Boston Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Boston Foundation is a community foundation that works broadly to support equity, justice, community development and more in the Greater Boston area.

IP TAKE: The Boston Foundation should be on the radar of every nonprofit in the Boston metropolitan area. While this funder gives broadly to organizations of all sizes, just and equitable community development is at the core of its work. In terms of grant applications, the Boston Foundation does not maintain one clear format; each of its nine core funds or initiatives maintains their own grantmaking strategies and protocols, making it somewhat difficult to locate specific grant opportunities in this sprawling organization’s website. That said, the Boston Foundation is accessible, and the website encourages grant seekers to contact staff members with questions—email addresses for the entire staff are available at the site, so networking with the right department is key. Another option for keeping apprised of grant opportunities is to sign up for the foundation’s newsletter.

PROFILE: Established in 1915, the Boston Foundation is the community foundation for the Boston region of Massachusetts. Its mission is “to open pathways to opportunity and build and sustain vital, prosperous and equitable communities.” This funder is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the U.S., and it oversees more than 1,000 “separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes.”

Discretionary grantmaking accounts for about 18% of the Boston Foundation’s total giving and includes funding that stems from focus areas for Child Well-Being, Economic Opportunity, Community Wealth and Community Leadership, as well as several other grantmaking funds relating to community development, racial justice, LGBTQ rights and the arts.

Grants for Public Health, Mental Health and Early Childhood Education

The Boston Foundation names Child Well-Being as a main giving priority and supports “equitable early education and health care ecosystems for children and the adults who care for them.” This initiative names three focus areas.

• Grants to Strengthen the Early Education and Care System fund research, advocacy and investment in the early childhood infrastructure of the Boston area.
• Grantmaking for Maternal Health Equity works to racial disparities in access, quality care and outcomes for both health and maternal social supports.
• And Mental and Behavioral Health Integration grants aim to increase the availability of mental and behavioral health services “between prenatal and early childhood, alongside physical health care.”
• Grantees of this program include Jumpstart for Young Children, Massachusetts General Hospital, Neighborhood Villages of Jamaica Plain and Strategies for Children.

Additionally, the Boston Foundation administers grantmaking for the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation, which focuses its giving on mental health services for cape Ann and the Nashoba Valley in Massachusetts.

• This opportunity prioritizes organizations providing mental health services to LGBTQ youth and suicide prevention. Grantees include the North Shore Health Project, the North Shore Alliance of GLBT Youth, Eliot Community Human Services and Clear Path for Veterans New England, among others.

Grants for Housing, Community Development, Racial Justice, Work and Opportunity

The Boston Foundation’s grantmaking for economic and community development is comprehensive, stemming from two of its main grantmaking initiatives and several special interest funds. Across all giving, this funder prioritizes the equity of racial, ethnic and other historically marginalized groups.

• The Economic Opportunity focus area works to “[e]nsure that residents have a continuum of education and career support to thrive in life.” Priorities of this program include:
  • Community strategies that help people “shape the career and lives they want”;
  • Collaborative work that engages public and private sector stakeholders in supports for young people as they pursue career goals; and
  • Advocating for and supporting “the education-to-career continuum.”

Grantees include the Trio College Network, Year Up Boston, Economic Mobility Pathways and the Greenlight Fund, which supports social enterprises in the Boston area.

• The foundation’s Community Wealth initiative pursues opportunities to “[e]nrich and sustain community housing, business and culture.” Current areas of focus include affordable housing, business equity and communit preservation and justice. 
  • Grants for affordable rental housing and pathways to homeownership seeks to expand the housing vouchers program, affordable housing production and homeownership programs for BIPOC residents of greater Boston.
  • The business equity subprogram focuses on strengthening and developing BIPOC-owned enterprises that have the potential to “contribute to thriving communities for generations to come.”
  • Community preservation and justice makes grants to support, improve and further develop places in the Boston area that serve as “critical vehicles for BIPOC residents to continue to live, work and create.”

Grantees of this focus area include the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund Board, the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association of Roxbury and the Salt Lick Incubator of Belmont, Massachusetts.

• The foundation’s Asian Community Fund supports Asian American and Pacific Islander communities throughout the state of Massachusetts. This fund was established in 2020 “to galvanize and unite the diverse ethnicities within the AAPI community, incubate new partnerships, and build a stronger advocacy voice.”
  • Since its founding the fund has given away about $6 million “in gifts and pledges” and has spearheaded projects and organizations including the Asian Business Empowerment Council, the AAPI Arts and Culture Network, and the AAPI Mental Health Collaborative.
  • Recent grantees of this fund include the Asian American Civic Association, the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center and the Chinese Progressive Association of Boston.
• Established in 2013, the Latino Equity Fund has made over $2.4 million in grants to organizations that advance its mission to “amplify diverse voices and perspectives within the Latino community [..] with a focus on achieving greater and ore equitable access to economic prosperity and well-being.” This fund also gives throughout the state of Massachusetts. Grantees include East Boston’s Centro Cooperative de Desarrollo y Solidaridad, the Somerville Community Corporation, the Brazilian Worker Center of Greater Boston and La Alianza Hispana.
• The Safety Net Grants Program makes grants to Greater Boston social service providers that “respond to essential needs for marginalized communities and vulnerable residents.” A recent round of giving awarded grants of up to $75,000 to organizations including the Carroll Center for Blind, Mutual Aid Eastie, Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services and the Welcome Project, which runs programs to help “immigrants fund success and community in their new city.”

Important Grant Details:

The vast majority of the Boston Foundation’s discretionary grants are awarded in amounts of up to $500,000, but amounts are often limited by individual funding program.

• Discretionary grantmaking accounts for about 18% of this funder’s total giving. Other giving takes the form of either earmarked collaborative funds or donor-advised funds overseen by the foundation.

• This funder demonstrates a strong commitment to social justice and equity across all giving areas.

• The Boston Foundation supports organizations of all sizes, but almost all of its grantmaking stays in the Boston metropolitan region, with some programs giving state-wide in Massachusetts.

• This funder often offers support beyond grants, including technical assistance, leadership development and communications.

• The Boston Foundation conducts, publishes and disseminates research in areas of interest relating to the communities it serves.

• Most of the foundation’s grantmaking programs accept applications for funding, but guidelines and due dates vary significantly by program. Sign up for updates at the bottom of the website.

• Grantmaking programs may adjust focus and specific goals each year; grant seekers should check relevant program pages periodically for updates on grantmaking opportunities.

• Direct general questions to the foundation staff at (617) 338-1700 or grantsinfo@tbf.org.

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