OVERVIEW: This funder supports Greater Boston nonprofits working in healthy food accessibility and programs that get urban youth involved in farming and gardening. It’s also a strong supporter of teacher training in Boston Public Schools.

FUNDING AREAS: Community health and wellness, education policy and practice, teacher preparation, access to healthy foods, youth gardening and farming

IP TAKE: Innovative ideas for urban farming and teacher preparation may catch Trefler’s attention in Boston. Less is more, so keep your communications short and to the point.

PROFILE: Established in 1996, this is a private family foundation that focuses a great deal of its support in the Boston area. Some targeted support is provided nationally and internationally, too. Pam and Alan Trefler started the foundation through a “deep, long-term engagement at Dorchester High School, a district high school in the Boston Public School system that was facing grave academic and administrative challenges.” Dorchester Academy is what the post-restructuring entity is called, and a place where the couple focuses on food and nutrition support. Alan Trefler founded Pegasystems and built the company into a $600 million provider of strategic applications with 3,000+ employees in 30 global offices.

There are two priority areas at the Trefler Foundation: Community Health & Wellness and Education & Youth Development. The funder’s health program focuses on urban communities and supports programs that improve school food, prepare healthy meals, and teach inner-city youth about gardening and farming. You can view past Health & Wellness grants by theme on the foundation website, and new partnerships to benefit neighborhood wellness are ongoing. Trefler also funds research on colorectal cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital and access to screenings at MGH/Chelsea.

Trefler’s education program is centered on local public education. The foundation has played a big role in restructuring Boston district high schools, most notably Dorchester High School. In the past, most education funding backed policy strategies to transform teacher education. Trefler has been part of a group of Massachusetts funders dedicated to teacher preparation. Teacher prep programs are ranked by state and institution on a national scale, and this is a cause that Trefler has been very interested in. But more recently, the foundation has taken more interest in youth violence prevention than teacher prep.

The funder has also become involved in international education by supporting a small village in Kenya. The village is called Koru, and Trefler has made a multi-year commitment for construction of a new school building and provision of literature and curriculum materials.

Pam Trefler describes the foundation’s theory of change behind its grantmaking like this: “Dollars spent wisely investing in areas of need to create sustainable change—basically, teach a man to fish.”

Past Trefler support has gone to Year Up, Boston Partners in Education, Summer Search, East Boston High School, and Fenway High School. The foundation launched an initiative called Teach Next Year that prepares high school teachers for the classroom by collaborating with the University of Massachusetts Boston in a unique master’s degree and licensure program. Past grantees can be viewed on the foundation website.

According to Pam, “Our grantees, as a group, tend to be innovative, vibrant, focused, data- and mission-driven organizations. In other words, our grantees understand that 'not-for-profit' doesn’t mean 'not-for business.'”

Unfortunately, the foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals. However, it’s entrenched in the Boston community and always keeping an eye out for new innovators.

Pam Trefler offered me a piece of advice that she would share with prospective grantees:

While we don’t accept unsolicited grant requests, we are deeply committed to finding the most innovative and effective change makers in all the areas that we focus on. That being said, we always value an organization that can succinctly define their work and effectiveness without submitting a tome. It shows you have understanding and a focus of your mission—in other words, less is often more!

General questions can be directed to the foundation at 617-454-1135 or via email at info@treflerfoundation.org.

PEOPLE:

• Christine Green, President
• Pam Trefler, Founder, Director, Managing Trustee
• Alan Trefler, Founder

LINKS:

• Community Health & Wellness
• Education Policy & Practice

IP POSTS:

• The Boston Philanthropist Behind a Start-Up Aiming to Get People to "Shop for Good"

OVERVIEW: The Vela Foundation supports nutrition, health and fitness programs in Eastern Massachusetts. Although the foundation is based in Boston, the nearby cities of Dorchester, Roxbury, Everett, Allston, Dartmouth, Fall River, and Jamaica Plain are also common grantee locations. The average grant is between $5,000 and $15,000.

FUNDING AREAS: Health, nutrition, fitness, access to healthy foods

IP TAKE: The Vela Foundation has been funding more nutrition education programs than anything else lately. Many of these nutrition programs have a parent-child focus to support the prevention of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Family cooking and fitness classes are often favored by Vela.

PROFILE: With a focus on improving nutrition and wellness in eastern Massachusetts, the Vela Foundation aims to tackle health conditions associated with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Formerly known as the Bernadette T. Rehnert Charitable Trust, the Vela Foundation was established in 2007 in Boston.  

Since its inception, the Vela Foundation has funded organizations that improve access to healthy foods and encourage fitness through nutrition education and physical activity. The grantmaking emphasis is on underserved communities in eastern Massachusetts, and the staff looks for programs that improve nutrition literacy, access to healthy foods, and improved fitness. Preference is generally given to nonprofits that incorporate a strong family engagement principle in fitness programs and also to advocacy programs that promote systemic change. It’s certainly not uncommon to see this smaller foundation collaborate with other organizations and funders that have similar priorities.

Bernadette T. Rehnert is the founding trustee of the foundation, and she’s also served on the Board of Directors of FUEL Education in Boston and as a Board Member for the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. As a long-time supporter of charity, Rehnert has contributed to local grassroots efforts, including donating 150 turkeys to low-income families at Thanksgiving. "It's not only in lower-income communities. There are areas right around here, in Waltham, for instance, where people go hungry," she said about the widespread hunger in the region.

At the end of 2011, the foundation reported over $1.6 million in total assets and just over $14,000 in total giving. That year’s giving expenditures went toward just three grants. Foundation grantmaking has been on the rise since then.

At the end of a more recent year, the foundation had over $4.9 million in assets and gave away more than $177,000. One nutrition education grants in Boston went to Home for Little Wanders and a food assistance grant to Women's Lunch Place. Vela also made physical activity grants to Community Rowing, Inc. in Brighton and MetroLacrose in Jamaica Plain. In addition to Boston, the nearby cities of Dorchester, Roxbury, Everett, Allston, Dartmouth, Fall River, and Jamaica Plain are also common grantee locations. Pretty much all grants have been between $5,000 and $25,000. A list of recent grants can be found here.

To apply for a Vela grant, your organization needs to serve eastern Massachusetts. Letters of inquiry are accepted on a rolling basis. Only digital submissions are accepted, and you can fill out the online contact form with general questions. Check out the foundation's news section for recent updates.

PEOPLE:

• Bernadette Rehnert, Founding Trustee

LINKS:

• How to Apply
• Foundation News

OVERVIEW: The Wagner Family Foundation was established from Herbert S. Wagner III's success as an investment banker with the Baupost Group in Boston. Although the foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications, it awards much of its grant money to Massachusetts organizations in education, medicine, and human services.

IP TAKE: The Wagner Family Foundation's operations are generally handled by its law firm, with seemingly little family involvement. Elementary and secondary education proposals are your best bet for catching Wagner's attention if your call gets put through.

PROFILE: Herbert S. Wagner III could perhaps write the book on investment banking, and he very well might do so now that he has left his $20 billion firm. Until 2012, Wagner was managing director of the Baupost Group, overseeing billions of dollars of mortgage debt, structured products, and equity investments. Before that, he rose through the ranks at Appaloosa Management L.P., Putnam Investments, and the First National Bank of Chicago (a.k.a. JPMorgan Chase). He's accumulated so much wealth along the way that he called it quits to manage it all.

Wagner and his wife, Charlotte, established the Wagner Family Foundation in 2003 to make their charitable giving official. Most Wagner grants make their way to elementary and secondary school programs, universities, hospitals, and human services organizations. Massachusetts is the focal point of the foundation, so Boston-based organizations will compete only against their neighbors for funding.

Past grants around the city have included $1.75 million ot Partners in Health, $350,000 to Facing History and Ourselves and $275,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. At the end of a recent year, the foundation reported over $97 million in assets and over $4.5 million in total giving. For comparison, the funder claimed $91.7 in assets and more than $3.2 million in total giving the previous year.

Unfortunately for grantseekers, the Wagner Foundation doesn't have a website or appear to accept grant applications. Since Herbert likes to stay local, it's safe to say that he contributes to familiar organizations that have a proven track record of success and a reputation to match. The foundation usually gives out 25 to 50 grants each year totaling $3 to $4 million, with most grants ranging from $2,500 to $2 million. Herbert has been actively involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston as a board member as well.

Even though Herbert is "retired," he prefers to not field your phone calls with grant questions. He's hired the law firm of Nutter McClennen & Fish to handle the foundation's operations. He lives in Cambridge with his family, but he has always seemed to have a soft spot in his heart for inner-city Boston kids. To get in touch, try putting in a call to 617-439-2498 or sending an old fashioned letter to P.O. Box 51400, Boston, MA 02205-1400. 

PEOPLE:

• Herbert S. Wagner III, Donor
• Charlotte R. Cramer Wagner, Trustee

LINK:

• Contact Information
• Find the Company

OVERVIEW: The Yawkey Foundation is a longtime Boston funder, typically providing more than $20 million in annual funding to area nonprofits. The majority of its grantmaking is around health, education, and youth programs, although Yawkey supports a wide range of causes. Of note, the foundation only works with organizations it has funded in the past.

IP TAKE: Even though a majority of Yawkey's grants go to health-care organizations, about $1 million goes to conservation and wildlife causes each year. Since this program area is often overlooked by Boston foundations, keep Yawkey in mind if you're an environmentalist.

PROFILE: If you live in Boston, there's a good chance you've heard the name Yawkey, especially if you root for the Red Sox. For outsiders, the Yawkey family was the longtime owner of the franchise. But the storied franchise is just a small part of the Yawkeys' legacy. In 2002, the Red Sox was sold, giving the Yawkey Foundation a $380 million cash infusion. Although Tom and Jean Yawkey have died, they left behind a fortune to go toward philanthropy, primarily in the Greater Boston area. 

Yawkye Foundation I is focused on Georgetown County, South Carolina, so we'll be focusing on Yawkey Foundation II here in this Boston profile.

The Yawkey Foundation II now holds assets of roughly $458 million and contributes around $21 million to local nonprofits and organizations. The majority of funding "emulates the Yawkeys' tradition of giving," focusing on education, health care, human services, youth and amateur athletics, arts and culture, and conservation and wildlife.

The remaining grant funds are awarded to the arts and culture (8%) and conservation and wildlife (4%) programs. Although those percentages don't seem like much, they still add up to about $2 million a year in grants for arts and culture and $1 million for conservation and wildlife. 

Between 1977 and 2015, Yawkey Foundation I and II awarded around 4,400 grants totaling $418 million.

Here's a quick breakdown of the foundation's funding over its history during that period:

• 25% of grants to health care
• 24% to education programs
• 18% to human services
• 17% to youth and amateur athletics
• 8% to arts & culture 
• 8% to conservation and wildlife 

Unfortunately, Yawkey has a few barriers when it comes to getting funding. Currently, the foundation only accepts grant applications from organizations it has worked with in the past. For most qualifying organizations, grant funding is available up to $25,000.

Although Yawkey asks that grantseekers limit their request for funding to $25,000, a look at the foundation's long list of recent grantmaking seems to show this limit is not a hard-and-fast rule. It's true, about 60% of all Yawkey grants made annually come in at $25,000. But the remaining 40% range from $30,000 to $525,000, with a handful, such as those mentioned above, coming in at more than $1 million.

Check the grant guidelines page and the news page for current updates on the grantmaking process. Current application deadlines can be found here. Questions from grantseekers can be directed to Nancy Brodnicki, Yawkey Foundations' programs administrator, at (781) 329-7470.

PEOPLE:

• James Healey, President
• Kristen Whelan, Yawkey Scholars Program

LINKS:

• Grant guidelines
• Application process

IP POSTS:

Boston has a long and well-established philanthropy scene, but also one that is changing fast. Familiar players like the Boston Foundation are more active than ever, while new funders keep arriving on the scene. There are many opportunities here for nonprofits in search of funding, across a wide spectrum of issues. A great many funders are interested in the traditonal areas of arts, education, and human services, but other work also attracts support related to the environment, transportation, affordable housing, and more. 

As is the case everywhere, the competition for grants can be intense, and funders vary in how accessible they are to grantseekers. All the information in this guide is updated regularly and new funder profiles are added often. 

FUNDERS

LLOYD BALFOUR FOUNDATION 

The Balfour Foundation places an emphasis on education and regularly awards grants to local organization. The Foundation is managed by Bank of America, and grantseekers can apply for funding online. 

BARR FOUNDATION 

Barr is the largest private foundation in the state of Massachusetts, and it has a local focus. Barr’s work focuses on education, climate change, and arts and culture. Its education and arts investments are focused on Boston. 

BIOGEN IDEC FOUNDATION

Biogen Idec Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Cambridge-based drug maker by the same name. The foundation gives mostly to benefit the STEM education in North Carolina and Massachusetts. 

BOSTON FOUNDATION

As the city's community foundation, TBF has a broad impact on Boston fundraising. The foundation has been the city's largest funder, mostly supporting education, health, neighborhoods, and civic/cultural vitality.

BOSTON WOMEN'S FUND

The Boston Women’s Fund is a “community of interest foundation” that focuses on women-centric justice issues in the Boston area. It funds grassroots organizations with small budgets.

BROWN RUDNICK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The philanthropic arm of the international law firm is a flexible funder of education needs in inner-city communities where it has company offices--particuarly its home city of Boston.

CALDERWOOD FOUNDATION

Calderwood is in the process of spending down their assets over the next few years. Support has typically gone to performing arts, higher education, opera, orchestra, and theater groups.

CATHAY BANK FOUNDATION

The bank's charitable arm concentrates its giving on programs that benefit at-risk and low/middle income populations.

CUMMINGS FOUNDATION INC./ONE WORLD BOSTON INC.

One World Boston Inc. is the grantmaking entity of the Cummings Foundation. Nonprofits in Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties are given priority. Support goes to  human services, education, healthcare, and social justice groups.

EAST BOSTON FOUNDATION

This funder provides grants to East Boston groups that promote youth and senior recreation, open space development, and local business enhancement. Grants are often between $1,000 and $25,000.

LINCOLN & THERESE FILENE FOUNDATION

This funder provides grants in the Greater Boston region in the areas of civic education, human development & self-sufficiency, music education & the performing arts, and public education & broadcasting.

PAUL AND PHYLLIS FIREMAN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The Fireman Foundation goal is to promote permanent solutions to family homelessness in Massachusetts. Other interests are strengthening families, anti-poverty efforts, and international human rights.

ORVILLE W. FORTÉ CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

This funder exclusively supports organizations that work with disadvantaged youth in the Greater Boston area. Grants average $5,000 and go towards program and operating support.

GERMESHAUSEN FOUNDATION

This funder got its start with arts & culture grants in Boston. Today its focus has expanded to ethics and the environment, religion and ecology, youth and higher education, advocacy through film and video productions, and alternative/conservation medicine.

GROSS FAMILY FOUNDATION

Children and youth programs command most of the foundation's attention. Youth causes, cancer research, arts and higher education are commonly funded by the foundation. 

HESTIA FUND

Approximately 50 Boston women comprise the Hestia Fund, which is a volunteer-based, donor-led giving circle. The group supports in-school and after-school programs and programs for quality teachers and pre-school. 

HIGHLAND STREET FOUNDATION

This funder mostly supports the following causes in Boston, but also elsewhere in Massachusetts and occasionally in California: education, housing, mentorship, healthcare, environment, and the arts.

HYAMS FOUNDATION 

This funder's strategy is all about racial equality in Boston and Chelsea. It's a perfect funder for smaller organizations and makes itself accessible to grantseekers.

JACOBSON FAMILY TRUST FOUNDATION

The charitable vehicle of Jonathon Jacobson and his wife Joanna focuses on education, particularly charter schools, supporting at risk-youth and their families, and Jewish outfits. Also provides pro bono consulting to help nonprofits build capacity. 

JANE'S TRUST

This funder supports health and welfare organizations in the Boston area. The trust is administered by the law firm of Hemenway & Barnes LLP, and most grants are $50,000 to $150,000.

EDWARD C. JOHNSON FUND

This is one of several philanthropic outfits of the Johnson family that gives in Boston and greater New England. Interests include arts & culture, historic preservation, conservation, and health.

GERALD R. JORDAN JR. FOUNDATION

Awards are made to arts, education, health, and social service organizations. Not much is known about the foundation's grantfunding policies or how to apply for funding, as most decisions are made in-house.

KARP FAMILY FOUNDATION

The couple's philanthropy focuses on the Boston area, extending to Nantucket. The Karps are steady funders of health causes in Boston, particularly local hospitals. Another interest is education.

HENRY P. KENDALL FOUNDATION

Kendall’s focus has historically supported regional environmental work in New England. Interests include creating sustainable and resilient food systems in Greater Boston. 

KLARMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION

Klarman has pronounced grantmaking criteria, and they focus grants on Jewish and Israeli charities, enrichment opportunities in Boston and medical and science research. Klarman is a big supporter of reserach, especially related to eating disorders.

LIBERTY MUTUAL FOUNDATION

This funder provides grants for education, health, and human services in the Boston area. Special priority is given to low-income youth and families, youth with disabilities, and cultural organizations.

LINDE FAMILY FOUNDATION

The Linde Family Foundation provides support for arts, education and youth programs. You'll nee to contact the foundation's philanthropic advisory service to get involved with Linde.

THE LYNCH FOUNDATION

This funder supports nonprofits in the Greater Boston area in the fields of education, culture and historic preservation, healthcare and medical research, and religious/educational efforts of the Catholic Church.

JOHN MERCK FUND 

Environmental programs account for a major part of grants from the Merck Fund, including clean energy projects, sustainable food programs and environmental advocacy. Grants are also made for developmental disability research. Merck will close its doors in 2022.

HERMAN AND FRIEDA L. MILLER FOUNDATION

This foundation is focused on social justice and civic engagement in Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. Grantmaking extends to employment, housing, education, health care, transportation, and cultural activities.

THE MOONEY-REED CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The couple's giving through their foundation strongly focuses in on Catholic education and other Catholic organizations in and around Boston. 

NEW BALANCE FOUNDATION

New Balance has headquarters in Boston, and the main program area is childhood obesity. Grants are also considered in arts and culture, youth athletic programs, education and health, with programs that target underserved children given priority.

NEW BREEZE FOUNDATION

The foundation of the telecom mogul Robert Hale does most of its grantmaking in Boston and its surrounding areas. Hale and his wife Karen have interests in health, human services, the environment, and more.

AMELIA PEABODY CHARITABLE FUND

The Peabody Fund is active throughout New England, but lots of grants stay in Boston. Grantmaking interests are health (human and animal), visual arts, land conservation and historic preservation causes. 

PHILLIP AND SUSAN RAGON FOUNDATION

This is the charitable outfit of tech billionaire Phillip Ragon and his wife Susan. Much of the couple's philanthropy takes place in the Boston area, where the Ragons live and work.

PHYLLIS AND JEROME LYLE RAPPAPORT FOUNDATION

Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation is committed to the Greater Boston area and primarily funds fellowships and scholarships for medical research and public policy. The foundation also funds art prizes for emerging and promising contemporary artists and music composers.  

A. C. RATSHESKY FOUNDATION

This funder supports early education, employment, and year-around/after school enrichment for preteens and teens. Programs for disadvantaged Jewish populations in Boston are of particular interest.

SCHOONER FOUNDATION

This is a progressive foundation that works internationally on human rights, peace & security and economic opportunity issues. In the U.S., it funds progressive media, campaign finance reform, the green economy, investigative reporting, and judicial reform

CARL AND RUTH SHAPIRO FAMILY FOUNDATION

Shapiro grants go to a variety of causes in the Greater Boston area, and health programs and hospitals have been major benefactors. Other areas of interest include arts, education, Jewish causes and social welfare. 

SIDMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION

The Foundation's Boston grantmaking involves supporting local hospitals, Jewish organizations, and more. Personal connections seem to animate much of this family's giving.

RICHARD AND SUSAN SMITH FAMILY FOUNDATION

This funder supports health, education, and economic mobility causes in the Greater Boston area. It provides small and mid-sized capital grants that local groups can apply for.

STATE STREET FOUNDATION 

A large portion of State Street funding goes to programs in Boston, although the foundation provides grants nationally and internationally. Program areas are varied, including education, community development, and employment services. 

STONEMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION

The Stone Family Foundation provides grants in three areas, including health, education and justice programs. Another big interest is helping low-income people achieve independence and economic self-sufficiency

SWARTZ FOUNDATION

Jewish charities, health programs and science research command the lion's share of Swartz Foundation grants. Unfortunately, the foundation doesn't have a website, a hurdle for fundraisers. 

TREFLER FOUNDATION

This funder supports Greater Boston nonprofits for healthy food accessibility and programs that get youth involved in farming and gardening. It’s also a strong supporter of teacher training in public schools.

VELA FOUNDATION

The Vela Foundation supports nutrition, health, and fitness programs in Eastern Massachusetts. Grants go to Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Everett, Allston, Dartmouth, Fall River, and Jamaica Plain.

WAGNER FAMILY FOUNDATION

Wagner is relatively new on the funding scene, and it's not clear exactly how grantmaking decisions are made. Support has gone towards education, medicine, and human services.

YAWKEY FOUNDATION 

The Yawkey Foundations has been a longtime Boston funder. The majority of grantmaking is around health, education and youth programs, although they support a wide range of causes.

OVERVIEW: This foundation is focused on social justice and civic engagement in Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. It accepts proposals by invitation only, but welcomes relevant inquiries from grantees that fit within its guidelines. Most grants are between $20,000 and $50,000.

FUNDING AREAS: Civic engagement, advocacy, community organizing

IP TAKE: Even though Miller grants can touch on issues like employment, housing, healthcare, and education, this is not a place where direct service organizations should look for support. 

PROFILE: With a strict focus on Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation supports philanthropic efforts related to the civic engagement and empowerment of local communities. The foundation was established in Boston in the late 1990s.

Overall, foundation grants support strong civic culture and community empowerment, neighborhood and citywide; development and maintenance of healthy physical settings that facilitate vigorous communities; and access by individuals of all income levels and backgrounds to employment, housing, education, health care, transportation, and cultural activities.

A list of past grants can be viewed here.

Additionally, the Miller Foundation also established the Miller Innovation Fund in 2011. Through this program, the foundation supports short-duration, discrete projects providing social justice organizations with the resources they need to empower the public. Keep in mind that this is not a fund to turn to for your direct service and day-to-day organizational needs.

Unlike many other funding programs, this one does not have a strong preference for a certain type of organization size, form, or issue focus, as long as grantees promote social justice and civic engagement in some way. The fund doesn’t provide start-up funding for new organizations. Most grants fall between $20,000 and $50,000 per year of project support, and multi-year support is often available.

By funding grassroots organizations, community planning groups, and social justice advocates, the Miller Innovation Fund's interests largely fall into these categories:

• Developing new approaches to supporting community constituents, grassroots leaders and organizations that build capacity to participate in larger social change efforts
• Testing ideas that support field and movement building efforts
• Building new alliances between empowerment or advocacy groups
• Targeted citywide or regional coalition and network building
• Connecting systematic inquiry, research, and learning to a clear action plan at recipient organizations
• Incorporating community organizing or empowerment into strong existing direct services

In the past, the foundation reported over $52 million in assets and more than $2.7 million in total giving. Giving has remained pretty steady in recent years.

Starting in 2016, the Miller Innovation Fund has focused on two issue areas: re-imagining service netowrks for vulnerable people (i.e. the homeless, elderly, refugees, domestic violence victims, former prisoners, etc.) and developing and proving new community-based econoic models. In this latter category, the foundation funds projects related to local innovations in banking, newly seeded social enterprises, new asset development schemes, and changed markets for social good. Grants range from $20,000 to $50,000 per year for project support, and funding is limited to groups working in Massachusetts.

Although phone and email inquiries to the foundation staff are welcome, the foundation only accepts proposals by invitation. The Miller Foundation employs the staff of Boston-based Grantmakers Managers Advisors (GMA) Foundations to handle operations. Foundation administrator Amy Shorey can be reached at 617-391-3072 or via email at ashorey@gmafoundations.com.

Ms. Shorey provided the following statement about the foundation:

The Miller Foundation is a focused funder, with a strong portfolio of grantee organizations working in different ways to empower disadvantaged communities, and therefore, their residents. The foundation takes risk, and expects results, though it realizes that the changes it hopes to help grantees make can take many years. Staff and trustees meet personally with grantees, and work to be flexible and nimble in providing needed support.

PEOPLE:

• Amy Shorey, Administrator
• Prentice Zinn, Administrator
• Elizabeth Raskopf, Foundation Assistant
• Myron Miller, Trustee

LINKS:

• Funding Overview
• Guidelines
• Past Grants

IP POSTS:

• What the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation Looks for in Grantees 

OVERVIEW: The Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of Boston area couple James and Lisa Mooney. The couple's giving through their foundation strongly focuses in on Catholic education and other Catholic organizations in and around Boston.  

FUNDING AREAS: (Catholic) Education, Health, Human Services, Youth

IP TAKE: The foundation keeps a low profile, and does not appear to accept unsolicited proposals. Networking is key here and Catholic education organizations may have a leg up. 

PROFILE: James F. Mooney III graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and received his MBA degree from Georgetown University before going on to work for Baupost Group. His wife, Lisa, meanwhile, received her MBA from Boston University. This Boston area couple moves their philanthropy through the The Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation, which gave away some $3.9 million recently. Grants tend to be fairly large at this foundation, with quite a few exceeding $100,000. Unfortunately for grantseekers, the foundation does not appear to accept unsolicited proposals and has a minimal web presence.

The Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation's grantmaking heavily features Boston outfits, and Catholic organizations, particularly Catholic schools, are a top priority. As James Mooney puts it, "“My Jesuit education has had a profound effect on every aspect of my life. The way I engage with the world – whether with my family, in my career or through philanthropy – is built on a Jesuit foundation.”

Several years ago, the Mooneys gave a $1 million gift to College of Holy Cross to endow the Jim '90 and Lisa Mooney Scholarships targeting middle-class students from Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Boston. Not only did James attend the school but so did his father. James and his father also established The Joan Marie Mooney Scholarship Fund. 

In a past year, the foundation reported over $85 million in assets and more than $3.9 million in total giving.

Apart from James' alma mater, James and Lisa Mooney, via their foundation, have supported places like Catholic Schools Foundation, Campaign for Catholic Schools, Nativity Preparatory School, and St. Sebastian's School. Other Boston area education grantees have included New England Conservatory of Music, and Newton Country Day School. 

The Mooneys also support health in the Boston area. Grantees have included Cape Cod Healthcare Foundation, Mt. Auburn Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The Mooneys have supported a Uganda hospital's pediatric malnutrition clinic and an emergency medical fund. MGH has built strong ties with this hospital and the couple's teenaged son has also traveled to the region with MGH.

The family has also supported youth organizations like Year Up and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. Another important grantee is JESUITS USA Northeast Provence. Arts and culture does not seem to be a major component of this couple's work through their charity.

PEOPLE:

• Lisa Mooney, Trustee
• James F. Mooney III, Trustee

CONTACT:

The Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation does not provide a clear avenue for getting in touch with the couple, but below is an address:

The Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation
171 Edmunds Rd.
Wellesley, MA 02481 

OVERVIEW: Childhood obesity is the foundation's focus, and only select cities in Massachusetts and Maine are considered for grants.

FUNDING AREAS: Childhood obesity, education, athletics, environment, health, human services, arts & culture

IP TAKE: New Balance has a niche with it's philanthropy, so make sure that your organization's goals almost perfectly align with its before applying. This foundation has a "small town feel" compared to other big-name philanthropies, so play on that if you run a grassroots non-profit.

PROFILE: Sometimes it's difficult to make the connection between business and philanthropy. However, athletic shoe maker, New Balance, is right on target with it's fight against childhood obesity. Believe it or not, the shoe company has been around longer than you think, and its foundation has existed for over 30 years. You probably didn't hear much about the foundation in its early years because the trustees just quietly contributed to child-focused causes in the neighborhood. But it's boosted grantmaking from $30,000 in 1981 to over $6.1 million in 2013. It's also expanded its focus to Boston and Lawrence, Massachusetts as well as Skowhegan, Norridgewock, and Norway, Maine.

Preventing childhood obesity is the name of the game for New Balance, and the foundation aims to support grassroots initiatives to get children running around like they're meant to. A husband-wife team, Jim and Anne Davis, runs the New Balance Foundation, which has its own staff and a board of trustees, of course. Aside from the childhood obesity priority, New Balance regularly considers grant proposals for educational institutions, athletic clubs, environmental causes, health issues, and cultural projects. When natural disasters strike around the world, New Balance always tries to chip in as well.

Secondary funding priorities include education & athletics, health & human services, arts & culture, the environment, and disaster relief.

The city of Boston receives a sizeable portion of New Balance grants because the company is headquartered there and most connected with the Boston community. The company also caters to the needs of Lawrence, Massachusetts, which is 25 minutes north of Boston and home to the company's manufacturing facility. Since the company built three facilities in the state of Maine as well, the towns of Norridgewock, Skowhegan, and Norway are also in the running for grants. Some of the grantees in these towns only receive a couple hundred bucks here and there, and others get a few hundred thousand. New Balance grants very rarely hit the million dollar mark.

A few past New Balance grants in Boston included $1 million (two grants) to the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University, $900,000 to Boston Children's Hospital, $600,000 to PlayWorks National, $500,000 to Kid2Kid Inc.

If you're running a health-based non-profit in Boston, you have a great chance at a small-to-medium sized grant if you can work the youth obesity angle. Pitch a program that gets kids interested in sports and sneaks in education for healthy nutrition to get noticed. Special Olympics teams, Boys & Girls Clubs, and active after school programs are also favorites of the New Balance staff.

New Balance made headlines by funding the Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP). The foundation has provided grants and program evaluation for ASAP's east coast schools and implemented the 100 Mile Club school running program to get kids excited about running. New Balance also awarded a $3.3 million grant to Boston Children's Hospital to fund a revolutionary obesity research study. A list of more recent grant recipients can be viewed here.

The good news for Boston nonprofits is that you're only competing against four other (much smaller) towns for grants each year. New Balance likes to see proposals asking for specific program support rather than general operating support. Don't bother starting the application process if you work for yourself, a political party, put on fundraising dinners, sponsor a team, are making a film, or are affiliated with any discriminatory organization.

To apply, one-page concept papers have been due in January for new grant seekers and the first of February for existing grant partners. No part of the process takes place online, so you'll have to mail your forms and letters to the New Balance Boston office. Either way, you'll hear back from the foundation by mail to let you know if your proposal has been approved or denied.

The New Balance Foundation staff is small, but they will try to respond to your email inquiry within seventy-two hours. Don't bother with a phone call, but send questions about the application process over to newbalancefoundation@newbalance.com.

PEOPLE:

• Anne M. Davis, Vice-Chairperson and Executive Vice President
• James S. Davis, Chairperson

LINKS:

• Grant Eligibility
• Application Instructions

IP POSTS:

OVERVIEW: This foundation of the telecom mogul Robert Hale does most of its grantmaking in Boston and its surrounding areas. Hale and his wife Karen have interests in health, human services, the environment, and more. In recent years, the foundation has given as high as a couple of million annually, and as low as around $550,000.

IP TAKE: New Breeze doesn't have a web presence, or a clear way for grantseekers to get in touch. 

FUNDING AREAS: Health, Human Services, Education & Youth

PROFILE: New Breeze Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of Robert Hale, CEO and president of Quincy-based Granite Telecommunications, and his wife Karen. Hale and his father, the late Robert Hale Sr., founded Granite in 2002, and the company has grown to more than 1,400 employees. Last year, Granite hit $1 billion in revenue.

The Hale family lives in Hingham, Massachusetts, not too far from Boston. New Breeze Foundation's philanthropy focuses on Boston and its surrounding areas, including Hingham, Salem, Brookline, and Westport. In a recent year, the foundation claimed over $1.5 million in assets and gave out $223,255. Prior years of grantmaking ranged from a little under $550,000 to around $3.3 million in 2011.

One major interest of the foundation in the Boston area is health, and the motivations here are strong. The late Robert Hale Sr. passed away from cancer in 2008. In life, Robert Sr. and his wife Judy started the Robert T. and Judith B. Hale Fund for Pancreatic Cancer at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Hale and Karen, have, through New Breeze, steadily supported Dana Farber, with a $103,000 grant, and a $70,000 grant. Money has also gone to Brigham & Women's Hospital, where Hale sits on the board. More than $630,000 went to the hospital, and $500,000 each went there. Support has also gone to Boston Children's Hospital, where Hale sits on the board, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Martha's Vineyard Hospital, and the Lown Cardiovascular Center in Brookline. It's also worth noting that Granite's charitable arm has given large sums to Dana Farber and other Boston-area health outfits.

The Hales also support human services in the Boston area. A steady stream of money has gone to South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Hingham Food Pantry, Hingham Sports Pantry, and Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, which supports children in need. Funds have also gone to Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund, which provides "educational assistance grants to the children of Massachusetts Service members who were killed while deployed on Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom." Support of $250,000 went to the fund. Money has also gone to One Boston Fund, which helps those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.

Apart from health and human services, grantmaking has also involved the environment, with recent money going to Westport Land Conservation, and religious institutions, with funds going to Hingham Congregational Church, and Acoaxet Chapel in Westport. New Breeze Foundation has also supported education, with a large $1.26 million gift going to Deerfield Academy, and steady support going to Thayer Academy in Braintree. This grantmaking hasn't really involved Boston-proper, at least of late, and the most significant education sums being given by the couple have gone outside of the Boston area. The Hales recently gave a $20 million gift to Connecticut College, Robert's alma mater, and steady support have gone to the Wheeler School in Rhode Island via New Breeze.

PEOPLE:

• Robert T. Hale, Jr., Trustee
• Karen R. Hale, Trustee
  

CONTACT:

The New Breeze Foundation does not provide a clear avenue for getting in touch with the couple, but below is an address.

New Breeze Foundation
8 Olmstead Dr.
Hingham, MA 02043

OVERVIEW: The Peabody Fund awards grants to health, arts, environment, and social services organizations in New England, with preferential treatment given to Massachusetts. The foundation's small staff reviews applications twice a year, and you don't even need to bother with a Letter of Inquiry.

FUNDING AREAS: Health, animal health, visual arts, land conservation, historic preservation, social services, youth services

IP TAKE: Although Peabody Fund grants aren't as large as those from some other foundations around the city, Massachusetts-based health and arts organization have a great opporunity here. The application process is easy and much more straight-foward than you'd expect.

PROFILE: What the world needs today is more women like Amelia Peabody. Amelia has been described as a very private woman with a public conscious, since she distributed her family-inherited wealth to tens of thousands of people who never even knew her name.

This "lady of society" passionately studied sculpture in Boston, New York, and Paris, and her work has been distributed throughout the world. She taught wounded World War I and II veterans how to do occupational arts and crafts, and she spent many years raising and breeding horses, cattle, and pigs on the farm that became her favorite place in the world. One of Peabody's first philanthropic endeavors was the Amelia Peabody Pavilion, which housed a large animal clinic at Massachusetts' Tufts-New England Veterinary Medical Center. During her lifetime, Peabody gave large generous donations to medical institutions in the Boston area and to one of the world's first solar energy projects.

Peabody made her philanthropy official in 1964, when she established the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund. Between that time and Peabody's death in 1984, she personally directed over $8 million in grants. Since that time, the fund's small board of directors and staff have reviewed over 5,7000 grant applicaiton and awarded an additional $182 million. Only New England-based organizations are considered for health, arts, conservation, and preservations grants. However, only Massachusetts organizations are considered for the fund's social services and youth program grants. The Peabody Fund doesn't consider proposals for multi-year funding grants, and it doesn't provide funding for individuals, start-up organizations, educational institutions, scholarships, events, religious groups, or political causes.

The Peabody Fund generally gives out $5 to $8 million each year, but it doesn't frequently publicize who the lucky grant winners are. To apply for a grant in any of the above program areas, you'll need to complete an online grant request summary form and a proposal checklist. The staff is nit-picky, so you'll need to make sure your text is double-spaced, your pages are numbered, and a table of contents is included. There's no need to mess with an initial Letter of Inquiry here, because you can jump right to the application phase. Grant proposal narratives can be up to ten pages long and must include a number of specified bullet points.

Make sure to submit your grant proposal before close of business on either February 1st or July 1st. The foundation is transitioning to an online propsal system to replace it's old mail-in option. If you adhere to the February deadline, you should hear back from Peabody by May, and by October for the July deadline. You can reach the staff at 617-451-6178.

PEOPLE:

• Evan C. Page, Executive Director
• Cheryl A. Gideon, Business & Grants Coordinator/Executive Assistant

LINKS:

• Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund
• Application Guidelines
• Application Instructions

IP POSTS:

OVERVIEW: The Phillip and Susan Ragon Foundation is the charitable outfit of tech billionaire Phillip Ragon and his wife Susan. Much of the couple's philanthropy takes place in the Boston area, where the Ragons live and work.

FUNDING AREAS: Health, Education, Religious Institutions, Boston Community

IP TAKE: A centerpiece of the couple's philanthropy is the Ragon Institute of Harvard, MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital, which focuses on HIV research. The foundation has no website and does not accept unsolicited requests.

PROFILE: Phillip Terry Ragon is the son of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. He grew up in variety of states and spent his senior year at a high school in Bogota, Colombia. Ragon graduated from MIT in 1971, and is the founder, CEO, and sole owner of InterSystems, a health database management services company. His net worth has been around $1.81 billion. Ragon's wife, Susan, is Vice President of Finance, Administration and Recruitment at InterSystems.

Intersystems is headquartered in Cambridge and the Ragons live in the Boston area. In 2003, the couple founded the Phillip and Susan Ragon Foundation, which makes a lot of its grants in and around Boston. With some exception years, like 2013 when $6.7 million in grants was made, past grantmaking has generally totaled under $500,000 annually. Mind you, we're just talking about the foundation. The Ragons have been involved in charity in other ways as well.

The Phillip and Susan Ragon Foundation has supported a number of Boston-based churches and religious outfits. Recent money has gone to St. Peters Parish, St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Church, Cathedral of the Holy Cross, among several others. Many of these institutions have been funded on an annual basis, though grants for each rarely exceed $50,000 a year. 

Insights about Ragon's dedication to religious organizations may come from the couple's support of Instituto San Pablo Apostol, a religious school in Bogota which received nearly half a million in 2013 and more modest support in prior years. It's unclear if this is the school that Ragon himself attended, but it's clear that Ragon's experiences as a student in Colombia influenced him: "Why did I have so many privileges and they had none?" 

Ragon's experiences abroad aren't just limited to Colombia, either. He's said that a trip to South Africa allowed him to see the ravages of AIDS firsthand, and in 2009, Ragon and Susan established the Ragon Institute in partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard and his alma mater MIT, to pursue the development of an HIV vaccine. The couple has pledged $100 million over a ten-year period toward the project, which is focused on finding a vaccine for the disease, as well as other autoimmune diseases.

The couple's commitment to Massachussetts General Hospital (MGH) started even before the Ragon Institute. At least $2 million went to the hospital in 2007, and at least $4 million went to the hospital in 2008. Ragon is currently a trustee at MGH and also served as co-chair of the MGH campaign.

Other Boston health outfits that have seen support recently include the Joslin Diabetes Center and Boston Children’s Hospital Trust. The Boston location of Oxfam-America also recently saw support from the Ragons.

Unsurprisingly, Ragon has been involved with his alma mater, MIT. He's a member of the MIT Corporation, the governing body of MIT, and chairs the Visiting Committee that reviews the Physics Department. MIT received $6 million in a recent year.

The couple has also been a steady supporter of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club in Boston.

The Ragon Foundation doesn't have a website, and doesn't accept unsolicted requests.

PEOPLE:

• Phillip T. Ragon, Trustee
• Susan M. Ragon, Trustee
  

CONTACT:

Phillip and Susan Ragon Foundation
P.O. Box 380281
Cambridge, MA 02238
(617) 225-3001

OVERVIEW: Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation is committed to the Greater Boston area and primarily funds fellowships and scholarships for medical research and public policy. The foundation also funds art prizes for emerging and promising contemporary artists and music composers. 

FUNDING AREAS: Public policy, neurologic and mental illness, medical research, art

IP TAKE: The Rappaport Foundation doesn’t publicize an open request for proposals or accept unsolicited grant requests from nonprofits. However, it is committed pretty exclusively to the Boston metropolitan area, and it’s all about strengthening local leadership. 

PROFILE: The Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation was established by Jerome “Jerry” Rappaport in 1997. Although Jerry was a native New Yorker, he spent his adult life in Boston and remained committed to the goal of shaping a better future for the people of Boston. This political activist, real-estate developer, and philanthropist served in the John Hynes Mayoral administration and created the New Boston Committee in 1950. He worked in policy-level public service and as an attorney before creating the New Boston Fund in 1993, which owns, develops, and operates over 15 million square feet of office, research and development, warehouse, and residential real estate.

Although public policy, medical research, and art seem to be completely unrelated grantmaking program areas on the surface, the foundation insists they are not. These are the areas that the board of directors feel have the greatest need for leadership strengthening in Greater Boston right now. The Rappaport Foundation’s strongest partnerships are with Harvard University, Suffolk Law School, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Cure Alzheimer's Fund, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park & Art Museum.

In the policy realm, the Rappaport Foundation supports non-partisan research related to public issues like housing, transportation, education, crime prevention. It also supports initiatives that connect political leaders to industry experts and in innovators in academia. Rappaport offers a Public Policy Fellowship and Policy and Law Fellowship Program for gradjuate level students where fellows spend 10 weeks working in state and local government offices in the Greater Boston area. 

Since there is still much mystery that surrounds the cause of mental illness, the Rappaport Foundation commits a significant portion of its assets to research for neurologic and mental health diseases. Rappaport funds a fellowship at McLean Hospital, a research scholarship at Massachusetts General Hospital, a scholars fund at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and contributes to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.

The Rappaport Foundation supports the arts because of the way they influence life in Boston, much like policy and research do. With a focus on contemporary art, the foundation seeks inspiration and appreciation for artists in the region today. It funds the Rappaport Prize an annual art award presented by the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Rappaport has awarded a $25,000 prize to a contemporary American artist each year since 2000, making it one of the largest and longest-running art prizes in the country. In a past year, the foundation awarded the Rappaport Prize for Music Composition, which was a $100,000 grant to promote and recognize America's emerging and promising composers.

Three Rappaport family members serve on foundation’s board of directors and Jerry’s wife, Phyllis Rappaport, chairs the board. Stephen P. Johnson began serving as the foundation’s Executive Director after 13 years with the Boston philanthropy consulting firm, The Philanthropic Initiative. In a recent year, the foundation reported over $22 million in assets and $719,848 in total giving. For comparison, the previous year saw over $18.5 million in assets and $446,600 in total giving.

Unfortunately for grantseekers, the Rappaport Foundation does not typically accept unsolicited grant requests from nonprofits. But in addition to the areas mentioned above, local grants have recently gone to Samaritans, the Cambridge Health Alliance, Winsor School, and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. To keep up with what the Rappaport Foundation is doing, check out the foundation’s news section or reach out to Executive Director Stephen Johnson at 617-878-7773 or via email at sjohnson@rappaportfoundation.org.

PEOPLE:

• Stephen P. Johnson, Executive Director

LINKS:

• Foundation Mission
• The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

IP POSTS:

• Shaping Public Policy in Boston: The Rappaport Foundation Strategy

OVERVIEW: This funder supports early education, employment, and year-around/after school enrichment for preteens and teens. Programs that support disadvantaged Jewish populations in Boston are of particular interest.

FUNDING AREAS: Family partnering in early education, employment and self-sufficiency, and active learning for preteens and teens

IP TAKE: Make sure to highlight how your program serves Boston’s Jewish community as part of its overall goal. Tie “lifelong learning” into your proposal, regardless of what program area you’re applying to.

PROFILE: The A.C. Ratshesky Foundation was founded in 1916 and adopted its current name in 1930. Abraham C. “Cap” Ratshesky was a Boston native and a son of Jewish immigrants. He and his brother founded the United States Trust Company, which provided Jewish immigrants with access to capital and banking services. He was a social activist and politician, having served in the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, the Republican National Convention in 1904, the Massachusetts State Legislature, and as a United States Minister to Czechoslovakia.

Ratshesky’s philanthropic endeavors included the Beth Israel Hospital, the Boston Chapter of the Red Cross, and disaster relief efforts. Through his giving, he wished to remove the barriers to economic and social justice for Jewish and other immigrant groups. Today, the foundation focuses grantmaking on early education, employment, and active learning for preteens and teens.

The Family Partnering in Early Education program supports causes that create learning environments at home to supplement school education. The focus here is on prevention, mentoring, language development, and reading and math readiness. The foundation’s goal is to close the achievement gap through early learning development.

The Employment and Self-Sufficiency program supports causes that help people find employment through education, vocational services, cultural orientation, English training, job placement, and on-the-job training. Ratshesky likes to see programs that target low-income and dislocated workers, use technology for monitoring, and ones that build formal employer relationships.

Active Learning grants are awarded to after-school and year-around enrichment programs for teens and preteens. The foundation chooses grantees that focus on real-world relevance, multiple interdisciplinary perspectives, and ill-defined problems.

Regardless of the focus area, the foundation tends to support organizations and programs that serve disadvantaged Jewish populations in the Boston area. Past grants can be viewed on the foundation website.

Proposal deadlines fall on October 1, February 1, and July 1 each year. And grants are restricted to groups that serve Metro Boston communities within Route 495. The grant guidelines page provides the following statement:

Grant requests for $10,000 toward a program budget of $150,000 or from organization with an annual budget of $1 million, for example, are typically ranked a higher priority than requests to support a $300,000 program from large organizations with relatively strong fundraising capacity and many sources of funding.

Most grants support programs that provide direct services. This is important to know, because some local funders have shied away from direct service funding lately. General operating support and multi-year grants are rare, but not unheard of. In recent years, the foundation has reported over $7.4 million in assets.

According to Roberta Morse Levy, VP of the Ratshesky Foundation, a characteristic that Ratshesky grantees tend to share is that “they all are part of a continuum that supports lifelong learning and they all collaborate closely with a network of allied organizations to help people succeed.”

After trustee meetings, the foundation board updates its website to explain its funding decisions and priorities to prospective grantees. Each one of the trustees is a descendent of the founder, so this giving is truly a family affair. The board typically meets three times per year to review grant applications and make decisions. About 20 to 30 grants are made per year, ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 each, and the application process is all explained online.

Interested grantseekers are encouraged to contact GMA with any questions before submitting a funding request. The GMA Foundation administrator is Prentice Zinn, who can be reached at 617-391-3091 or pzinn@gmafoundations.com. Keep in mind that for every 35 to 45 applications that this funder receives, only about 10 of them receive funding.

PEOPLE:

• Prentice Zinn, Foundation Administrator
• Chaletta Huertas, Program Officer
• Laurie Morse Sprague, President
• Roberta Morse Levy, Vice President

LINKS:

• Areas of Focus
• Applying for Grants
• Grant Application

IP POSTS:

• How to Catch the Ratshesky Foundation’s Attention in Boston 

OVERVIEW: The Schooner Foundation was built upon the success of a Boston-based investment firm and has developed both a local and a global focus. Although the international programs revolve around human rights, the local programs are more centered on politics and the media.

FUNDING AREAS: Progressive media, campaign finance reform, the green economy, investigative reporting and judicial reform.

IP TAKE: If your organization has Republican overtones, you probably won't fare well with Schooner. The foundation donates a good portion of its money towards liberal and progressive political causes that the Schooner team is very opinionated about.

PROFILE: Many philanthropic foundations shy away from politics, but the Schooner Foundation likes to be in the middle of what's going on in Washington, DC. Since 1996, the Schooner Capital LLC investment company has been channeling its profits into a foundation to support human rights and other charitable causes around the world.

Even though Schooner operates on a global spectrum, a large portion of the grant money stays in Boston each year. A guy named Vin Ryan started the investment firm back in 1971 and has been instrumental in directing the foundation towards specific interests. In addition to the firm foundation, Ryan has served as the director Marine Biological Laboratory, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Physicians for Human Rights, and Survivor Corps.

Since human rights abuses are oftentimes more critical overseas that here at home, The Schooner Foundation focuses its attention to a different array of matters in the Boston area. While the foundation's international focus remains fixed on peace, security, women's rights, and economic opportunities, the national focus is on progressive media, campaign finance reform, green economy, investigative reporting, and judicial reform. Therefore, much of the local grants make their way to political organizations and activist groups. Ryan and his co-workers clearly have an idea about how this country should be run and the status quo isn't living up to their standards.

Regardless of the zip code, Schooner grants are usually awarded to advocacy groups and organizations needing to build capacity or that are in need of technical assistance. Specific project grants, multi-year funding grants, and fellowships are also common. And don't forget about political leaders either. Schooner contributed over $100,000 last year to political candidates and party committees that share the same viewpoints. It should be noted the top candidate recipients are always Democrats, including the representatives from Massachusetts, Florida, Virginia, Hawaii, and even Barack Obama.

Not only is Schooner unorthodox in its political involvement, but also in the fact that the foundation regularly donates to professorships, consulting services, seed money needs, and capital campaigns. A few past grants in the Boston area include $525,000 to Democracy Fund Inc., $200,000 to Boston University's School of Social Work and $133,000 to Brigham and Women's Hospital.  Schooner grants aren't the largest in the industry by any means, and rarely exceed half a million dollars.

At the end of a recent year, the funder reported over $159 million in assets and more than $6 million in total giving. For comparison, just two years earlier, the foundation reported over $24.7 million in assets and more than $3.4 million in total giving spread across 90 grants.

The foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals and doesn't share its grantmaking procedures for the world to see. If you are running a standard non-profit organization, Schooner might not be your best bet for funding. However, political advocacy groups who typically have very few foundations to turn to may find a friend in Schooner. The best way to initiate contact is by email at theschoonerfoundation@gmail.com.

PEOPLE:

• Vincent Ryan, Founder, CEO, and Donor
• Cynthia Ryan, Trustee

LINKS:

• Foundation Web Page
• Open Secrets Profile

OVERVIEW: Shapiro grants go to a variety of causes in the Greater Boston area, and recently health programs and hospitals have been major beneficiaries. Other areas of interest include arts, education, Jewish causes, and social welfare. Grants are made through a request for proposal system.

One of the hallmarks of Carl and Ruth Shapiro is that they pay a lot of attention to detail. They don't just write a check, they become real partners of the institution.

— Dr. Gary Gottlieb, past president, Brigham and Women's Hospital

The Shapiro Family Foundation's grantmaking interests fall into the categories of arts and culture, education, health and hospitals, Jewish causes, and social welfare. Grantmaking initiatives have included the following:

Disability Inclusion. This grantmaking program aims to give disabled individuals a better quality of life through the development and implementation of new assistive technologies. This program also awards grants to organizations that repair and redistribute assistive and adaptive equipment. Check out the foundation's funding approach for more detailed information. Recent grants out of this program include:

• $30,000 to Massachusetts Advocates for Children in support of its Transition Planning for Youth and Young Adults with Disabilities Program geared toward individuals ages 10 to 22
• $20,000 to Easter Seals of Massachusetts Transition Services program
• $30,000 Disability Law Center for its work in the legal rights of special ed students transitioning into postsecondary school

• $20,000 to the Boston Children's Chorus
• $40,000 to EdVestors for its Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion Initiative
• $20,000 to the Urbano Project's Artists' Project and Young Curators programs

• $40,000 grant to English for New Bostonians
• $30,000 to Bottom Line, a college graduation initiative for first-generation college students 
• $25,000 grant to Future Chefs, a youth culinary arts program

Linda Waintrup assumed the rold of foundation president in 2015 after the passing of Ronny Zinner. General questions can be directed to her at info@shapirofamilyfdn.org.

• Grantmaking Overview
• Contact Information

IP POSTS:

OVERVIEW:  In the city of Boston, one of this funder’s two focus regions, Bennett exclusively supports youth causes. It funds programs that help teens get and stay connected to the community and boost the skills they need to be successful adults.

FUNDING AREAS: Youth, teens

IP TAKE: Mental health for teens is a big cause for this funder in Boston. Check out the foundation’s 990s for a more complete picture of who it funds locally.

PROFILE: The Bennett Family Foundation was established in 2004 and is also known as the Eleanore Bennett Charitable Trust I. It is one of two charitable trusts established by the bequest of Mabel Eleanore Newbold Bennett. The foundation’s fortune came from the business Continental Felt, which Eleanore and brother William Newbold were partners in. The siblings owned and operated the New York-based company, which has since been dissolved. Bennett passed away in 2004 at the age of 92.

Today, the Bennett Family Foundation supports small, local organizations that address specific needs of underserved populations. The geographic focuses of this funder are Boston and Philadelphia. These are the places where members of the family and foundation live and work.

In Boston, the sole grantmaking focus is youth. Bennett funds programs that help teens get and stay connected to the community and boost the skills they need to be successful adults. Past grantees in Boston include Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Fenway Health, RAW Art Works, and Roca.

Bennett youth grants in Boston have touched on topics like the juvenile justice system, behavioral health, homeless and runaway youth, suicide prevention, and arts for self-expression. In general, topics of interest to this funder have included education, health, mental health, nutrition, youth development, and economically disadvantaged people.

In a recent year, the foundation had nearly $6 million in assets and gave out around $284,000 in grants. Most of this funder’s grants in Boston range between $2,500 to $25,000. However, larger and multi-year commitments up to three years are occasionally made as well.

This is not a funder that typically supports national programs. In addition to keeping it local, Bennett also looks for nonprofits that show momentum towards self-sustainability and have staff members who are experts in their fields. Unlike some other small family funders, Bennett doesn’t work through community foundations, but rather awards grants directly to nonprofits.

The first step to get involved with this funder is to complete the online letter of inquiry form. If the foundation is interested, it will get in touch. You’ll receive an automated confirmation of receipt either way, but prospective grantseekers should know that not every inquiry gets a response from an actual person at the foundation.

There are no deadlines to submit this letter of inquiry, so send it in at any time. May and November are typically the months when this foundation distributes grant money. So if you want to be considered in the spring, send in your letter by April 1, and by October 1 for the fall round.

Eleanore Bennett’s grandchildren serve as trustees of the foundation, but there is no full-time staff. Eleanore left it up to her trustees to choose and pursue the direction for the foundation. Thomas M. Chapin and Stewart B. Chapin are the grandsons and current foundation trustees. Their email address is trustees@bennettfoundation.org. The foundation’s phone number on file is 610-941-7700, and a mailing address listed is P.O. Box 15017, Boston, Massachusetts 02215. However, the foundation’s 990 forms list the following address: Eleanore Bennett Charitable Trust #1, 161 Washington Street, Suite 1500, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania 19428.

On a side note, the Eleanore Bennett Charitable Trust II, the second trust established in 2004, is based at 130 Turner Street, Bldg. 3, Suite 230 in Waltham, Massachusetts 02454. Its fields of interest are education and human services, but unsolicited requests to this particular trust are not accepted.

PEOPLE:

• Thomas M. Chapin, Trustee
• Stewart B. Chapin, Trustee

LINKS:

• Boston Grantmaking
• How to Apply
• Form 990 Returns by Year

IP POSTS:

• A Boston Funder Focused Squarely on Local Teens: the Bennett Family Foundation

OVERVIEW:  This is a big youth funder in Boston. Grant programs focus on preparing young people for college and expanding their access to college. Applications are online and due in the spring and fall.

FUNDING AREAS: Youth, college access and readiness

IP TAKE: It’s all about youth and college for this funder when it comes to Boston giving, so don’t bother approaching it with other programs. Grants aren’t huge, but they are very locally focused.

PROFILE: The Lewis Family Foundation was established by Alan and Harriet Lewis. Alan Lewis runs the Grand Circle Corporation and its subsidiary, Grand Circle Travel. His travel company was launched in 1958, primarily to serve AARP members, and it still focuses on international travel for older Americans today.

The couple’s foundation focuses giving on Boston and on Kensington, New Hampshire, the family's hometowns. This foundation currently works on six different initiatives: Bigger Than My Block, College Works, the Grand Circle Foundation, Pinnacle Leadership, the Farm at Eastman’s Corner, and Alnoba. The first two in this list are focused on the Boston area.

CollegeWorks was launched to double the four-year college graduation rate for young people from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan by 2020. In a recent year, LFF and its partners served 7,078 young people from these counties with this program through community service projects and grants to community partners. Interested grantseekers can complete the application for this initiative here. Grants are typically awarded between $1,000 and $10,000 and due in the spring and fall.

Bigger Than My Block is a platform for reaching young people to give them a voice and the resources they need to succeed in college. As you can see, there is a theme here, with local giving centered on youth, and college access and readiness. The initiative website features conversations with young people from Boston on their college experience and highlights a variety of local events.

Community partners in Boston include BottomLine, uAspire, City on a Hill Charter School, the Boston Collegiate Charter School, BUILD, West End House, CollegeBound Dorchester Artists for Humanity, and others. The foundation has a locally focused Associates Fund Grant Program, which supports community-based organizations serving young people in the Boston neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. With this funding, LFF looks to help improve college expectations, grade-to-grade progression, college completion, and global citizenship. These grant applications are typically due in spring and fall.

Another charitable entity that the Lewis couple is affiliated with is the Grand Circle Foundation. This foundation has a broader geographic focus and has given to educational, humanitarian, and cultural organizations around the world.

General questions can be directed to the LFF staff at 855-533-9335 or via email at info@lff.org.

PEOPLE:

• Harriet Lewis, Lewis Family Foundation Chair
• Juma Crawford, Executive Director, Lewis Family Foundation, Boston

LINKS:

• College Works
• Bigger Than My Block
• Leadership

IP POSTS:

• How This Travel Company Exec Approaches Youth Giving in Boston

OVERVIEW: This funder supports early education, employment, and year-around/after school enrichment for preteens and teens. Programs that support disadvantaged Jewish populations in Boston are of particular interest.

FUNDING AREAS: Family partnering in early education, employment and self-sufficiency, and active learning for preteens and teens

IP TAKE: Make sure to highlight how your program serves Boston’s Jewish community as part of its overall goal. Tie “lifelong learning” into your proposal, regardless of what program area you’re applying to.

PROFILE: The A.C. Ratshesky Foundation was founded in 1916 and adopted its current name in 1930. Abraham C. “Cap” Ratshesky was a Boston native and a son of Jewish immigrants. He and his brother founded the United States Trust Company, which provided Jewish immigrants with access to capital and banking services. He was a social activist and politician, having served in the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, the Republican National Convention in 1904, the Massachusetts State Legislature, and as a United States Minister to Czechoslovakia.

Ratshesky’s philanthropic endeavors included the Beth Israel Hospital, the Boston Chapter of the Red Cross, and disaster relief efforts. Through his giving, he wished to remove the barriers to economic and social justice for Jewish and other immigrant groups. Today, the foundation focuses grantmaking on early education, employment, and active learning for preteens and teens.

The Family Partnering in Early Education program supports causes that create learning environments at home to supplement school education. The focus here is on prevention, mentoring, language development, and reading and math readiness. The foundation’s goal is to close the achievement gap through early learning development.

The Employment and Self-Sufficiency program supports causes that help people find employment through education, vocational services, cultural orientation, English training, job placement, and on-the-job training. Ratshesky likes to see programs that target low-income and dislocated workers, use technology for monitoring, and ones that build formal employer relationships.

Active Learning grants are awarded to after-school and year-around enrichment programs for teens and preteens. The foundation chooses grantees that focus on real-world relevance, multiple interdisciplinary perspectives, and ill-defined problems.

Regardless of the focus area, the foundation tends to support organizations and programs that serve disadvantaged Jewish populations in the Boston area. Past grants can be viewed on the foundation website.

Proposal deadlines fall on October 1, February 1, and July 1 each year. And grants are restricted to groups that serve Metro Boston communities within Route 495. The grant guidelines page provides the following statement:

Grant requests for $10,000 toward a program budget of $150,000 or from organization with an annual budget of $1 million, for example, are typically ranked a higher priority than requests to support a $300,000 program from large organizations with relatively strong fundraising capacity and many sources of funding.

Most grants support programs that provide direct services. This is important to know, because some local funders have shied away from direct service funding lately. General operating support and multi-year grants are rare, but not unheard of. In recent years, the foundation has reported over $7.4 million in assets.

According to Roberta Morse Levy, VP of the Ratshesky Foundation, a characteristic that Ratshesky grantees tend to share is that “they all are part of a continuum that supports lifelong learning and they all collaborate closely with a network of allied organizations to help people succeed.”

After trustee meetings, the foundation board updates its website to explain its funding decisions and priorities to prospective grantees. Each one of the trustees is a descendent of the founder, so this giving is truly a family affair. The board typically meets three times per year to review grant applications and make decisions. About 20 to 30 grants are made per year, ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 each, and the application process is all explained online.

Interested grantseekers are encouraged to contact GMA with any questions before submitting a funding request. The GMA Foundation administrator is Prentice Zinn, who can be reached at 617-391-3091 or pzinn@gmafoundations.com. Keep in mind that for every 35 to 45 applications that this funder receives, only about 10 of them receive funding.

PEOPLE:

• Prentice Zinn, Foundation Administrator
• Chaletta Huertas, Program Officer
• Laurie Morse Sprague, President
• Roberta Morse Levy, Vice President

LINKS:

• Areas of Focus
• Applying for Grants
• Grant Application

IP POSTS:

• How to Catch the Ratshesky Foundation’s Attention in Boston 

OVERVIEW: The Schooner Foundation was built upon the success of a Boston-based investment firm and has developed both a local and a global focus. Although the international programs revolve around human rights, the local programs are more centered on politics and the media.

FUNDING AREAS: Progressive media, campaign finance reform, the green economy, investigative reporting and judicial reform.

IP TAKE: If your organization has Republican overtones, you probably won't fare well with Schooner. The foundation donates a good portion of its money towards liberal and progressive political causes that the Schooner team is very opinionated about.

PROFILE: Many philanthropic foundations shy away from politics, but the Schooner Foundation likes to be in the middle of what's going on in Washington, DC. Since 1996, the Schooner Capital LLC investment company has been channeling its profits into a foundation to support human rights and other charitable causes around the world.

Even though Schooner operates on a global spectrum, a large portion of the grant money stays in Boston each year. A guy named Vin Ryan started the investment firm back in 1971 and has been instrumental in directing the foundation towards specific interests. In addition to the firm foundation, Ryan has served as the director Marine Biological Laboratory, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Physicians for Human Rights, and Survivor Corps.

Since human rights abuses are oftentimes more critical overseas that here at home, The Schooner Foundation focuses its attention to a different array of matters in the Boston area. While the foundation's international focus remains fixed on peace, security, women's rights, and economic opportunities, the national focus is on progressive media, campaign finance reform, green economy, investigative reporting, and judicial reform. Therefore, much of the local grants make their way to political organizations and activist groups. Ryan and his co-workers clearly have an idea about how this country should be run and the status quo isn't living up to their standards.

Regardless of the zip code, Schooner grants are usually awarded to advocacy groups and organizations needing to build capacity or that are in need of technical assistance. Specific project grants, multi-year funding grants, and fellowships are also common. And don't forget about political leaders either. Schooner contributed over $100,000 last year to political candidates and party committees that share the same viewpoints. It should be noted the top candidate recipients are always Democrats, including the representatives from Massachusetts, Florida, Virginia, Hawaii, and even Barack Obama.

Not only is Schooner unorthodox in its political involvement, but also in the fact that the foundation regularly donates to professorships, consulting services, seed money needs, and capital campaigns. A few past grants in the Boston area include $525,000 to Democracy Fund Inc., $200,000 to Boston University's School of Social Work and $133,000 to Brigham and Women's Hospital.  Schooner grants aren't the largest in the industry by any means, and rarely exceed half a million dollars.

At the end of a recent year, the funder reported over $159 million in assets and more than $6 million in total giving. For comparison, just two years earlier, the foundation reported over $24.7 million in assets and more than $3.4 million in total giving spread across 90 grants.

The foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals and doesn't share its grantmaking procedures for the world to see. If you are running a standard non-profit organization, Schooner might not be your best bet for funding. However, political advocacy groups who typically have very few foundations to turn to may find a friend in Schooner. The best way to initiate contact is by email at theschoonerfoundation@gmail.com.

PEOPLE:

• Vincent Ryan, Founder, CEO, and Donor
• Cynthia Ryan, Trustee

LINKS:

• Foundation Web Page
• Open Secrets Profile

OVERVIEW: Shapiro grants go to a variety of causes in the Greater Boston area, and recently health programs and hospitals have been major beneficiaries. Other areas of interest include arts, education, Jewish causes, and social welfare. Grants are made through a request for proposal system.

One of the hallmarks of Carl and Ruth Shapiro is that they pay a lot of attention to detail. They don't just write a check, they become real partners of the institution.

— Dr. Gary Gottlieb, past president, Brigham and Women's Hospital

The Shapiro Family Foundation's grantmaking interests fall into the categories of arts and culture, education, health and hospitals, Jewish causes, and social welfare. Grantmaking initiatives have included the following:

Disability Inclusion. This grantmaking program aims to give disabled individuals a better quality of life through the development and implementation of new assistive technologies. This program also awards grants to organizations that repair and redistribute assistive and adaptive equipment. Check out the foundation's funding approach for more detailed information. Recent grants out of this program include:

• $30,000 to Massachusetts Advocates for Children in support of its Transition Planning for Youth and Young Adults with Disabilities Program geared toward individuals ages 10 to 22
• $20,000 to Easter Seals of Massachusetts Transition Services program
• $30,000 Disability Law Center for its work in the legal rights of special ed students transitioning into postsecondary school

• $20,000 to the Boston Children's Chorus
• $40,000 to EdVestors for its Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion Initiative
• $20,000 to the Urbano Project's Artists' Project and Young Curators programs

• $40,000 grant to English for New Bostonians
• $30,000 to Bottom Line, a college graduation initiative for first-generation college students 
• $25,000 grant to Future Chefs, a youth culinary arts program

Linda Waintrup assumed the rold of foundation president in 2015 after the passing of Ronny Zinner. General questions can be directed to her at info@shapirofamilyfdn.org.

• Grantmaking Overview
• Contact Information

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