Vermont · Private foundation
The Prospect Fund
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.
- $147k
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 27
- Grants FY2024
- 17
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 71%
- First-time grantees FY2023
Read this first · the figures below need context
99% of The Prospect Fund’s FY2025 grant dollars went to The Vermont Community Foundation, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 2 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2024, the last year The Prospect Fund named its own grantees at scale: 21 organizations, $147k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
- Median grant, FY2024
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $30,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 17 to 31
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 6
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 71% of the organizations The Prospect Fund funded were first-time grantees, receiving 53% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $48k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 26 | $147k | 50% |
| FY2023 | 17 | $91k | 71% |
| FY2022 | 28 | $113k | 14% |
| FY2021 | 27 | $99k | 11% |
| FY2020 | 27 | $95k | 4% |
| FY2019 | 29 | $108k | 3% |
| FY2018 | 31 | $111k | 16% |
| FY2017 | 26 | $96k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Museum of Fine Arts | $198,000 | 8 | 0% |
| The Lenny Zakim Fund | $80,015 | 6 | 1% |
| Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation Inc | $79,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Brookline Community Mental Health Center Inc Dba the Brookline Center | $60,000 | 6 | 0% |
| National Network of Abortion Funds Inc | $30,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Equal Justice Initiative | $21,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Vermont International Film Foundation | $20,142 | 2 | 2% |
| National Abortion Federation | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Shelburne Farms | $20,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Hartford Art School Endowment Inc | $16,000 | 8 | 0% |
Show all 44 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 21 recipients with no EIN on record ($132k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Prospect Fund supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: The Vermont Community Foundation · National Life Group Charitable Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · RUTH & PETER METZ FAMILY FOUNDATION co THOMAS PHELAN · Ben & Jerry's Foundation Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · Tulgey Wood Foundation · United Way of Northwest Vermont Inc · Lintilhac Foundation Inc · The Waterwheel Foundation · Ploughshares Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Prospect Fund?
Find your warmest path to The Prospect Fund 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.
About The Prospect Fund
- How much does The Prospect Fund give?
- The Prospect Fund reported 27 grants totaling $146,500 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 17 and 31 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does The Prospect Fund fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Philanthropy (85%), Arts & Culture (7%), Health (2%).
- Who are The Prospect Fund's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Museum of Fine Arts ($198k), The Lenny Zakim Fund ($80k), Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation Inc ($79k).
- Does The Prospect Fund fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 71% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Prospect Fund accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Prospect Fund?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Vermont Community Foundation, National Life Group Charitable Foundation Inc, Eastern Bank Foundation.
- Where is The Prospect Fund based?
- The Prospect Fund is based in VT.
Play a game based on Prospect’s filings →