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· Private foundation

Trefler 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.

$1.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
19
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.1M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0192% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Health$3.8MEducation$769kYouth Development$236kHuman Services$230kAnimals$190kEmployment$100kFood & Nutrition$83kCommunity Improvement$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $195k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $282k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.1M
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL$1,050,000
YEAR UP$100,000
MA LEAGUE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS$75,000
NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL$57,000
ELLIE FUND$50,000
UNION CAPITAL BOSTON$40,000
LEADERSHIP BRAINERY$40,000
THE TEACHERS LOUNGE$35,000
MASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE FOR EARLY COLLEGE$35,000
DUET INC$25,000
MSPCA ANGELL$10,000
EMBRACE BOSTON$10,000
Individual grant recipient$7,620
HALEY HOUSE$5,000
CENTER FOR TEEN EMPOWERMENT$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY19–25, $230k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%SHINE BRIGHT WORKSHOPS: $15k → 7%YMCA OF GREATER BOSTON: $100k → 16%UNITED SOUTH END SETTLEMENTS: $10k → 16%UNION CAPITAL BOSTON: $40k → 16%UNION CAPITAL BOSTON: $25k → 16%FATHERS' UPLIFT: $25k → 16%URBAN LEAGUE OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS: $10k → 16%COLLEGE BOUND DORCHESTER INC: $5k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

70%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$4.3M · 17 repeat orgs$1.8M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +35% since the first grant, against +9% for the ones you funded once.

17 repeat relationships — 13 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
50

Total granted

$4.3M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+9%

Still filing today

76%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $168k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementRecreation & SportsArts & CultureOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
    5× · 2019–2025 · $190k · revenue +77%
  • NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
    3× · 2023–2025 · $171k · revenue +12%
  • UC
    UNION CAPITAL INC
    2× · 2023–2025 · $65k · revenue +59%

Funded once

  • YU
    YEAR UP CO MEI LI AHOU
    one grant, 2017 · $391k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
    one grant, 2019 · $275k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $125k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Breakthrough Greater Boston Inc

To inspire excitement for learning, create paths to and through college, and promote careers in education.

Education
2
Browning the Green Space Inc

We seek to facilitate a just energy transition by putting black and brown communities first, and enabling systems change at the intersection of social, environmental, and economic justice. we are powering a just energy transition in the…

Environment
3
Urban Impact Initiative Massachusetts

Urban Impact is dedicated to prioritizing the reduction of the impact of poverty for families in the Commonwealth. The organization offers a plethora of small business corporate and community opportunities. These opportunities include…

Youth Development
4
Brookline Teen Center

Btc's vision is for all brookline students to engage in their community and emerge ready for college, career, and beyond. our mission is to provide a platform where all teens can explore, create, and discover who they are. through…

Youth Development
5
Boston After School & Beyond Inc

Boston after school & beyond, inc. is a public private partnership that pursues a unified after-school and summer learning system that promotes stakeholder alignment, a focus on results, and access to learning opportunities, particularly…

Education
6
Boston Architectural College

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

—
7
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston Inc

Boys & girls clubs of boston (bgcb) stands as a transformative force in boston and chelsea, where high expectations unlock greatness. we believe that every young person who walks through our doors carries limitless potential. through our…

Youth Development
8
Greater Boston Council On Alcoholism Inc
Philanthropy
9
Up Education Network

The principal intent of the organization is to conduct activities to advance education reform in public schools, including public charter schools. specifically, the organization will engage in activities to support and transform…

Education
10
Bpe Inc

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…

Education
11
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
12
Massachusetts Education & Career Opportunities Inc

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…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Center for Teen Empowerment Inc and the most unlike its peers is Smashmouth Wresting Club Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyEarly Childhood Education C…Equity and Systems Change A…Senior Residential CareSchool & College Support Fo…Community Arts Performance …Youth Soccer ProgramsSchool Parent Teacher Organ…Youth Baseball & Basketball…Professional Trade Associat…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 19 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%13%<5yr14%17%5–10yr20%23%10–20yr20%21%20–35yr13%11%35–55yr13%15%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%8%<5yr14%13%5–10yr20%14%10–20yr20%26%20–35yr13%5%35–55yr13%34%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 13% of your grantees by number, and just 8% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 5% lost their exemption, against 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
5%
3/56
the rest of the field
11%
2,431/21,677

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

52 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 52 of the 74 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/52
Grantees still filing
30/52
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL — $3,370,500 · OtherMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITALYEAR UP CO MEI LI AHOU — $391,000 · OtherYEAR UP CO MEI LI AHOUUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS — $275,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTSMA LEAGUE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS — $175,000 · Other+35 more — $776,362 · Other+35 moreNOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL — $171,000 · EducationNOBLE AND…YEAR UP INC — $100,000 · EducationYEAR UP I…ELLIE FUND INC — $60,000 · EducationELLIE FUN…Leadership Brainery Inc — $50,000 · EducationLeadershi…THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE INC — $50,000 · EducationTHE TEACH…MASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE FOR EARLY COLLEGE INC — $35,000 · EducationMASSACHUS…CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE INC — $25,000 · Education+5 more — $45,000 · Education+5 moreYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC — $100,000 · Human ServicesUNION CAPITAL INC — $65,000 · Human ServicesFATHERS UPLIFT INCORPORATED — $25,000 · Human ServicesShine Bright Workshops Inc — $15,000 · Human ServicesURBAN LEAGUE OF EASTERN MASSCHUSETTS INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesUNITED SOUTH END SETTLEMENTS — $10,000 · Human Services+1 more — $5,000 · Human ServicesMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $190,000 · AnimalsTRICOUNTY COMMUNITY NETWORK INC — $25,000 · Community ImprovementTHE URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE OF BOSTONINC — $25,000 · Community ImprovementDUET INC — $25,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC — $20,000 · Community ImprovementGENUNITY INC — $10,000 · Community ImprovementSOCIAL CAPITAL INC — $8,000 · Community ImprovementBOSTON DEBATE LEAGUE INCORPORATED — $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentMASSACHUSETTS PROJECT 351 INC — $11,000 · Youth DevelopmentPAL OF MASSACHUSETTS INC — $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP — $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentINVERSANT INC — $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentHoops Collaborative Youth Development Pr — $7,500 · Youth Development+2 more — $2,500 · Youth DevelopmentDIMOCK COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER INC — $52,500 · Health
Other$4,987,862Education$536,000Human Services$230,000Animals$190,000Community Improvement$113,000Youth Development$66,000Health$52,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $190,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL — $171,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetYEAR UP INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER BOSTON INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGIRLS IN TECH INC — $70,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetUNION CAPITAL INC — $65,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetELLIE FUND INC — $60,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDIMOCK COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER INC — $52,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLeadership Brainery Inc — $50,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetTHE TEACHERS' LOUNGE INC — $50,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR TEEN EMPOWERMENT INC — $50,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE FOR EARLY COLLEGE INC — $35,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetGAINING GROUND INC — $25,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetTRICOUNTY COMMUNITY NETWORK INC — $25,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetBOSTON PARTNERS IN EDUCATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetTHE URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE OF BOSTONINC — $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetFATHERS UPLIFT INCORPORATED — $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetDUET INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COLLEGE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetEMBRACE BOSTON INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBOSTON DEBATE LEAGUE INCORPORATED — $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEDVESTORS INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCITYSPROUTS INC — $15,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetShine Bright Workshops Inc — $15,000 over 1y, 36% of budgetTHE BASEBALL INC — $12,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS PROJECT 351 INC — $11,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetYOUTH IN CRISIS MINISTRY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF EASTERN MASSCHUSETTS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUNITED SOUTH END SETTLEMENTS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGENUNITY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPAL OF MASSACHUSETTS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetHALEY HOUSE INC & AFFILIATES — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS BUSINESS ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATION INC — $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetINVERSANT INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSOCIAL CAPITAL INC — $8,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budget1DAY SOONER INC — $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Rose Conservatory Inc — $7,500 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetThe Upward Project — $7,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetBOSTON WOMEN'S FUND INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSMASHMOUTH WRESTING CLUB INC — $5,000 over 1y, 56% of budgetTHE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNCORNERED INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOACHING FOR CHANGE INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetOne Love Sports Academy — $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Boston Foundation IncCummings Foundation G…Eastern Bank Foundati…Liberty Mutual Founda…Barr FoundationThe New England Patri…Boston After School &…United Way Of Massach…Combined Jewish Phila…Boston Charitable Tru…State Street Foundati…The New Commonwealth …
Boston Foundation IncMA61.2× affinity37 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Cummings Foundation Grants Inc (Fka Oneworld Boston Inc) · Eastern Bank Foundation · Liberty Mutual Foundation Inc · Barr Foundation · The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation Inc · Boston After School & Beyond Inc · United Way Of Massachusetts Bay Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Boston Charitable Trust Fund City of Boston Trust Office · State Street Foundation Inc · The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Trefler Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 170%4%15%34%60%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Louis D Brown Peace Institute Corp — 32% of income from government
  • Uncornered Inc — 24% of income from government
  • Fathers Uplift Incorporated — 22% of income from government
  • Ellie Fund Inc — 15% of income from government
  • The Teachers' Lounge Inc — 14% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University — 12% of income from government
  • Social Capital Inc — 11% of income from government
  • Commonwealth Kitchen Inc — 9% of income from government
  • Boston Debate League Incorporated — 7% of income from government
  • The Center for Teen Empowerment Inc — 7% of income from government
  • Citysprouts Inc — 6% of income from government
  • Gaining Ground Inc — 5% of income from government
  • Coaching for Change Inc — 5% of income from government
  • The Urban Farming Institute of Bostoninc — 4% of income from government
  • One Love Sports Academy — 2% of income from government
  • The Baseball Inc — 1% of income from government
  • Cambridge College Inc — 1% of income from government
  • The Rose Conservatory Inc — 1% of income from government
  • Edvestors Inc — 1% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc — 0% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
17get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 74 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines