OVERVIEW: Barr is the largest private foundation in the state of Massachusetts, and it has both a local and a global focus. Its main domestic program areas are climate change, public education and the arts. Barr's Global was established in 2010 and concluded in 2015, leaving more funds behind for local causes.
IP TAKE: Climate change issues aren't given priority at that many philanthropic foundations in the Boston area. If you are working in this field, then Barr should be your go-to source for a grant this year.
PROFILE: Barr commands serious influence in Boston, and it's no surprise that founders Amos and Barbara Hostetter were named the city's most powerful philanthropists by Boston magazine. The foundation made news in 2013 when it announced its influence could be expanding even further, launching a strategic planning process on the future growth of the foundation, regionally, nationally and internationally. James Canales, former chief executive at the James Irvine Foundation, was tapped to become Barr's president and lead the expansion. Barr has reported over $1.6 billion in assets.
In the last few years, the foundation has focused its influence in a few key areas.
A signature focus has been climate change, which has accounted for roughly 30 percent of all grant-funding, and the foundation has a clear and unique goal. In a past year, Barr announced that $50 million would be directed toward helping Boston and Massachusetts become national models for meeting aggressive targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. More specifically, grants are focused on reducing emissions from buildings and transportation, the two largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Education is also a major focus of the foundation, and its grantmaking in includes early education, K-12, and out-of-school time. The early education program targets children from birth to 5 years old, and the program includes the specific goal of ensuring that children enter elementary school ready to learn and meet reading proficiency by third grade. Clearly, the new guidelines provide an effective measurable outcome, a strategy that a number of Barr programs have embraced recently.
Additional grantmaking programs at Barr include the Arts and Culture and Global programs. Arts and Culture grantmaking focuses on supporting artistic quality and long-term strength of mid-sized arts and cultural institutions, and supporting opportunities for young people to experience and pursue excellence in the arts both in school and during out-of-school time. In an interesting arts grantmaking twist, Barr is currently exploring and seeking out arts and culture organizations that use art as a means of bringing awareness to climate change. The Arts and Culture program has awarded multiyear grants of three to five years to a cohort of midsize arts institutions based in Boston.
Barr's Global Grantmaking program concluded in 2015, so there's no need to get into that any furhter.
The foundation's fellowship program has earned accolades from many in the industry, and it is another signature program. For fundraisers, it's important to know that the majority of Barr grantees are identified by foundation staff. But the grant dollars are not completely inaccessible for nonprofits. Potential grantees introduce their organizations to the foundation via online inquiry form, and occasionally Barr makes a call for concept papers.
The Barr Foundation typically awards around $60 million in grants annually. Although the grants range in amount from $1,000 to $3 million, about 45 percent fall in the $100,000 to $500,000 range. It's rare for Barr to fund program-related investments or capital campaigns. Recent grants went to A Better City Initiative, Inc., Actor's Shakespeare Project, Ballet Theatre of Boston, Inc., and the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Each of these grants were between $65,000 and $420,000.
The Barr Grantmaking Process is divided into staff-initiated grants, continuing and new support for current grantees, inquiries from new partners, and special initiatives. Initial inquiries can be submitted to Barr staff via online form.
PEOPLE:
- Kimberly Haskins, Education Senior Program Officer
- Mariella Puerto, Climate Senior Program Officer
- Mary Skelton Roberts, Climate Senior Program Officer
- E. San San Wong, Arts and Culture Senior Program Officer
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