Massachusetts · Nonprofit
CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST
CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST (Massachusetts) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $78,473 to it, the largest being CAMBRIDGE SAVINGS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($50,800). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $83k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $78k
- Net assets
- $59k
What Cambridge Local First does
Mission
The organization's purpose is to provide public education and awareness on the importance of local economies and small businesses, directly support businesses through technical assistance and other networking support to help them build their long-term capacity, and do research and advocate for a thriving local economy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Small Business Shopping Guide which promotes 100 small businesses
$0 spentAmerican Rescue Plan Technical Assistance Program which served 4 participants
$0 spent617 Day Small Business Summit which serves 58 small business members
$0 spent
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $0.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $53k to $171k (+222%).
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: 2024 91%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (77% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Kari Kuelzer
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $9k → $17k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
27% 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 CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 60% · 2022 58% · 2023 91% — diversifying over time.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST has grown faster than half of the 6,328 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,328 community improvement nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Government funding CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $150k on record.
- Small Business Administration$150k
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 CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST
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.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST: 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 CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST?
- CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST (Massachusetts) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $78,473 to it, the largest being CAMBRIDGE SAVINGS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($50,800). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $78,473 in grants to CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST?
- CAMBRIDGE SAVINGS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $50,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CAMBRIDGE LOCAL FIRST 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 Cambridge Local First →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 4 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