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The Shane Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Shane Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$204k
Granted FY2024still arriving
41
Grants FY2024still arriving
9
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$272kEducation$243kHealth$94kAnimals$35kHuman Services$35kScience & Tech$28kInternational$27kRecreation & Sports$23kOther$0
02FY2024 · 41 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k38 grants · $69k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$2,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$993k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MOWGLI HOLT ELWELL MEMORIAL FDN'S HOPE TO BE$100,000
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY - PROJECT 79$25,000
SCHWAB CHARITABLE$10,000
BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS$5,000
BELMONT HILL SCHOOL$5,000
MISS HALL'S SCHOOL$3,500
AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE$3,500
FRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN$3,000
MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL$3,000
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$3,000
HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL$2,500
WELLESLEY COLLEGE$2,500
LAHEY HOSPITAL$2,500
WBUR$2,000
BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL$2,000
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 (FY19–24, $31k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SEAGLASS VILLAGE: $500 → 10%NEW HAMPSHIRE FOOD BANK: $500 → 7%ONE COMMUNITY MANY VOICES: $500 → 11%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 16%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 16%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 16%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 16%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $5k → 16%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $4k → 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
VT
NH
WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CA
NE
VA
TN
NC
DC
TX
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$633k · 57 repeat orgs$163k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

57 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2024, 30 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

57
28

Total granted

$633k
$28k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+23%

Still filing today

67%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 30% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $135k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureAnimalsHealthEnvironmentHuman ServicesOther
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

  • BH
    BELMONT HILL SCHOOL INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $40k · revenue +141%
  • AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $39k · revenue +43%
  • MH
    MISS HALL'S SCHOOL INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $37k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
  • ND
    NOTRE DAME CHILDRENS CLASS
    one grant, 2017 · $2k
  • EM
    Elkhorn Marine Conservancy Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $2k · revenue +87%
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
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
3
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
4
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
5
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
6
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
7
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

—
8
New England Lawboston

New england law/boston dedicates itself to preparing students to be successful lawyers and leaders in the public and private sectors through integrated practical, theoretical and ethical education of the highest caliber and to contributing…

Education
9
Wentworth Institute of Technology Inc

Wentworth institute of technology is a nationally recognized private coeducational and residential university of higher education with a mission to empower, inspire and innovate through experiential learning with a core purpose of career…

Education
10
Harvard Conservation Trust

To preserve the unique character and natural resources of harvard.

Environment
11
Saint Anselm College

Saint anselm is a catholic, benedictine college providing all of its students a distinctive liberal arts education that incorporates opportunities for professional and career preparation. it does so in a learning community that encourages…

Education
12
Trustees of Boston College

Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New England Aquarium Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Hamilton Hall 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

60 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. 60 of the 99 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
60/60
Grantees still filing
47/60
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MOWGLI HOLT ELWELL MEMORIAL FDN'S HOPE TO BE: $100,000 · OtherMOWGLI HOLT ELWELL MEMORIAL FDN'S HOPE TO BEPRINCETON UNIVERSITY - PROJECT 79: $25,000 · OtherPRINCETON UNIVERSITY - PROJECT 79TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $21,000 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITYMASS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $20,500 · OtherMASS GENERAL HOSPITALWGBH: $18,500 · OtherALZHEIMERS FUND: $14,500 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC: $20,000 · Other+50 more: $161,500 · Other+50 moreBELMONT HILL SCHOOL INC: $40,000 · EducationBELMONT HILL SCHOOL INCMISS HALL'S SCHOOL INC: $37,000 · EducationMISS HALL'S SCHOOL INCThe Trustees of Princeton University: $32,500 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton …President and Fellows of Harvard College: $20,500 · EducationPresident and Fellows of H…Wellesley College: $19,500 · EducationWellesley CollegeOberlin College: $17,500 · EducationOberlin CollegeSTEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC: $10,250 · EducationCONCORD ACADEMY: $8,500 · Education+6 more: $7,750 · EducationAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $38,500 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN REPERTORY…MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: $22,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF FINE ART…MUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $19,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF SCIENCEBOSTON BALLET INC: $19,000 · Arts & CultureBOSTON BALLET INCPEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM INC: $15,000 · Arts & CulturePEABODY ESSEX MUSE…BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $13,500 · Arts & CultureBOSTON SYMPHONY OR…+3 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureMILL REEF FUND: $17,500 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMONWEALTH CORPORATION FOUNDATION: $2,500 · Philanthropy+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $29,000 · Human Services+3 more: $1,500 · Human ServicesLAHEY CLINIC INC: $15,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $7,000 · HealthBETH ISRAEL LAHEY HEALTH INC: $5,000 · HealthANNA JAQUES HOSPITAL INC: $1,000 · HealthBOSTON BONE AND JOINT INSTITUTE RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · HealthNEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION: $8,000 · AnimalsAVIAN HAVEN: $7,000 · AnimalsWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC: $5,500 · AnimalsFRIENDS OF BONOBOS: $3,500 · AnimalsWildlife Conservation Society: $3,500 · AnimalsSEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $1,000 · Animals
Other$381,000Education$193,500Arts & Culture$132,000Philanthropy$31,000Human Services$30,500Health$29,000Animals$28,500

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 budgetBELMONT HILL SCHOOL INC: $40,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $38,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMISS HALL'S SCHOOL INC: $37,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $32,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $29,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: $22,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $21,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $20,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC: $20,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWellesley College: $19,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $19,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON BALLET INC: $19,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMILL REEF FUND: $17,500 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetOberlin College: $17,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetPEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM INC: $15,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLAHEY CLINIC INC: $15,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $13,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC: $10,250 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONCORD ACADEMY: $8,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION: $8,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHOLT-ELWELL MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OPERATING CAMP MOWGLIS: $8,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCare Dimensions Inc: $7,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAVIAN HAVEN: $7,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetFRENCH LIBRARY INC: $6,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC: $5,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBETH ISRAEL LAHEY HEALTH INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLAS PATRONAS: $4,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF BONOBOS: $3,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNatural Resources Council of Maine Inc: $3,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $3,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JAPAN SOCIETY OF BOSTON INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH CORPORATION FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMarine Mammals of Maine: $2,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMARBLEHEAD BOOSTERS CLUB INCORPORATED: $2,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetHARBORLIGHT COMMUNITY PARTNERS INC: $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM INC: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetElkhorn Marine Conservancy Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTREE FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH SHORE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COALIT: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPECIAL OPERATORS TRANSITION FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetANNA JAQUES HOSPITAL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBoston Philharmonic Orchestra Corporation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON BONE AND JOINT INSTITUTE RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE GLOUCESTER FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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 BELMONT HILL SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC ↗
  • Who funds MISS HALL'S SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds The Trustees of Princeton University ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE PUBLIC GARDEN INC ↗
  • Who funds Wellesley College ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF SCIENCE ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON BALLET INC ↗
  • Who funds MILL REEF FUND ↗
  • Who funds Oberlin College ↗
  • Who funds PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds LAHEY CLINIC INC ↗
  • Who funds BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
  • Who funds STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds CONCORD ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds HOLT-ELWELL MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OPERATING CAMP MOWGLIS ↗
  • Who funds Care Dimensions Inc ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AVIAN HAVEN ↗
  • Who funds FRENCH LIBRARY INC ↗

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.

Eastern Bank Foundati…Boston Foundation IncSalem Five Charitable…Essex County Communit…Maine Community Found…Bny Mellon Charitable…Institution for Savin…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The US Charitable Gif…Verizon FoundationVanguard Charitable E…
Eastern Bank FoundationMA24.1× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eastern Bank Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · Salem Five Charitable Foundation Inc · Essex County Community Foundation Inc · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Bny Mellon Charitable Gift Fund · Institution for Savings in Newburyport & Its Vicinity Charitable Foundation Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The US Charitable Gift Trust · Verizon Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 190%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Care Dimensions Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • New England Aquarium Corporation: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc: 8% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Anna Jaques Hospital Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Peabody Essex Museum Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Lake Champlain Land Trust Inc: 1% of income from government
  • New England Conservatory of Music: 1% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • Lahey Clinic Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Friends of the Public Garden Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Corporation: 1% of income from government
  • Boston Ballet Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
  • American Repertory Theatre Co Inc: 0% of income from government
  • North Shore Community Development Coalit: 0% of income from government
  • Museum of Fine Arts: 0% of income from government
  • Steppingstone Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
19get no government money at all
2report 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 Shane Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Shane 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 99 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 Shane’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