Massachusetts · Nonprofit
PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND (Massachusetts) receives grants from 310 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,815,594 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,478,189). 211 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $90M
- Funders on record
- 310
- Grants received
- $32M
- Net assets
- $393M
What Perkins School for the Blind does
Mission
Perkins School for the Blind serves children and young adults with multiple disabilities, their families, educators, researchers, and professionals around the globe through education services, accessibility, professional development, and innovation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
At Perkins School for the Blind, we deliver the very best education and services for children with visual impairments and multiple disabilities. We teach children on our campus in watertown, massachusetts, and support students and teachers in public schools across the u.s., focusing on academic, social and self-advocacy skill building. We also emphasize transition services to prepare young adults for independent living through practical work, skill-building, and community involvement. During fy25, we educated 196 students on campus and supported approximately 1,365 students in community programs, including our infant-toddler program, educational partnerships with public schools and outreach programs.
$64,229,051 spent$54,327,167 earned by the program79% of program spendingInternationalthere are millions of children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities (mdvi) around the world who don't receive the quality education they deserve. Perkins international works to put these children in school, equip educators with the specialized skills they need to teach them and connect the most vulnerable families with vital governmental and medical resources. During fy25, perkins international conducted this work in 22 countries and regions, more than 54k teachers were trained, more than 1.8m children were reached, and more than 19k families were supported.
$6,056,977 spentof which $126,486 as grants7% of program spendingRegional libraryperkins library has provided accessible reading material to people with visual impairment and other disabilities since 1837. In recent years, we have significantly expanded our offerings to serve more people with more nuanced needs. In fy25, we distributed more than 1,000,000 accessible books, magazines, newspapers, dvds and more, at no cost to the 22,500 patrons we serve annually. We've also led the charge in distributing assistive technologies like refreshable braille displays while providing a website that enables people to download accessible reading material.
$4,248,516 spent$4,399,118 earned by the program5% of program spendingPerkins solutionsperkins solutions deploys technology to overcome long standing and emerging accessibility barriers. Since the 1950s, the perkins brailler has been the most widely used mechanical braille writer in the world. Today our expertise in inclusive design solutions is available via perkins access, a consulting service that helps businesses ensure their digital products and services are usable by everyone. During fy25, perkins solutions distributed 5,755 braillers worldwide and assisted 46 organizations with technology assessments and modifications.icanconnectthe national deaf-blind equipment distribution program, known as icanconnect, provides free equipment and training for people with both significant hearing and vision loss who meet the program's disability and income eligibility guidelines. Administered by the fcc and managed by perkins in 23 states across the country, icanconnect helps people stay connected to friends, family and the world.
$6,892,688 spent$500,209 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $81,427,232.
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 2020 to 2021, from $382M to $460M (+20%).
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 6% · 2018 7% · 2019 6% · 2020 7% · 2021 7% · 2022 10% · 2023 13% · 2024 6% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
20% of PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 89 funders to 145 funders, grant income rose $2.3M → $4.3M.
28 of 310 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 310 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
PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 12 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 12 funders to its left
31% 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 PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 23% · 2019 17% · 2020 20% · 2021 13% · 2022 15% · 2023 16% — 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
54% of PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 31 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND's funding base is broadening — from 89 funders to 145 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $53.3M on record — $4.5M federal, $48.8M state.
- Department of Education$4.5M
- MA$47.4M
- NJ$985k
- CT$305k
- VT$48k
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 PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 16 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- John Milton Society for the Blind · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND: 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 PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND?
- PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND (Massachusetts) receives grants from 310 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,815,594 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,478,189). 211 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND have?
- IRS filings report 310 organizations giving $31,815,594 in grants to PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, 211 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $4,478,189 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PERKINS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND 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 Perkins School for the Blind →
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 310 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