Massachusetts · Nonprofit
DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC
DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,564,594 to it, the largest being DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE ($372,080). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $713k
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What Dress for Success Boston Inc does
Mission
To empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Dress for success boston, inc. (the organization") was organized in the commonwealth of massachusetts as a not-for-profit on march 27, 2001 and has served 806 women in fiscal year 2025 and over 16,802 women since its inception. The organization is an affiliate of the worldwide dress for success organization, which now has over 130 affiliates in 15 countries.the organization's purpose is to offer long-lasting solutions that enable women to break the cycle of poverty. The organization is part of a global movement for change, empowering women to obtain safer and better futures. We provide each client with professional attire to secure employment, but we are about much more than simply a new outfit. Besides providing the client with apparel and accessories, our programs furnish her with confidence she carries forever and the knowledge that she can actively define her life, the direction she takes and what success means to her.
$288,722 spent$8,511 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $288,722.
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 2022 to 2023, from $691k to $1.0M (+52%).
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 8% · 2022 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% 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.
Board chair
Kristen Daly
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $55k → $207k.
9 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON 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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
56% 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 56% · 2019 37% · 2020 45% · 2021 33% · 2022 28% · 2023 30% — 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.
How long its funders stay
50% of DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC draws 58% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $501k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 13,917 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,917 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON 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
51% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC?
- DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,564,594 to it, the largest being DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE ($372,080). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $1,564,594 in grants to DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON INC?
- DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE is the largest funder on record, with $372,080 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DRESS FOR SUCCESS BOSTON 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 Dress for Success Boston →
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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing