Funders › Massachusetts

Ac Ratshesky Foundation

Needham, MA · EIN 04-6017426. Reported 112 grants totalling $1,613,430 to 49 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$15,000median grant
$1,613,430granted, 2021-2025
49recipients, as named on its returns
58%of grantees funded again the next year
$9,453,525assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Ac Ratshesky Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $15,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $45,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
4 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
100 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
6 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Third Sector New EnglandBoston, MA$125,000442025
Families First Parenting ProgramsCambridge, MA$65,000442024
Found in TranslationDorchester, MA$65,000442025
International Institute of New EnglandBoston, MA$65,000442025
Jewish Vocational ServicesBoston, MA$65,000552025
Just-a-Start CorporationCambridge, MA$65,000552025
Build Greater BostonBoston, MA$60,000442024
Chelsea Education Foundation IncChelsea, MA$60,000442024
Room to GrowBoston, MA$60,000442024
Brighter Boston IncChestnut Hill, MA$50,000442025
Per ScholasBronx, NY$50,000332025
Family Nurturing Center of MassachusettsBoston, MA$45,000332023
Operation Able of Greater BostonBoston, MA$45,000332023
Fresh FilmsRock Island, IL$40,000222025
Mujeres Unidas AvanzandoDorchester, MA$40,000332025
Sociedad Latina IncRoxbury, MA$40,000442024
Hebrew CollegeNewton, MA$38,000222025
La Colaborativa IncChelsea, MA$35,000222025
Raising a Reader MaBoston, MA$35,000332023
South Boston Neighborhood HouseBoston, MA$35,000332023
Dreaming Tree Foundation (dba Fresh Films)Rock Island, IL$30,000222023
Loop Lab IncCambridge, MA$30,000222023
The Possible ProjectCambridge, MA$30,000222022
Trustees of Eliot School (dba Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts)Jamaica Plain, MA$30,000222023
United Nations Association of Greater BostonBoston, MA$30,000222025
Youthbuild BostonRoxbury, MA$30,000222023
Action for Boston Community Development IncBoston, MA$25,000112021
Community ServingsJamaica Plain, MA$25,000222022
Family Aid Boston IncBoston, MA$25,000112021
Codesquad IncSomerville, MA$20,000222023
Family Access of NewtonNewton, MA$20,000222024
Join for Justice IncQuincy, MA$20,000112025
The Salvation ArmyAlexandria, VA$20,000222023
YMCA of Greater BostonBoston, MA$20,000112025
African Bridge NetworkNewton, MA$15,000112024
Economic Mobility PathwaysBoston, MA$15,000112021
English for New BostoniansBoston, MA$15,000112021
Friends of St Stephens Youth Programs IncBoston, MA$15,000112022
Friends of the Waltham Family School IncWaltham, MA$15,000112024
Project HopeRoxbury, MA$15,000112021
Philanthropy MassachusettsBoston, MA$10,430442025
Artists for Humanity IncBoston, MA$10,000112024
Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater BostonBoston, MA$10,000112022
New England Historic Genealogical SocietyBoston, MA$10,000112021
Quincy Asian Resources IncQuincy, MA$10,000112022
Root Ns IncSalem, MA$10,000112024
The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum IncBoston, MA$10,000112022
Young People's Project IncCambridge, MA$10,000112024
Northeastern University Hillel Advisory Committee IncBoston, MA$5,000112024

31 of 49 (63%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 58%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 88 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Education
22 grants
Employment
19 grants
Human Services
13 grants
Community Improvement
10 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Youth Development
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants
Civil Rights
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$317,500$15,000
202229$377,550$15,000
202323$305,000$15,000
202423$320,650$15,000
202515$292,730$20,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

91% of its giving went to organizations in Massachusetts. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Massachusetts
$1.5M
Illinois
$70K
New York
$50K
Virginia
$20K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund35 shared recipientsBoston Foundation Inc33 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc28 shared recipientsEastern Bank Foundation28 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc26 shared recipientsLiberty Mutual Foundation Inc23 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Massachusetts.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in MassachusettsEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding human services in MassachusettsEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Ac Ratshesky Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: Co Craig Levy 16 Green Street, Needham, MA, 02492. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 04-6017426 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.