Skip to content
Trefler Foundation at a glance

· 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 it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

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

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

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

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
MASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE FOR EARLY COLLEGE$35,000
THE TEACHERS LOUNGE$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

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 (FY19–25, $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 its 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
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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

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

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +9% for those 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
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

  • 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
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
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Center for Teen Empowerment Inc; 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.
04the grantee network

52 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. 52 of the 74 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/52
Grantees still filing
30/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and 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 DevelopmentLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentPAL OF MASSACHUSETTS INC: $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 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 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 CENTER FOR TEEN EMPOWERMENT INC: $50,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetTHE TEACHERS' LOUNGE INC: $50,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE FOR EARLY COLLEGE INC: $35,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBOSTON PARTNERS IN EDUCATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetGAINING GROUND INC: $25,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetFATHERS UPLIFT INCORPORATED: $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COLLEGE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRICOUNTY COMMUNITY NETWORK INC: $25,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetTHE URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE OF BOSTONINC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetDUET INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEMBRACE BOSTON INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetShine Bright Workshops Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 36% of budgetCITYSPROUTS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetEDVESTORS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOSTON DEBATE LEAGUE INCORPORATED: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE BASEBALL INC: $12,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS PROJECT 351 INC: $11,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetHALEY HOUSE INC & AFFILIATES: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGENUNITY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS BUSINESS ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetYOUTH IN CRISIS MINISTRY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetLOUIS D BROWN PEACE INSTITUTE CORP: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAL OF MASSACHUSETTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF EASTERN MASSCHUSETTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetINVERSANT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED SOUTH END SETTLEMENTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSOCIAL CAPITAL INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetThe Rose Conservatory Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 5.7% of budget1DAY SOONER INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Upward Project: $7,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetUNCORNERED INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSMASHMOUTH WRESTING CLUB INC: $5,000 over 1y, 56% of budgetBOSTON WOMEN'S FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE SPORTSMEN'S TENNIS & ENRICHMENT CENTER 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
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 tightly interlocked group: 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

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 170%4%15%34%60%funder's 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
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 74 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

Play a game based on Trefler’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