Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL (Massachusetts) receives grants from 79 organizations whose IRS filings report $27,196,773 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,553,713). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $77M
- Funders on record
- 79
- Grants received
- $27M
- Net assets
- $194M
What Buckingham Browne & Nichols School does
Mission
Bb&n, an all gender day school in cambridge, massachusetts, was established in 1974 by the merger of two independent schools, the buckingham school and the browne & nichols school, founded respectively in 1889 and 1883. Located on multiple campuses, we work as one school in pursuit of excellence. We celebrate the diversity of our community which enriches our daily experience. At bb&n, we foster intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and a deep concern and respect for others. Our educational program, coordinated from beginners through grade twelve, provides a rigorous core curriculum, taught in flexible and innovative ways. Students acquire the skills and discipline necessary for academic accomplishment and learn to reflect, take risks and to discover. The curriculum is strengthened by our commitment to a comprehensive program in the arts and athletics. In all of our experiences, both those within the school and those which use our urban location, we encourage self-reliance, knowledge of oneself, and a capacity for leadership. The connections between our faculty and students are at the heart of our school. We ask members of our community to be engaged learners, compassionate…
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (bb&n) is a prek-12 independent day school in cambridge, massachusetts, enrolling 1,049 students who reside in 95 different towns and cities across the greater boston region. Bb&n is an academically excellent, diverse, and inclusive community where students develop into lifelong learners who lead with kindness, curiosity, and integrity. We prepare students to be responsible and open-minded as they engage with the world around them. Our community is unified through four core values: inquiry, through which we promote curiosity and critical thinking to inspire a lifelong love of learning; integrity, through which we strive to be honest, conscientious, and accountable in our actions even when no one is watching; belonging, through which we foster a culture of respect, well-being, and connection that values all individuals and empowers them to discover and be their authentic selves; and kindness, through which we strengthen our communities by recognizing our common humanity and treating ourselves and others with respect and compassion.
$62,426,053 spentof which $11,961,411 as grants$62,789,660 earned by the program98% of program spendingBuckingham Browne & Nichols School holds a summer camp for boston area children each summer that provides members of the school and local community with a high quality, affordable option to educate and entertain their children during summer vacation.
$1,532,264 spent$3,093,407 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $63,958,317.
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 2020 to 2021, from $185M to $260M (+41%).
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: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
10% of BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% 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.
Board chair
Jason Hafler
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 38 funders, grant income rose $441k → $3.2M.
19 of 79 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 79 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
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 68% · 2019 78% · 2020 53% · 2021 74% · 2022 51% · 2023 54% — 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
52% of BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
86% of BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $3.9M that is directly attributable, 79% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL is better cushioned than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$4k
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 BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL
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
87% 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 BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL: 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 BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL?
- BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL (Massachusetts) receives grants from 79 organizations whose IRS filings report $27,196,773 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,553,713). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL have?
- IRS filings report 79 organizations giving $27,196,773 in grants to BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $15,553,713 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL 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 79 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