Massachusetts · Nonprofit
JUST-A-START CORPORATION
JUST-A-START CORPORATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,215,611 to it, the largest being JPMORGAN CHASE FOUNDATION ($1,289,930). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $10M
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $8.2M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Just-A-Start Corporation does
Mission
To promote equity by creating access to stable housing and building pathways to economic opportunity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Real estate development - just a start has developed and continues to own and operate 645 affordable apartments throughout cambridge and somerville, housing approximately 1,500 people who would otherwise be unlikely to be able to afford apartments in these expensive and high-opportunity cities. We have an additional 350 new affordable apartments in our development pipeline, which we expect to develop in the coming 5-6 years. To make first-time homeownership a reality for households with moderate incomes, just a start has also developed 130 homeownership units. We also manage the preservation, rehab and resale of affordable units to ensure future access to affordable condominiums in cambridge for residents with moderate incomes.
$5,970,498 spentof which $1,705,020 as grants$4,158,184 earned by the program57% of program spendingEducation and training - just a start's education and training programs provide tuition-free pathways to careers in the region's growing employment sectors. Our adult career training program is an intensive, nine-month education and training program for adults with low incomes to develop the knowledge and critical problem-solving skills needed to enter family-sustaining and fulfilling careers in the growing biomedical and information technology (it) fields. Approximately 85% of graduates of the program gain employment within 6-12 months of graduation and increase their annual income by an average of $20,000. Another pillar of just a start's education and training programs is youthbuild, which annually provides comprehensive youth development services to approximately 50 out-of-school youth between the ages of 16 and 24. Students receive education and training that leads to a high school credential, construction or retail industry credentials, career exploration, and employment.
$2,798,854 spent27% of program spendingHousing resources and services - just a start provides housing resources and services to its 1,500 residents and approximately 1,000 community members each year. Through financial assistance, mediation, and follow-up services, our housing stabilization program allows families threatened with homelessness to remain in their homes or helps them find new affordable housing. Our economic mobility programs provide financial education, one-on-one coaching, and free tax services to people with low incomes seeking to improve their financial status and prospects.
$1,743,804 spentof which $20,250 as grants17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,513,156.
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 $50M to $69M (+38%).
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: 2017 28% · 2018 29% · 2019 24% · 2020 12% · 2021 40% · 2022 25% · 2023 22% · 2024 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
57% of JUST-A-START CORPORATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
Carl Nagy-Koechlin
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 38 funders, grant income rose $324k → $1.7M.
12 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 JUST-A-START CORPORATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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
JUST-A-START CORPORATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
46% 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 JUST-A-START CORPORATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 65% · 2019 24% · 2020 17% · 2021 16% · 2022 20% · 2023 29% — 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
62% of JUST-A-START CORPORATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
63% of JUST-A-START CORPORATION's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
JUST-A-START CORPORATION's funding base is broadening — from 9 funders to 38 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 659 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding JUST-A-START CORPORATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.3M on record — $3.5M federal, $2.8M state.
- Department of Labor$3.2M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$274k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$2.6M
- (JJ) OPERATIONAL SERVICES$158k
- (MM) PURCHASED CLIENT/PROGRAM SVCS$5k
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 JUST-A-START CORPORATION
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 28 related entities
- Jas Affordable Housing LLC · disregarded
- Jas Homeownership LLC · disregarded
- 24 Webster Land LLC · disregarded
- Just-A-Start Holdings LLC · disregarded
- 52 New Street Land LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for JUST-A-START CORPORATION: 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 JUST-A-START CORPORATION?
- JUST-A-START CORPORATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,215,611 to it, the largest being JPMORGAN CHASE FOUNDATION ($1,289,930). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does JUST-A-START CORPORATION have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $8,215,611 in grants to JUST-A-START CORPORATION, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of JUST-A-START CORPORATION?
- JPMORGAN CHASE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,289,930 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like JUST-A-START CORPORATION 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 62 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