Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC
BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,216,788 to it, the largest being Children's Hospital Corporation ($3,018,470). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $6.2M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Boston's Higher Ground Inc does
Mission
To connect children, youth, and families in boston's underserved communities to existing solutions and services that continue to improve, avoid duplication, and empower and transform lives from cradle to career by engaging community-based organizations and key stakeholders in an effective and efficient service delivery model.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education, support for local schools: in fiscal year 2025, boston's higher ground (higher ground) continued with its agreement with boston public schools and to coordinate the 14-member surround care coalition and supported children and families served by two local schools, david a. Ellis k-5, and higginson lewis inclusion, and the nearby crispus attucks children's cener (cacc). Coalition members included the boston children's chorus, boston partners in education, cathleen stone island outward bound school (formerly thompson island outward bound education center), center for teen empowerment, docwayne, families first parenting programs, film makers collaborative, jfynetworks, keysteps, mass. Advocates for children, onebead, program for education & resilience (pear), union capital boston. In addition, higher ground placed social work graduate students from local universities to support students and families. We launched the first year of implementation of the surround care coalition work supported by the second 3-year $1 million grant from boston children's hospital. Higher ground, with support of local school leaders and surround care coalition partners, secured funds from bps and…
$844,300 spent$276,936 earned by the program69% of program spendingFamily-led stability initiative: in fiscal year 2025, higher ground continued to play a lead role in the family-led stability initiative (flsi) to address student homelessness in boston schools. Higher ground coordinated the program with an agreement with boston public schools (bps) on behalf of four non-profit organizations and in collaborations with the boston housing authority (bha) and the mayor's office of housing (moh) supporting families served by 16 schools in boston's roxbury, dorchester and mattapan neighborhoods. The nonprofit partners in addition to higher ground are dudley street neighborhood initiative (dsni), project hope, and new lease for homeless families. The 16 partner schools include the boston day and evening academy, david a. Ellis, dudley street neighborhood charter school, dearborn stem academy, ellison parks early education center, haynes early education center, henry l. Higginson inclusion, higginson lewis inclusion, madison park technical vocational high school, o'bryant school of science and math, orchard gardens, rafael hernandez, william monroe trotter, boston international newcomer academy, lilla fredrick pilot school, and fenway high school. During…
$352,850 spent29% of program spendingOther programs: while maintaining focus on its primary efforts to improve educational outcomes for children and families in its community, higher ground engaged in activities complementary its educational programs. These included collaborating with naaacp boston, the commonwealth seminar, and adl new england in hosting quarterly community crossover dialogues that engaged community leaders and activists in a learning journey about the experiences of greater boston's diverse populations, responding to requests from community residents to support them in addressing concerns in their housing development, and participating in citywide and regional convenings on education, housing and homelessness, and general public policy discussions impacting our community.
$25,614 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,222,764.
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 2021 to 2022, from $978k to $2.2M (+127%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 5% · 2022 3% · 2023 48% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Brandy Brooks
Executive director
Board chair
Charlie Titus
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $45k → $982k.
6 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 27 of 28 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'S HIGHER GROUND INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
74% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 88% · 2019 91% · 2020 45% · 2021 59% · 2022 39% · 2023 67% — 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
80% of BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
98% of BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND 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. $434k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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'S HIGHER GROUND INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,299 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,299 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $449k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$449k
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'S HIGHER GROUND 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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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'S HIGHER GROUND 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'S HIGHER GROUND INC?
- BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,216,788 to it, the largest being Children's Hospital Corporation ($3,018,470). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $6,216,788 in grants to BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND INC?
- Children's Hospital Corporation is the largest funder on record, with $3,018,470 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOSTON'S HIGHER GROUND 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.
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 28 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing