Massachusetts · Nonprofit
PROMYS FOUNDATION
PROMYS FOUNDATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,691,406 to it, the largest being INDIRA FOUNDATION ($878,437). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $541k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Promys Foundation does
Mission
All activities of the Promys Foundation are designed to serve a single purpose: to support the non-profit program in mathematics for young scientists (promys) whose mission is finding and nurturing talent in mathematics. The promys program is a program of boston university, an organization described in section 501(c)(3) and section 170(b)(I)(a)(ii). The activities of the Promys Foundation will center on fundraising with the primary goal being to provide funds to promys to fund student scholarships.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Promys Foundation was delighted to fund $905,748 in mission-related activities in 2024 including supporting need-based financial aid for 24 students at promys 2024. Thirteen full scholarships were awarded including the breakout fellowship and jane street fellowships. 38% of all financial aid recipients in 2024 had family incomes under $41,000 a year. Eighty-two high school students, 23 undergraduate counselors, and 2 junior counselors participated in promys 2024 on the campus of boston university. Thanks to generous support from the polynera fund and jane street, Promys Foundation helped fund promys pathways and promys for teachers, both run at boston university.promys was excited to run the 2nd summer of promys india in 2024 in partnership with the indian institute of science (iisc) bangalore. Twenty-eight high school students and nine counselors participated. Promys india 2024 was free for all students thanks to generous support from our partners and donors. The founding sponsors of promys india are nick nash & phalgun raju, avi and sandra nash, and the indira foundation. We are also very grateful for the generosity of the packard foundation, jane street, and squarepoint…
$938,054 spentof which $905,748 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $938,054.
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 $1.4M to $1.9M (+34%).
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.
88% of PROMYS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $110k → $365k.
8 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 PROMYS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 15 of 17 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
PROMYS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
52% 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 PROMYS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 55% · 2019 59% · 2020 83% · 2021 41% · 2022 34% · 2023 34% — 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
63% of PROMYS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
50% of PROMYS FOUNDATION'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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
PROMYS FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like PROMYS FOUNDATION
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
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 6 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROMYS FOUNDATION: 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 PROMYS FOUNDATION?
- PROMYS FOUNDATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,691,406 to it, the largest being INDIRA FOUNDATION ($878,437). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PROMYS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $2,691,406 in grants to PROMYS FOUNDATION, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PROMYS FOUNDATION?
- INDIRA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $878,437 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PROMYS FOUNDATION 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 17 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