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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT

NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT (Massachusetts) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,264,145 to it, the largest being LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 ($4,000,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$4.5M
Funders on record
57
Grants received
$6.3M
Net assets
$3.9M
28/57 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 66%
01What it does

What New England Innocence Project does

Mission

To correct and prevent wrongful convictions and provide support for those freed after wrongful incarceration.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The New England Innocence Project provides pro bono legal representation to people who have been wrongfully convicted in connecticut, maine, massachusetts, new hampshire, rhode island and vermont. In addition to freeing the innocent, neip raises public awareness of the prevalence, causes, and costs of wrongful convictions, and advocates for reforms that will reduce their incidence. Neip also provides support to people who have been wrongfully convicted or suffered long-term incarceration through the "exoneree network". The organization is primarily funded through gifts, grants and contributions and substantial amounts of contributed services.

    $1,944,189 spentof which $256,369 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,944,189.

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 ($431k) Expenses 100 ($388k) Net assets 100 ($341k)2018 Revenue 198 ($855k) Expenses 75 ($290k) Net assets 266 ($907k)2019 Revenue 264 ($1.1M) Expenses 173 ($670k) Net assets 402 ($1.4M)2020 Revenue 278 ($1.2M) Expenses 213 ($825k) Net assets 512 ($1.7M)2021 Revenue 388 ($1.7M) Expenses 317 ($1.2M) Net assets 643 ($2.2M)2022 Revenue 552 ($2.4M) Expenses 461 ($1.8M) Net assets 816 ($2.8M)2023 Revenue 460 ($2.0M) Expenses 585 ($2.3M) Net assets 718 ($2.5M)2024 Revenue 468 ($2.0M) Expenses 635 ($2.5M) Net assets 589 ($2.0M)2025 Revenue 1043 ($4.5M) Expenses 682 ($2.6M) Net assets 1132 ($3.9M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (1043)Expenses (682)Net assets (1132)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 2024 to 2025, from $2.7M to $4.4M (+62%).

$398k
$919k
$1.4M
$1.8M
$2.3M
$3.4M
$3.1M
$2.7M
$4.4M
'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: 2017 19% · 2018 2% · 2019 3% · 2020 10% · 2021 5% · 2022 11% · 2023 16% · 2024 16% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

99% of NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,392 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$43k
’17
$565k
’18
$465k
’19
$375k
’20
$446k
’21
$592k
’22
−$285k
’23
−$442k
’24
$1.9M
’25
17
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

Radha Natarajan

Executive director

Board chair

David M Siegel

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed11111012119141215
Joined·+3+0+2+0+0+7+0+4
No longer listed·31012221
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $21k → $859k.

12 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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

NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

64%
largest funder
78%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 89% · 2019 68% · 2020 72% · 2021 59% · 2022 61% · 2023 58% — growing more concentrated.

“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

41% of NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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

NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 14 states in all.

MN
WI
NY
MA
PA
CT
RI
CA
CO
DE
NC
DC
TX
FL

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. $1.3M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin41% · top quartile
Months of reserve17.2mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)34% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.3M on record — $300k federal, $984k state.

Federal$300k
grants $300kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of Justice$300k
State$984k
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top programs
  • (HH) CONSULTANT SVCS (TO DEPTS)$734k
  • (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$250k
  • (JJ) OPERATIONAL SERVICES$500
  • (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$210

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 NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT

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

74% of spending goes to programs.

Program 74%Management 16%Fundraising 10%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

62%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 3 states

NH
NY
MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT: 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.

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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 NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT?
NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT (Massachusetts) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,264,145 to it, the largest being LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 ($4,000,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT have?
IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $6,264,145 in grants to NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT?
LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 is the largest funder on record, with $4,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NEW ENGLAND INNOCENCE PROJECT 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 New England Innocence Project →

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 57 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