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The Salem Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Salem Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$492k
Granted FY2024still arriving
14
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$6.3MEmployment$5.9MEducation$3.0MRecreation & Sports$1.4MPhilanthropy$666kHealth$633kHuman Services$521kScience & Tech$500kOther$0
02FY2024 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $2k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $410k
$50,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$72M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL$100,000
SQUASHBUSTERS INC$60,000
FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS$50,000
HARLEM LACROSSE$50,000
ST JOHN'S HIGH SCHOOL$50,000
MGM RESORTS FOUNDATION$50,000
SAVE THE BAY INC$50,000
MASSACHUSETTS PROJECT 351 INC$25,000
HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE$25,000
THE ISLAND SCHOOL-CAPE ELEUTHERA FOUNDATION$10,000
ST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION$10,000
ANSWER THE CALL$10,000
BARRINGTON HIGH SCHOOL AFTER PROM$1,000
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA INC$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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $150k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE: $25k → 17%HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE: $25k → 17%WOMEN'S REFUGEE CARE: $50k → 14%PROVIDENCE RESCUE MISSION: $25k → 14%WOMEN'S REFUGEE CARE: $25k → 14%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

NY
MA
NV
IN
NJ
CT
RI
CA
VA
MD
AR
NC
SC
DC
OK
GA
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 30% of The Salem Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 87% of the giving stays in RI; by stated purpose, 55%.

The Salem Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 33% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$17M · 20 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

20 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
40

Total granted

$17M
$977k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+38%

Still filing today

60%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $77k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationPhilanthropyHealthHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentInternationalOther
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

  • EI
    EDESIA INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $6.3M · revenue +129%
  • WH
    WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $500k · revenue +17%
  • SAVE THE BAY INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $250k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • Rhode Island Hospital Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $200k · revenue +74%
  • CB
    COLLEGE BOUND DORCHESTER INC (UNCORNERED)
    one grant, 2023 · $125k
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF UNIV OF NOTRE DAME
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue -9%
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
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
5
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
6
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
7
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.…

—
8
The Alumni Association of the University of Rhode Island

The university of rhode island alumni association informs and engages current and future alumni as committed partners of the university, its missions and traditions.

—
9
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
10
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.

—
11
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
12
Atlantic University Inc

Provide post-secondary education of excellence.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Save the Bay Inc; the most unlike its peers is Woosox Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

46 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. 46 of the 70 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
46/46
Grantees still filing
29/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

YEAR UP INC: $5,900,000 · EducationYEAR UP INCUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $1,250,000 · EducationUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac+6 more: $204,998 · EducationEDESIA INC: $6,250,000 · Food & NutritionEDESIA INCMOSES BROWN SCHOOL: $1,617,888 · OtherMOSES BROWN SCHOOLST JOHNS HIGH SCHOOL: $502,500 · OtherST JOHNS HIGH SCHOOLHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: $500,000 · OtherHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOLTHE NAVY SEAL VETERANS FOUNDATION: $360,000 · OtherTHE NAVY SEAL VETERANS FOU…PAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $250,000 · OtherPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENG…PONKA FOUNDATION: $159,000 · OtherRhode Island Hospital Foundation: $200,000 · Other+40 more: $981,760 · Other+40 moreTHE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $265,000 · PhilanthropyMGM RESORTS FOUNDATION: $150,000 · PhilanthropyFOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS: $100,000 · PhilanthropyMONTEREY PENINSULA FOUNDATION: $60,000 · PhilanthropyST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION INC: $36,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR PALM BEACH AND MARTIN COUNTIES INC: $35,000 · PhilanthropyBILLY ANDRADE-BRAD FAXON CHARITIES FOR CHILDREN INC: $25,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $22,000 · PhilanthropyWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $500,000 · Science & TechSQUASHBUSTERS INC: $255,000 · Youth DevelopmentMASSACHUSETTS PROJECT 351 INC: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentSAVE THE BAY INC: $250,000 · Environment
Education$7,354,998Food & Nutrition$6,250,000Other$4,571,148Philanthropy$693,000Science & Tech$500,000Youth Development$280,000Environment$250,000

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 budgetEDESIA INC: $6,250,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetYEAR UP INC: $5,900,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $1,250,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $500,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $265,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSQUASHBUSTERS INC: $255,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetSAVE THE BAY INC: $250,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $250,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRhode Island Hospital Foundation: $200,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetMGM RESORTS FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF UNIV OF NOTRE DAME: $100,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN REFUGEE CARE: $75,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetMONTEREY PENINSULA FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHARLEM LACROSSE AND LEADERSHIP CORPORATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $44,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION INC: $36,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR PALM BEACH AND MARTIN COUNTIES INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS PROJECT 351 INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetRHODE ISLAND RESCUE MINISTRIES: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBILLY ANDRADE-BRAD FAXON CHARITIES FOR CHILDREN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetRon Burton Training Village Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTAO CARES RELIEF FUND: $20,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBONEFISH & TARPON TRUST INC: $17,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNY POLICE AND FIRE WIDOWS' & CHILDREN'S BENEFIT FUND INC: $16,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWOOSOX FOUNDATION INC: $15,998 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSTEPPINGSTONE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBUTTON HOLE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetIONA UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNANTUCKET BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS CONNECTICUT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLIGHT FROM LIGHT INC: $5,760 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOLF FIGHTS CANCER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS RHODE ISLAND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNARRAGANSETT COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Autism Project: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSwim Across America Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Amica Companies Found…The Champlin Foundati…United Way of Rhode I…Citizens Charitable F…Textron Charitable Tr…Cvs Health Charity Cl…The Rhode Island Comm…Eastern Bank Foundati…The Picerne Family Ch…Boston Bruins Charita…The Pfizer Foundation…Fidelity Foundation
Amica Companies FoundationRI23.8× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amica Companies Foundation · The Champlin Foundation · United Way of Rhode Island Inc · Citizens Charitable Foundation · Textron Charitable Trust Dtd 122353 · Cvs Health Charity Classic Inc · The Rhode Island Community Foundation · Eastern Bank Foundation · The Picerne Family Charitable Foundation · Boston Bruins Charitable Foundation Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Fidelity 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 Salem Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Salem Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 110%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 33%
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
  • Special Olympics Connecticut Inc: 42% of income from government
  • Steppingstone Inc: 33% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
11get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 Salem Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Salem 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 70 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Salem’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