Skip to content
The Rands Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· 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 it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

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

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

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
Wildlife Conservation Society$75,000
Ceres Inc$75,000
Trustees of Reservations$75,000
Vietnam Health Improvement Project$75,000
Doctors Without Borders$75,000
Massachusetts Audubon Society$75,000
The Nature Conservancy$75,000
Esperanza Academy$50,000
Bellesini Academy$50,000
Oxfam-America$35,000
Saint Catherine of Siena$30,000
Louis D Brown Peace Institute$25,000
World Resources Institute$25,000
Catie's Closet$25,000
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:

Its 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. Its 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
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

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

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

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +17% for those 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

+37%
+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
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

  • ESPERANZA ACADEMY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $440k · revenue +450%
  • CI
    CERES INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $260k · revenue +37%
  • 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%
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
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Thrive Scholars; 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.
04the grantee network

73 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. 73 of the 90 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
72/73
Grantees still filing
50/73
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and 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 CONSERVANCYFirst Parish in Needham: $100,000 · OtherFirst Parish in NeedhamHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC: $100,000 · OtherHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INCYALE UNIVERSITY: $100,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITYWorld 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 grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetESPERANZA ACADEMY INC: $440,000 over 6y, 4.2% of budgetCERES INC: $260,000 over 6y, 0.2% 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 budgetCatie's Closet Inc: $145,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetPROJECT CITIZENSHIP INC: $145,000 over 5y, 3.0% 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 budgetBEACON ACADEMY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetWELLINGTON MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 4y, 0.4% 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 budgetNATIVITY SCHOOL OF WORCESTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMARTIN W RICHARD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetWESTWOOD COMMUNITY CHEST: $50,000 over 6y, 8.0% of budgetENVISIONING ACCESS INC: $45,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetDEDHAM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM INC: $40,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetZACK HEGER FOUNDATION INC: $40,000 over 4y, 15% 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 budgetHOPE Inc: $25,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $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 budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHRIVE SCHOLARS: $20,000 over 2y, 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.

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 IncEastern Bank Foundati…Cummings Foundation G…Rockland Trust - Blue…Rockland Trust Charit…Fidelity FoundationCombined Jewish Phila…Wellington Management…American Tower Corpor…Yawkey Foundation IIEversource Energy Fou…Highland Street Conne…
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

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 190%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Cape Abilities Inc: 81% of income from government
  • Plummer Youth Promise Inc: 64% of income from government
  • Louis D Brown Peace Institute Corp: 32% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Addison County Community Action Gro Inc D/B/a Hope: 18% of income from government
  • Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative Inc: 16% of income from government
  • Fresh Start Furniture Bank Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Round the Bend Farm Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Project Citizenship Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Silver Lining Mentoring Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation: 10% of income from government
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Boston Debate League Incorporated: 7% of income from government
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Connecticut Foodshare Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Catie's Closet Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Community Foundation for MetroWest Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College: 3% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Beacon Academy Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
  • Ceres Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% 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, 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.

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 90 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 Rands’ 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