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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC

CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,075,915 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($570,064). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$1.4M
Funders on record
33
Grants received
$2.1M
Net assets
$1.3M
21/33 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 68%
01What it does

What Change Is Simple Inc does

Mission

To instill lifelong social and environmental responsibility through experiential learning that inspires action for healthy people, planet and community

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Education programs: change is simples super-charged stem curriculum brings environmental, sustainability and climate education to more than 7,000 elementary and middle school students in the greater boston area each year. The program transforms classrooms into ecosystems and labs, and kids into engineers and scientists; solving the most pressing enviromental and climate issues. But what the students learn is not just science; it is math, english language arts, engineering, problem solving, social and emotional learning and more, all taught through the lens of sustainability. Lessons bridge the gap between the natural world and the highly complex modern world in which we all reside. Most importantly, students are engaged in their learning, improving skills, and taking meaningful action for their own health and the health of their environment.

    $1,077,566 spent$1,392,325 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,077,566.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($691k) Expenses 100 ($474k) Net assets 100 ($534k)2020 Revenue 64 ($443k) Expenses 111 ($525k) Net assets 85 ($452k)2021 Revenue 238 ($1.6M) Expenses 124 ($590k) Net assets 283 ($1.5M)2022 Revenue 92 ($639k) Expenses 174 ($824k) Net assets 248 ($1.3M)2023 Revenue 58 ($400k) Expenses 91 ($433k) Net assets 242 ($1.3M)2025 Revenue 201 ($1.4M) Expenses 289 ($1.4M) Net assets 240 ($1.3M)
201920202021202220232025
Revenue (201)Expenses (289)Net assets (240)Peer revenue range

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 $570k to $1.5M (+169%).

$613k
$570k
$1.5M
$1.6M
$1.5M
$1.6M
201920202021202220232025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 11% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

72% of CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,293 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$217k
’19
−$82k
’20
$1.1M
’21
−$185k
’22
−$33k
’23
$21k
’25
6.3
months of
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

Richard P Grandoni

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

201920202021202220232025
Listed121412141413
Joined·+6+2+2+0·
No longer listed·4400·
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $103k → $272k.

13 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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

CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

63% 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 CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC.

27%
largest funder
45%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 23% · 2019 26% · 2020 21% · 2021 34% · 2022 37% · 2023 25% — broadly stable.

“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

60% of CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

53% of CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC'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 $980k that is directly attributable, 61% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.

ME
NY
MA
NJ
CA
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Massachusetts out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC is better cushioned than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin1% · below the median
Months of reserve6.3mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)12% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $362k on record — $100k federal, $262k state.

Federal$100k
grants $100kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Environmental Protection Agency$100k
State$262k
22
23
24
Top programs
  • (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$262k

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 CHANGE IS SIMPLE 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

79% of spending goes to programs.

Program 79%Management 8%Fundraising 13%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

95%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHANGE IS SIMPLE 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC?
CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,075,915 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($570,064). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC have?
IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $2,075,915 in grants to CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHANGE IS SIMPLE INC?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $570,064 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHANGE IS SIMPLE 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 Change Is Simple →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 33 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