· Private foundation
The Spark 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k3 grants · $18k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $53k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BOSTON HIGHER ED RESOSURCE CENTER | $15,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $15,000 |
| SCHOOL ON WHEELS MA | $12,500 |
| CAPE COD CHILDREN'S PLACE | $10,000 |
| 826 BOSTON | $7,500 |
| THE CHILDREN'S CENTER -HARWICH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL FOR HOUSING | $5,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 64% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +118% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.
11 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MMMINDS MATTER OF BOSTON INC6× · 2017–2022 · $73k · revenue +191%
826 BOSTON INC8× · 2017–2025 · $63k · revenue +475%- CCCAPE COD CHILDREN'S PLACE INC3× · 2023–2025 · $23k · revenue +4%
Funded once
- SOSCHOOL ON WHEELS OF MASSACHUSETTS INCgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +71%
- BABOSTON AFTER SCHOOL & BEYOND INCone grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue -23%
THE EPIPHANY SCHOOL INCgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +138%
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.
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.
Massachusetts education and career opportunities, inc. (massedco, inc.) is a statewide network of service sites that provides education and career advising to over 12,000 low-income, first generation individuals each year. massedco…
To inspire excitement for learning, create paths to and through college, and promote careers in education.
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…
To promote the growth and development of children while teaching them how to learn efficiently and experience the joy of learning
By creating supportive relationships between students and volunteer mentors, boston partners in education ensures a more equitable city where every bps student is equipped with the skills, opportunity, and confidence to succeed in the…
To provide academic, post secondary and career services to underserved students in grades 6-16.
Bpe drives exceptional outcomes for all students by developing great teachers and great schools. for three decades, bpe (formerly the boston plan for excellence) has devised solutions to the toughest challenges faced by boston's students…
To provide low income, first generation students who attend selective colleges the skills and resources they need to succeed in college and graduate prepared for careers in competitive and high wage fields. To seek upward mobility for…
Impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors - 12+ years, no matter what.
Bpe's mission is to drive exceptional outcomes for all students by developing great teachers and great schools. for three decades, bpe (formerly the boston plan for excellence) has devised solutions to the toughest challenges faced by…
To provide scholarship, mentoring and educational assistance to graduates of boston public high schools or boston charter high schools who are seeking to complete college, trade school or vocational programs which they began upon…
To enhance opportunities for success by inspiring each child's love of learning, partnering with families, advocating for equity, and fostering a connection to community.
How this is measured
11 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. 11 of the 18 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 MINDS MATTER OF BOSTON INC ↗
- Who funds 826 BOSTON INC ↗
- Who funds CAPE COD CHILDREN'S PLACE INC ↗
- Who funds LITERATIONS CORP ↗
- Who funds CAPE COD LITERACY COUNCIL INC ↗
- Who funds The Boston Higher Education Resource Center Inc ↗
- Who funds SCHOOL ON WHEELS OF MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
- Who funds BOSTON AFTER SCHOOL & BEYOND INC ↗
- Who funds THE EPIPHANY SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds THRIVE SCHOLARS ↗
- Who funds FALMOUTH VOLUNTEERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 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.
Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Wellington Management Foundation · Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Spark Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Spark Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Cape Cod Children's Place Inc: 49% of income from government
- Boston After School & Beyond Inc: 37% of income from government
- School On Wheels of Massachusetts Inc: 1% of income from government
- 826 Boston Inc: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Spark Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Spark 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.
Play a game based on Spark’s filings →