Boston Foundation
75 Arlington Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
United States
Mission
The foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everone. It fulfills this mission in three principal ways: making grants to nonprofit organizations and designing special funding initiatives to address the community’s critical challenges; working in partnership with our donors and other funders to achieve high-impact philanthropy; and serving as a civic hub and center of information, where ideas are shared, levers for change are identified, and common agendas for the future are developed.
Read Featured Story
Most Meaningful Change
The foundation played a major role in pioneering education reform legislation that was signed by Governor Deval Patrick in early 2010, giving students across Massachusetts greatly expanded access to high-quality K-12 schools. We published several reports on public education that informed the legislation and created the Race to the Top Coalition, a consortium of business, civic and community leaders that played a central role in getting the legislation passed. As a result, Massachusetts attracted $250 million in Race to the Top federal funding, and 21 new charter schools have opened with seats for 8,000 more students.
1915 Year Founded
85 Paid Staff (Full-Time Equivalent)
$896,216,000 Endowment Value
$98,000,000 Total Annual Grantmaking
Organization | Boston Foundation |
---|
Address 1 | 75 Arlington Street |
---|
Address 2 | Did not answer |
---|
City / Town | Boston |
---|
State / Region | Massachusetts |
---|
ZIP / Postal Code | 02116 |
---|
Country | United States |
---|
Continent | North America |
---|
Map Address (If Different) | Did not answer |
---|
Map City / Town (If Different) | Did not answer |
---|
Map State / Region (If Different) | Did not answer |
---|
Map Zip / Postal Code (If Different) | Did not answer |
---|
Map Country (If Different) | Did not answer |
---|
Phone | 617-338-4775 |
---|
Email | bah@tbf.org |
---|
Website | www.tbf.org |
---|
Organization Leader (Name, Title) | Paul S. Grogan, President |
---|
Primary Contact’s Name | Barbara Hindley |
---|
Primary Contact’s Position | Director of Publications and Marketing |
---|
Year Founded | 1915 |
---|
Mission Statement | The foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everone. It fulfills this mission in three principal ways: making grants to nonprofit organizations and designing special funding initiatives to address the community’s critical challenges; working in partnership with our donors and other funders to achieve high-impact philanthropy; and serving as a civic hub and center of information, where ideas are shared, levers for change are identified, and common agendas for the future are developed. |
---|
Organization Description | Community Foundation |
---|
Other Description | Did not answer |
---|
Approximate Size of the Population Serviced | 4,500,000 |
---|
Total Paid Staff (Full-Time Equivalents) | 85 |
---|
Total Unpaid Staff (Full-Time Equivalents) | Did not answer |
---|
Total Board Members | 21 |
---|
Organization’s Total Income in Last Fiscal Year | $208,000,000 |
---|
Organization’s Gifts Income in Last Fiscal Year | $130,482,000 |
---|
Organization’s Total Expenditures in Last Fiscal Year | $125,000,000 |
---|
Organization’s Grantmaking Budget in Last Fiscal Year | $98,000,000 |
---|
Does Organization Have an Endowment | Yes |
---|
Value of Endowment (or Financial Reserves) as of the End of Last Fiscal Year | $896,216,000 |
---|
Change in Financial Status Over Last Three Years | Significant improvement |
---|
Factors that Played a Role in the Origins of Your Organization |
---|
Community leadership | Played a slight role |
---|
Philanthropic gifts | Played a centrally important role |
---|
Grassroots activism | No role |
---|
Inadequate government services | Played an important role |
---|
Changes in the political environment | No role |
---|
Changes in the economic environment | Played an important role |
---|
Government initiative funding | No role |
---|
Foundation initiative funding | Played a centrally important role |
---|
Bilateral or multilateral initiative funding | Played a slight role |
---|
Favorable legal or fiscal policies | Played a centrally important role |
---|
|
Time Spent Working in Following Areas |
---|
Neighborhood | Lots of time |
---|
Locally | Lots of time |
---|
Regionally | Fair amount of time |
---|
Nationally | Very little time |
---|
Internationally | Very little time |
---|
|
Rate Importance of the Following Functions |
---|
Grantmaking | Centrally important |
---|
Having local people as leaders in the organization | Centrally important |
---|
Seeking local donations | Centrally important |
---|
Having a gender balance in the organization | Important but not central |
---|
Board reflective of community diversity | Centrally important |
---|
Building an endowment | Centrally important |
---|
Serving donor needs | Centrally important |
---|
Acting as a fiscal intermediary for the community | Important but not central |
---|
Building inclusion and trust in the community | Centrally important |
---|
Pursuing equity | Centrally important |
---|
Accountability to local people | Centrally important |
---|
Raising money for grantmaking annually | Centrally important |
---|
Community development | Centrally important |
---|
|
In the Last Year, Extent to Which Programming and/or Grantmaking Involved Work in the Following Areas |
---|
Arts and culture | Lot |
---|
Education | Lot |
---|
Environment | Little |
---|
Health | Lot |
---|
Human and social services | Fair amount |
---|
Human rights | Little |
---|
International relations | Not at all |
---|
Religion | Not at all |
---|
Economic development | Lot |
---|
Conflict resolution/bridging different parts of the community | Fair amount |
---|
Information technology | Lot |
---|
Strengthening local or regional government | Lot |
---|
Housing | Lot |
---|
Children | Lot |
---|
Water | Not at all |
---|
Alternative energy | Little |
---|
Disaster relief | Fair amount |
---|
Advocacy with authorities | Lot |
---|
Job training | Lot |
---|
|
Nongrantmaking Services Offered to Community in Recent Years |
---|
Convening for issues of local concern | Often |
---|
Promote collaboration between grantees | Often |
---|
Promote understanding of public policy | Often |
---|
Training/capacity-building for local organizations | Did not answer |
---|
Advocacy | Often |
---|
Loaned staff | Occasionally |
---|
Research | Often |
---|
Community needs assessment | Often |
---|
Leadership development | Occasionally |
---|
Internships | Occasionally |
---|
Providing space for local organizations | Often |
---|
Access to information technology | Often |
---|
Publishing/knowledge sharing | Often |
---|
|
Main Trends Over the Past Year in Geographic Area Served |
---|
Poverty | Getting worse |
---|
Crime | Getting better |
---|
Trust among different sections of the community | No change |
---|
Equitable distribution of resources and services | Getting much worse |
---|
Social position of marginalized groups | Getting worse |
---|
Responsiveness of authorities | No change |
---|
Appropriateness of public policies | Getting better |
---|
Value of community assets | No change |
---|
Quality of the environment | No change |
---|
Number of people and organizations working to change and improve their community | Getting better |
---|
Levels of innovation and risk taking in addressing community problems | Getting better |
---|
Networks and links between different parts of the community | Getting better |
---|
Gender equity | No change |
---|
Charitable giving through the community foundation | Getting better |
---|
Number of people and organizations involved in philanthropic giving | No change |
---|
|
Extent to Which Organization Can Claim Tangible and Measurable Achievements in the Past Three Years |
---|
Poverty | Some important achievements |
---|
Crime | Some important achievements |
---|
Trust among different sections of the community | Some important achievements |
---|
Equitable distribution of resources and services | A few small achievements |
---|
Social position of marginalized groups | Some important achievements |
---|
Responsiveness of authorities | Some important achievements |
---|
Appropriateness of public policies | Much achievement |
---|
Value of community assets | A few small achievements |
---|
Quality of the environment | Some important achievements |
---|
Number of people and organizations working to change and improve their community | Some important achievements |
---|
Levels of innovation and risk taking in addressing community problems | Some important achievements |
---|
Networks and links between different parts of the community | Some important achievements |
---|
Gender equity | A few small achievements |
---|
Charitable giving through the community foundation | Much achievement |
---|
Number of people and organizations involved in philanthropic giving | Some important achievements |
---|
|
Active Partnerships |
---|
Formal community associations and groups | Little |
---|
Informal associations of citizens | Little |
---|
Non-governmental organizations | Little |
---|
Local government | Little |
---|
National government | Not at all |
---|
Universities | Little |
---|
Schools | Little |
---|
Businesses | Little |
---|
|
Other Institutions Helpful to Our Work |
---|
National association of grantmakers | Helpful |
---|
Regional association of grantmakers | Neither helpful or unhelpful |
---|
Global Fund for Community Foundations | Unhelpful |
---|
Particular foundation | Very helpful |
---|
Other organization | Very helpful |
---|
|
Involvement of Local People |
---|
Regularly survey local people about our programs | Yes |
---|
Local people are engaged in the delivery of our work | Yes |
---|
Local people control what our organization does | Yes |
---|
Have local people represented on our board | Yes |
---|
Have regular sessions where local people advise us what our programs should do | Yes |
---|
Actively engage local people as volunteers | Yes |
---|
All of our board is composed of local people | Yes |
---|
Account to local people about our successes and failures each year | Yes |
---|
|
Assistance in Overcoming Main Difficulties Faced in Developing Organization Further |
---|
Increased funding | Very important |
---|
Better legal or fiscal environment | Very important |
---|
More volunteers | Neither important nor unimportant |
---|
Access to advice or technical assistance | Important |
---|
Better local culture of giving | Very important |
---|
Stronger civil society | Very important |
---|
More responsive authorities | Very important |
---|
|
Other | Did not answer |
---|
Most Meaningful Change that Organization Has Helped to Bring About in the Last Three Years | The foundation played a major role in pioneering education reform legislation that was signed by Governor Deval Patrick in early 2010, giving students across Massachusetts greatly expanded access to high-quality K-12 schools. We published several reports on public education that informed the legislation and created the Race to the Top Coalition, a consortium of business, civic and community leaders that played a central role in getting the legislation passed. As a result, Massachusetts attracted $250 million in Race to the Top federal funding, and 21 new charter schools have opened with seats for 8,000 more students. |
---|