Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC
BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,120,311 to it, the largest being BARR FOUNDATION ($5,791,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $10M
- Funders on record
- 60
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $9.3M
What Boston Harbor Now Inc does
Mission
Our mission is to ensure that the people of greater boston benefit from a vibrant, resilient, and inclusive waterfront, harbor, and islands; these spaces are equitable, accessible, and adapted to climate change; and to ensure our public, environmental, and economic health and well-being.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Boston harbor now, inc. (bhn), as the non-profit partner of the boston harbor islands national and state park, manages a number of operations, facilities, and revenue-generating services to enhance visitor experience and provide funding to support the park. Managed services include public ferry operations, island-based food service and private events. In addition, bhn manages the mainland park welcome center located in boston on behalf of the national park service. Bhn also organizes programming, provides free and reduced cost access to underserved youth and families, and works with many community partners and nonprofits to increase use and appreciation of the harbor.
$2,163,368 spent$176,081 earned by the program53% of program spendingBoston harbor now, inc. Leads harborwalk 2.0 to ensure an accessible, resilient and equitable harbor through planning, policy, and advocacy work. To address the detrimental effects of climate change, boston harbor now works to reform regulations and processes to expedite the implementation of resilience projects, including nature-based solutions on the waterfront and islands. We review all major public and private development and infrastructure proposals along the boston waterfront to ensure that resilience and accessibility are maximized.
$840,485 spent21% of program spendingBoston harbor now, inc. Provides thought leadership for the harbor, waterfront and islands, increases awareness about the harbor, waterfront and islands, and increases engagement with these places through program participation, and digital interaction.
$477,784 spent12% of program spendingThe stone living lab is looking to create a future where people work with nature to make coastal regions resilient and adaptive to climate change while enhancing natural and built environments. It is an innovative and collaborative partnership for testing and scaling up nature-based approaches to climate adaptation, coastal resilience, and ecological restoration in the high-energy, cold-water environment of boston harbor. The lab is a partnership among the following organizations, in collaboration with members of the massachusetts tribe at ponkapoag: umass boston school for the environment boston harbor now city of boston massachusetts department of conservation and recreation massachusetts executive office of energy and environmental affairs national park servicelab operations are led by umass boston school for the environment and boston harbor now. Boston harbor now helped to launch the lab and build a team of staff and consultants. We continue to position and brand it; build strategic partnerships locally, nationally and internationally; run a comprehensive education and engagement program; assist with the research and monitoring program; organize conferences; manage and lead…
$610,566 spent15% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,092,203.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $4.9M to $9.7M (+97%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 22% · 2018 25% · 2019 31% · 2020 16% · 2021 28% · 2022 15% · 2023 23% · 2024 16% · 2025 54%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Katherine Abbott
President and CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $134k → $2.0M.
7 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $4.1M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Boston Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC raised.
From the IRS filings of BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 31% · 2019 67% · 2020 54% · 2021 73% · 2022 55% · 2023 68% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
90% of BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.0M on record — $1.9M federal, $7.1M state.
- Department of the Interior$1.9M
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$6.6M
- (JJ) OPERATIONAL SERVICES$346k
- (NN) INFRASTRUCTURE:$160k
- (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$300
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC?
- BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,120,311 to it, the largest being BARR FOUNDATION ($5,791,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC have?
- IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $11,120,311 in grants to BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC?
- BARR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,791,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOSTON HARBOR NOW INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Boston Harbor Now →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 60 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing