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The Willow Tree Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Willow Tree Fund

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.

$2.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$2.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$23MYouth Development$2.3MEducation$1.0MCrime & Legal$500kPublic Benefit$500kArts & Culture$250kCivil Rights$250kCommunity Improvement$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,992,538
Median grant
1
States reached
$6.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND - THE WILLOW TREE FUND$1,992,538
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 52% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 9%MASS AUDUBON: $394k → 8%NORTH SHORE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COALITION INC: $50k → 10%THE BOSTON EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FNDN - MCCORMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARY: $1k → 16%VALUES UNITED DBA WHISTLEBLOWER AID: $500k → 14%ONYX IMPACT: $250k → 13%UTEC INC: $943k → 8%MI-AMORE: $10k → 16%VOTO LATINO FOUNDATION: $250k → 14%BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL: $1.0M → 8%TRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS: $972k → 16%THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $250k → 14%PROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $250k → 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.
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 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
Upturn Inc

Upturn advances equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology.

—
2
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
3
Us Digital Response

U.s. digital response is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps governments, nonprofits, and public entities respond quickly to critical public needs. the organization serves the public by leveraging a network of pro bono…

Public Safety & Disaster
4
International Budget Partnership

Ibp works with civil society, governments, international institutions and the private sector to bring about a world in which empowered citizens participate in open, inclusive public budgeting processes to shape policies and practices that…

International
5
Protect Democracy United

The mission of protect democracy united is to prevent our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. we do this by working to strengthen the checks and balances that have held the executive branch accountable to…

—
6
Atlantic University Inc

Provide post-secondary education of excellence.

Education
7
Urban Guild Inc

The corporation is organized to improve the quality of life in bostons urban communities by building capacity, environmental health, and providing economic opportunity in a manner that responds directly to community needs, interests, and…

Community Improvement
8
Aire Ventures Inc

At aire ventures, we scale technology and innovation solutions to systemic gaps in access, opportunity, and racial equity.

Community Improvement
9
Umoja Debate Team

Umoja Debate League is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that uses debate as our vehicle to teach Detroit youth ages 11-18 transferable life skills such as critical thinking confidence conflict resolution increased literacy and…

Arts & Culture
10
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
11
Open New York Education Inc

Open new york education, inc. supports public education, awareness, and engagement around housing issues to help build a movement for a more abundant and inclusive new york.

Housing & Shelter
12
Inequality Media

To use digital media for the purpose of educating and engaging the public in topics regarding inequality and imbalance of power in america.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Trinity Boston Connects Inc; the most unlike its peers is Mi Amore Incorporated. 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

10 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. 10 of the 14 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND - THE WILLOW TREE FUND: $22,737,256 · OtherFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND - THE WILLOW TREE FUND+4 more: $1,118,329 · OtherTRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS INC: $971,767 · Youth DevelopmentUTEC Inc: $942,600 · Youth DevelopmentBUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL: $1,024,485 · EducationVALUES UNITED: $500,000 · EducationPROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $250,000 · Civil RightsVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 · Civil RightsONYX IMPACT INC: $250,000 · Civil RightsNORTH SHORE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COALIT: $50,000 · Housing & ShelterMI AMORE INCORPORATED: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$23,855,585Youth Development$1,914,367Education$1,524,485Civil Rights$750,000Housing & Shelter$50,000Food & Nutrition$10,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL: $1,024,485 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTRINITY BOSTON CONNECTS INC: $971,767 over 1y, 30% of budgetUTEC Inc: $942,600 over 1y, 11% of budgetVALUES UNITED: $500,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetPROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $250,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetONYX IMPACT INC: $250,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNORTH SHORE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COALIT: $50,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMI AMORE INCORPORATED: $10,000 over 1y, 10.0% 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Fidelity Investments …
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA5.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Utec Inc: 46% of income from government
  • North Shore Community Development Coalit: 0% of income from government
  • Buckingham Browne & Nichols School: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 14 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

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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