULUM INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLAGUNA ART MUSEUM: $1,200 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSEARS HOUSE ASSOCIATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetASSOCIATES OF BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMARIAN AND EDWARD MACDOWELL INC: $800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEAST GRAND RAPIDS SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $500 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.

  • Who funds PROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM ↗
  • Who funds CATE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds DALTON SCHOOLS INC ↗
  • Who funds WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART ↗
  • Who funds Pine Island Camp ↗
  • Who funds MARTHA'S VINEYARD MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds TRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS INC ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGL ↗
  • Who funds HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC ↗
  • Who funds MOTHERS OUT FRONT INC ↗
  • Who funds BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds Trevor Day School ↗
  • Who funds PIONEER INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds MILTON ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds WINDWARD SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds ST ANN'S WAREHOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS ↗

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 IncCharles S & Carmen De…The Ayco Charitable F…Highland Street Conne…Fidelity FoundationThe Edward Lee and Sl…Alchemy FoundationFidelity Non-Profit M…The Loring Wolcott & …Jewish Communal FundAmerican Endowment Fo…The Annenberg Foundat…
Boston Foundation IncMA19.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Charles S & Carmen Demora Hale Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Highland Street Connection and Subsidiaries · Fidelity Foundation · The Edward Lee and Slocumb Hollis Perry Foundation · Alchemy Foundation · Fidelity Non-Profit Management Foundation · The Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Charitable Trust-I · Jewish Communal Fund · American Endowment Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation

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 Martin & Deborah Hale Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Martin & Deborah Hale Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Massachusetts Historical Society: 22% of income from government
  • Charles River Watershed Association Inc: 8% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Huntington Theatre Co Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Sheriff's Meadow Foundation: 2% of income from government
  • Handel and Haydn Society: 2% of income from government
  • Society for the Preservation of New Engl: 2% of income from government
  • Martha's Vineyard Playhouse Inc: 2% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Friends of the Public Garden Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Proprietors of the Boston Athenaeum: 0% of income from government
  • Museum of Fine Arts: 0% of income from government
  • Milton Academy: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Martin & Deborah Hale Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Martin & Deborah Hale 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 77 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 Martin & Deborah Hale’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