Rhode Island · Nonprofit
THE COMMONS FOUNDATION
THE COMMONS FOUNDATION (Rhode Island) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $348,500 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($220,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $349k
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What The Commons Foundation does
Mission
The Commons Foundation provides funding and educational programs to significantly expand housing options for those integral to the town's vibrancyfocusing on attainable homeownership and rental opportunities for low to moderate-income residents, seniors,and the local workforce. We accelerate progress by supporting homeowners, foundation-led initiatives to create housing and community development, while providing essential education on the financial path to long-term housing and economic stability.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
"tcf home program: this is our primary development arm, focused on increasing the housing stock available to our program beneficiaries. We identify and acquire strategic land or existing structures-such as the 209 long highway project- to create new or refurbish homes that "fit" the local landscape and sell them at below market rates.
$7,618 spent33% of program spending"tcf loan program: the tcf loan program is designed to provide financial solutions for qualified households seeking to build, buy or renovate homes. Loan purposes include construction, renovation, or down payment assistance.
$13,757 spent59% of program spending"tcf education program: we provide a public financial literacy series. This program equips prospective buyers and homeowners with the tools to manage personal finances and navigate working with financial institutions, ensuring they are prepared for long-term homeownership. Attendees at our workshops have included local government employees, educators, retirees, local workers, and small business owners. In 2025, we held the first of four planned sessions: credit 101
$2,035 spent9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $23,410.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $1.4M to $2.9M (+104%).
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.
97% of THE COMMONS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (39% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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.
Board chair
Nathanial Howe
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
5 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 THE COMMONS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
THE COMMONS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 THE COMMONS FOUNDATION.
“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.
Where its funders are
97% of THE COMMONS 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 $10k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Rhode Island, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $339k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
THE COMMONS FOUNDATION receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $349k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,196 housing & shelter nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE COMMONS 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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
34% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE COMMONS 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 THE COMMONS FOUNDATION?
- THE COMMONS FOUNDATION (Rhode Island) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $348,500 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($220,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE COMMONS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $348,500 in grants to THE COMMONS FOUNDATION.
- Who is the largest funder of THE COMMONS FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $220,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE COMMONS FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Commons →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 6 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