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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD

MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD (Massachusetts) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $50,207,229 to it, the largest being HOWARD G BUFFETT FOUNDATION ($22,295,598). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$20M
Funders on record
58
Grants received
$50M
Net assets
$10.0M
29/58 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Mass Design Group Ltd does

Mission

Mass design group seeks to design, construct, and advocate for buildings and environments that improved lives in underserved and improved regions in the world.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. High impact design: mass design group designs innovative buildings that improve people's lives in measurable ways. We create environments that promote health and dignity. We do this through architecture, landscape design, furniture design, engineering, planning, research, construction, film and community engagement. From a climate perspective, our projects move beyond consideration of energy use and efficiency, to holistically design the project ecosystem, including an entire supply chain that is sustainable, resilient and regenerative.

    $15,352,989 spent$14,523,316 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $15,352,989.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($5.9M) Expenses 100 ($5.9M) Net assets 100 ($2.6M)2018 Revenue 185 ($11M) Expenses 181 ($11M) Net assets 108 ($2.8M)2019 Revenue 580 ($34M) Expenses 605 ($36M) Net assets 44 ($1.1M)2020 Revenue 443 ($26M) Expenses 386 ($23M) Net assets 170 ($4.4M)2021 Revenue 451 ($27M) Expenses 466 ($28M) Net assets 97 ($2.5M)2022 Revenue 778 ($46M) Expenses 686 ($41M) Net assets 434 ($11M)2023 Revenue 419 ($25M) Expenses 450 ($27M) Net assets 403 ($10M)2024 Revenue 374 ($22M) Expenses 339 ($20M) Net assets 484 ($12M)2025 Revenue 332 ($20M) Expenses 373 ($22M) Net assets 386 ($10.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (332)Expenses (373)Net assets (386)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 $7.9M to $19M (+139%).

$3.0M
$10M
$9.6M
$7.9M
$19M
$19M
$23M
$23M
$19M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 2% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

25% of MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 388 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$26k
’17
$197k
’18
−$1.6M
’19
$3.2M
’20
−$974k
’21
$5.2M
’22
−$2.0M
’23
$2.0M
’24
−$2.5M
’25
1.9
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.

Chief executive

Patricia Gruits Horan

Co-executive director

Board chair

Donald Kimelman

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed111419211919202420
Joined·+3+5+5+3+0+4+10+2
No longer listed·00350366
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 17 funders, grant income fell $12M → $6.5M.

15 of 58 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 58 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

MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

44%
largest funder
63%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 86% · 2019 25% · 2020 30% · 2021 26% · 2022 26% · 2023 46% — 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

32% of MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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

MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD draws 89% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 12 states in all.

WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
PA
CA
MD
DE
DC
TX

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. $10M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD has grown faster than three-quarters of the 174 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.9mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)16% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 174 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $860k on record.

Federal$860k
grants $855kcontracts $5k
17
19
20
21
23
Top agencies
  • Agency for International Development$600k
  • National Endowment for the Arts$255k
  • Smithsonian Institution$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 MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD

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

70% of spending goes to programs.

Program 70%Management 27%Fundraising 4%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

71%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 3 states

NY
MA
OR

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Mass Design Studio LLC · disregarded
  • Mass Build LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD: 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 MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD?
MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD (Massachusetts) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $50,207,229 to it, the largest being HOWARD G BUFFETT FOUNDATION ($22,295,598). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD have?
IRS filings report 58 organizations giving $50,207,229 in grants to MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD?
HOWARD G BUFFETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $22,295,598 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MASS DESIGN GROUP LTD 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 Mass Design Group Ltd →

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 58 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