Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND
THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND (Massachusetts) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,922,805 to it, the largest being The Klarman Family Foundation ($1,500,103). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $976k
- Funders on record
- 63
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $9.2M
What The Lenny Zakim Fund does
Mission
The Lenny Zakim Fund ("the fund") believes positive social change can be created by small, effective, grassroots organizations that are often overlooked by large foundations, government agencies, and major donors. Our mission is to identify, listen to, support and connect grassroots community organizations and programs operating "below the radar screen" of large charitable groups and government grants.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The fund makes small and meaningful grants to support some of the most amazing and effective grassroots programs in the state. The fund continually nurtures these organizations toward growth and sustainability by providing the resources, training and other supports that are often unavailable to small organizations, including grantmaking, training and networking, counseling and advice, publicity and pro-bono legal assistance.
$1,039,102 spentof which $646,572 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,039,102.
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 2021 to 2022, from $9.8M to $7.8M (−21%).
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: 2020 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Allison E Picott
Executive director
Board chair
Timothy James
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $424k → $812k.
13 of 63 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 THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 63 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
THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 30% · 2019 25% · 2020 29% · 2021 23% · 2022 26% · 2023 31% — broadly stable.
“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
55% of THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
79% of THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND's funding base is broadening — from 16 funders to 28 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,816 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
51%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND: 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 LENNY ZAKIM FUND?
- THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND (Massachusetts) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,922,805 to it, the largest being The Klarman Family Foundation ($1,500,103). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND have?
- IRS filings report 63 organizations giving $5,922,805 in grants to THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND?
- The Klarman Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,500,103 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE LENNY ZAKIM FUND 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 63 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