Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Rands 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.

$1.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
38
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$95k
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.

Education$1.7MEnvironment$980kYouth Development$870kInternational$523kPhilanthropy$291kHuman Services$260kHealth$238kCivil Rights$225kOther$0
02FY2025 · 38 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k24 grants · $450k
  • $50k–250k10 grants · $720k
$25,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$25M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
World Central Kitchens$95,000
Ceres Inc$75,000
The Nature Conservancy$75,000
Wildlife Conservation Society$75,000
Trustees of Reservations$75,000
Vietnam Health Improvement Project$75,000
Doctors Without Borders$75,000
Massachusetts Audubon Society$75,000
Esperanza Academy$50,000
Bellesini Academy$50,000
Oxfam-America$35,000
Saint Catherine of Siena$30,000
International Rescue Committee$25,000
Foundation for MetroWest$25,000
Catie's Closet$25,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $383k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 35% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Cape Abilities: $5k → 8%Holt International Children's Services Inc: $5k → 15%Global Spokes: $5k → 14%Addison County Community Action Group Inc (HOPE): $5k → 9%Generic Ministry: $65k → 7%One Voice: $25k → 14%Global Spokes: $5k → 14%Addison County Community Action Group Inc (HOPE): $5k → 9%Global Spokes: $10k → 14%Boston Health Care for the Homeless: $25k → 16%Global Spokes: $10k → 14%Global Spokes: $8k → 14%Catie's Closet: $25k → 8%Plummer Youth Promise: $10k → 10%Catie's Closet: $25k → 8%Plummer Youth Promise: $10k → 10%Catie's Closet: $25k → 8%Catie's Closet: $25k → 8%Catie's Closet: $25k → 8%Catie's Closet: $20k → 8%Social Innovation Forum: $40k → 16%Fresh Start Furniture Bank: $5k → 8%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.

Which US states your grants reach

VT
NY
MA
OR
OH
CT
CA
CO
KY
VA
TN
DC
LA
GA

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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$4.1M · 38 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +39% since the first grant, against +17% for the ones you funded once.

38 repeat relationships — 23 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
37

Total granted

$4.1M
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+17%

Still filing today

87%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $310k 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
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentHealthInternationalEnvironmentOther

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

  • ESPERANZA ACADEMY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $440k · revenue +450%
  • CI
    CERES INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $260k · revenue +66%
  • SL
    SILVER LINING MENTORING INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $235k · revenue +106%

Funded once

  • BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF DORCHESTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue +127%
  • BA
    BEACON ACADEMY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +92%
  • HA
    HIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue 0%

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
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
2
Boston Architectural College

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

3
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
4
Bentley University

Organization's mission bentley university believes good business can impact more than the bottom line - it can change the world. bentley is a community of future business leaders who will deliver value in the marketplace and lasting…

Education
5
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

6
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
7
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
8
Phillips Exeter Academy

Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. [text in quotations is taken from the academy's deed of gift, drafted in 1781] knowledge and goodness "above all, it is expected that the attention…

Education
9
The Trustees of the Smith College

Smith college educates women of promise for lives of distinction and purpose. a college of and for the world, smith college links the power of the liberal arts to excellence in research and scholarship, developing leaders for society's…

Education
10
The Trustees of Mount Holyoke College

Located in south hadley, massachusetts, mount holyoke college is a highly selective, nondenominational, residential, research liberal arts college for women that is gender-diverse and welcomes applications from female, transgender, and…

Education
11
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Thrive Scholars and the most unlike its peers is Sopo Bicycle Cooperative. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyEnvironmental Conservation …Independent K-12 SchoolsCommunity FoundationsCommunity Food PantriesFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Pregnancy Support ServicesLocal Food System Organizat…Jewish Community Organizati…Cancer Support ServicesDevelopmental Disabilities …Community Arts CentersWomen & Girls Leadership De…Youth Mentoring ProgramsHealth Access Advocacy and …Immigrant Worker SupportCommunity FoundationsYouth Development ServicesYouth Development Centers
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 36 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%0%<5yr14%3%5–10yr20%20%10–20yr19%27%20–35yr14%21%35–55yr14%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%0%<5yr14%3%5–10yr20%15%10–20yr19%33%20–35yr14%19%35–55yr14%30%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/76
the rest of the field
11%
4,714/42,282

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

73 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. 73 of the 90 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
72/73
Grantees still filing
51/73
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ESPERANZA ACADEMY INC — $440,000 · EducationESPERANZA ACADEMY INCBlessed Stephen Bellesini OSA Academy Inc — $190,000 · EducationBlessed Stephen Bellesini…CONNECTICUT COLLEGE — $150,000 · EducationCONNECTICUT COLLEGEBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC — $125,000 · EducationBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INCNATIVITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL NEW BEDFORD INC — $125,000 · EducationNATIVITY PREPARATORY SCHO…BEACON ACADEMY INC — $100,000 · EducationBEACON ACADEMY INCTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE — $55,000 · Education+7 more — $140,000 · Education+7 moreTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $175,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYYALE UNIVERSITY — $100,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITYHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC — $100,000 · OtherHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INCFirst Parish in Needham — $100,000 · OtherFirst Parish in NeedhamWorld Central Kitchens — $95,000 · OtherWorld Central KitchensPROJECT CITIZENSHIP INC — $145,000 · OtherPROJECT CITIZENSHIP INCTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC — $80,000 · OtherWildlife Conservation Society — $210,000 · OtherWildlife Conservation Society+35 more — $642,500 · Other+35 moreBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF DORCHESTER INC — $250,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CL…SILVER LINING MENTORING INC — $235,000 · Youth DevelopmentSILVER LINING M…SPARK THE WAVE — $120,000 · Youth DevelopmentSPARK THE WAVELOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP — $115,000 · Youth DevelopmentLOUIS D BROWN P…BOSTON DEBATE LEAGUE INCORPORATED — $75,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOSTON DEBATE L…+2 more — $30,000 · Youth DevelopmentCERES INC — $260,000 · EnvironmentCERES INCTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS — $210,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUSTEES O…MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC — $200,000 · EnvironmentMASSACHUSETTS …Round the Bend Farm Inc — $90,000 · EnvironmentRound the Bend…MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $215,000 · InternationalMEDECINS S…VIETNAM HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PROJECT — $110,000 · InternationalVIETNAM HE…OXFAM-AMERICA INC — $105,000 · InternationalOXFAM-AMER…WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE — $85,000 · InternationalWORLD RESO…Save The Children Federation Inc — $25,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC — $25,000 · InternationalCatie's Closet Inc — $145,000 · Human ServicesGENERIC MINISTRY INC — $65,000 · Human ServicesSOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC — $40,000 · Human ServicesGLOBAL SPOKES INC — $37,500 · Human ServicesBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC — $25,000 · Human ServicesOne Voice — $25,000 · Human ServicesPLUMMER YOUTH PROMISE INC — $20,000 · Human Services+5 more — $35,000 · Human ServicesCommunity Foundation for MetroWest Inc — $225,000 · PhilanthropyWELLINGTON MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION — $100,000 · PhilanthropyMARTIN W RICHARD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 · Philanthropy+1 more — $10,000 · Philanthropy
Education$1,325,000Other$1,647,500Youth Development$825,000Environment$760,000International$565,000Human Services$392,500Philanthropy$385,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetESPERANZA ACADEMY INC — $440,000 over 6y, 4.2% of budgetCERES INC — $260,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF DORCHESTER INC — $250,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetSILVER LINING MENTORING INC — $235,000 over 6y, 3.4% of budgetCommunity Foundation for MetroWest Inc — $225,000 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $215,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society — $210,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS — $210,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC — $200,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBlessed Stephen Bellesini OSA Academy Inc — $190,000 over 5y, 3.4% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $175,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE — $150,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPROJECT CITIZENSHIP INC — $145,000 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetCatie's Closet Inc — $145,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC — $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNATIVITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL NEW BEDFORD INC — $125,000 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetSPARK THE WAVE — $120,000 over 6y, 43% of budgetLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP — $115,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetVIETNAM HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PROJECT — $110,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetOXFAM-AMERICA INC — $105,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWELLINGTON MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION — $100,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetBEACON ACADEMY INC — $100,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC — $100,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetRound the Bend Farm Inc — $90,000 over 6y, 3.4% of budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE — $85,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC — $80,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetBOSTON DEBATE LEAGUE INCORPORATED — $75,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetGENERIC MINISTRY INC — $65,000 over 1y, 69% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE — $55,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMARTIN W RICHARD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetNATIVITY SCHOOL OF WORCESTER INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWESTWOOD COMMUNITY CHEST — $50,000 over 6y, 8.0% of budgetENVISIONING ACCESS INC — $45,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetSOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC — $40,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetZACK HEGER FOUNDATION INC — $40,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetDEDHAM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL — $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL SPOKES INC — $37,500 over 5y, 62% of budgetTHE DOUG FLUTIE JR FOUNDATION FOR AUTISM INC — $35,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOCCIDENTAL COLLEGE — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHALE EDUCATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHOPE Inc — $25,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLUMMER YOUTH PROMISE INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

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.

Boston Foundation IncMA33× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Rockland Trust - Blue Hills Charitable Foundation · Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Foundation · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Wellington Management Foundation · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Yawkey Foundation II · Eversource Energy Foundation Inc · Highland Street Connection and Subsidiaries

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 Rands 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 · 190%5%19%42%75%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 7%
  • Cape Abilities Inc81% of income from government
  • Plummer Youth Promise Inc64% of income from government
  • Louis D Brown Peace Institute Corp32% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc30% of income from government
  • Addison County Community Action Gro Inc D/B/a Hope18% of income from government
  • Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative Inc16% of income from government
  • Fresh Start Furniture Bank Inc12% of income from government
  • Round the Bend Farm Inc11% of income from government
  • Project Citizenship Inc10% of income from government
  • Silver Lining Mentoring Inc10% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation10% of income from government
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc8% of income from government
  • Boston Debate League Incorporated7% of income from government
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester Inc7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc7% of income from government
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Inc6% of income from government
  • Connecticut Foodshare Inc5% of income from government
  • Catie's Closet Inc4% of income from government
  • Community Foundation for MetroWest Inc4% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College3% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations2% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc1% of income from government
  • Beacon Academy Inc1% of income from government
  • Connecticut College0% of income from government
  • Ceres Inc0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
19get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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.

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 90 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

More from the funding graph