Massachusetts · Nonprofit
HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $819,278 to it, the largest being President and Fellows of Harvard College ($737,260). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $623k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $819k
- Net assets
- $240k
What Harvard Square Business Association does
Mission
To advance the commercial, industrial and public interests of harvard square, to promote a commercial exchange, to accumulate and give to its members business information, to adjust controversies and misunderstandings, to establish and maintain uniformity in commercial transactions, and to promote just and equitable principles of trade.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Harvard Square Business Association was founded in 1910 for the sole purpose of promoting commerce in harvard square, while being good stewards of the square over the past several years, we have added the tagline, "while being good stewards of the outside space". There are many ways to accomplish our stated goals. Several years ago, it was determined that experiential marketing was a method that seemed to work best for harvard square. Subsequently, a series of annual events were created to attract people that spanned the entire demographic spectrum. On october 12th, 2025, we celebrated our 46th annual oktoberfest celebration and generated $ 73,010 in income and had expenses of $35,921. It is estimated that we had about 25,000 visitors during the 6-hour period. Attendance was much lower due to rainy conditions. However, as always, our hope is that people of all ages have a great time, visit our stores, eat in our restaurants and remember the square fondly so that they come back as a frequent visitor. We also hope that they tell all their friends to do the same. The square is still enjoying a high occupancy rate and our membership continues to grow; we are currently enjoying a…
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $366k to $306k (−16%).
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: 2020 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Denise A Jillson
Exec. Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $50k → $98k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION’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
HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 86% · 2020 77% · 2021 77% · 2022 87% · 2023 92% — 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
90% of HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION'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 $82k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $737k 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.
Government funding HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$2k
- (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$400
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 HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
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.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: 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 HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION?
- HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $819,278 to it, the largest being President and Fellows of Harvard College ($737,260). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $819,278 in grants to HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION?
- President and Fellows of Harvard College is the largest funder on record, with $737,260 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HARVARD SQUARE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION 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 Harvard Square Business Association →
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 3 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