· Private foundation
The Sumner & Lois Herman Charitable Foundation
Its FY2023 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 2023.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2023
- Under $10k35 grants · $61k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| JEWISH FEDERATION OF CENTRAL MA | $10,000 |
| SHAMROCK FOUNDATION | $6,800 |
| BRAIN INJURY ASSOC OF MASS | $5,870 |
| ARCK | $5,000 |
| UMASS MEMORIAL | $5,000 |
| MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT | $5,000 |
| WHITE SNAKE PROJECTS | $4,000 |
| ROSIES PLACE | $4,000 |
| TEMPLE BETH AM | $3,026 |
| JEWISH HEALTHCARE CENTER | $2,710 |
| DRESS FOR SUCCESS | $2,575 |
| Individual grant recipient | $2,500 |
| PAN MASS CHALLENGE | $2,038 |
| NEPCF | $1,800 |
| PLEDGEIT | $1,442 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–23, $47k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, 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.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
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 +56% since the first grant, against +42% for those funded once.
44 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2023, 24 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).
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 FY2023, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- JHJEWISH HEALTHCARE CENTER INC7× · 2017–2023 · $77k · revenue +20%
- BIBRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS INC7× · 2017–2023 · $46k · revenue +26%
- RPROSIE'S PLACE INC7× · 2017–2023 · $29k · revenue +93%
Funded once
- JFJEWISH FEDERATIONone grant, 2017 · $29k
- AFAMERICAN FUNDRAISER FOUNDATIONone grant, 2017 · $12k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2018 · $9k
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.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
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.
Mass general brigham health plan's mission is to promote the health and wellness of our members, and to help ensure equitable, affordbale health care for the diverse communities we serve.
Bridgespan's mission is to build a better world by strengthening the ability of mission-driven organizations and philanthropists to achieve breakthrough results in addressing society's most important challenges and opportunities.
Our mission is to invest in and accelerate the development of the most promising future leaders in biomedical research with global impact.
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.
Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service
Mass general brigham incorporated is developing an integrated health care delivery system throughout the region that offers patients a continuum of coordinated, high-quality care.
The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.
Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. activate partners with u.s. based funders, research institutions, and other pillars of the hard technology community to help entrepreneurial…
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…
Commonwealth care alliance, inc.'s mission is to improve the health and well-being of people with significant needs by innovating, coordinating and providing the highest quality, individualized care.
How this is measured
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 144 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 JEWISH HEALTHCARE CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
- Who funds BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS INC ↗
- Who funds ROSIE'S PLACE INC ↗
- Who funds WHITE SNAKE PROJECTS INC ↗
- Who funds DANA-FARBER INC ↗
- Who funds PAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC ↗
- Who funds LIVE LIFE BY MUSIC INITIATIVE ↗
- Who funds CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE INC ↗
- Who funds EAGLE HILL FOUNDATION OF MASSACHUSETTSINC ↗
- Who funds HOOPS AND HOMEWORK INC ↗
- Who funds PROVISION MINISTRY INC ↗
- Who funds BOSTON BALLET INC ↗
- Who funds THE GERRISH FAMILY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Straight Ahead Ministries 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: Greater Worcester Community Foundation Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Coghlin Family Foundation · The Fred Harris Daniels Foundation · The Fletcher Foundation · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · Melvin S Cutler Charitable Foundation · The White Companies Charitable Trust · Stoddard Charitable Trust · United Way of Central Massachusetts Inc · DCU for Kids
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Sumner & Lois Herman Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sumner & Lois Herman Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts Inc: 74% of income from government
- Veterans Inc: 58% of income from government
- The Home for Little Wanderers Inc: 38% of income from government
- Straight Ahead Ministries Inc: 27% of income from government
- Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
- Jewish Healthcare Center Inc: 15% of income from government
- Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
- Sudbury Valley Trustees Inc: 11% of income from government
- White Snake Projects Inc: 8% of income from government
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
- Hoops and Homework Inc: 5% of income from government
- Old Sturbridge Inc: 4% of income from government
- The Institute of Contemporary Art Inc: 1% of income from government
- Cambridge College Inc: 1% of income from government
- Worcester County Food Bank Inc: 1% of income from government
- Boston Ballet Inc: 0% of income from government
- Springfield Partners for Community Action Inc: 0% of income from government
- Rosie's Place Inc: 0% of income from government
- Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
- Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
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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.
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