Each year, the Foundation distributes about $16 million from its Permanent Fund for Boston through a variety of grantmaking programs. These programs are open to requests from proven and promising nonprofits that benefit the people of Greater Boston. We endeavor to make our grants processes as understandable as possible. If you have any remaining questions after reading the guidelines and these Frequently Asked Questions, please contact us at grantsinfo@tbf.org.
Q What kind of grant can I apply for?
A Any organization that is tax-exempt or operates under the fiscal sponsorship of a tax-exempt nonprofit, serves the people of Greater Boston and does not discriminate in the hiring of staff or provision of services is eligible to apply to most of the Foundation’s grant programs. However, the type of grant your organization will be most competitive for will vary based on the services you provide and their potential for impact on one or more of the Foundation’s priority strategies. The Boston Foundation considers three principal types of requests through the competitive grants process: General Operating Support Grants, Project Grants and Special Opportunity Grants. Large, multi-year Operating or Project Grants are reserved for those organizations or activities that will have a significant direct impact on Foundation priorities. The Foundation supports new ideas or new organizations that may or may not be aligned with our priority strategies through Special Opportunity Grants. Only about 125 grants in these three categories will be awarded each year.
The Foundation’s Initiative grantmaking is highly targeted to particular issues or needs. Initiatives have varying guidelines, deadlines and application processes; please review our website carefully and contact Foundation staff with any questions. Vision Fund Grants are only open to those organizations that have not received Foundation support through another program within the last year, but that do work addressing our mission to “build and sustain a vital and prosperous city and region where justice and opportunity are extended to everyone.” Finally, the Boston Foundation puts some funds aside to provide sponsorship support for the special events of organizations that meet critical community needs.
The Boston Foundation welcomes inquiries and applications from eligible nonprofits serving the people of Greater Boston. However, because of the high volume of requests and limited resources, we are unable to fund all of the high quality requests submitted for consideration.
Q How do I know if my organization will be competitive for a general operating support grant? It is eligible, but is it worth our time to prepare a Letter of Inquiry?
A The Boston Foundation will make very few General Operating Support Grants. Organizations that are most likely to be successful in the highly competitive process will operate programs that have a direct impact on one or more of our core strategies, have strong, consistent leadership and a solid financial position. The successful organization must have a current strategic or business plan that presents a clear plan for achieving results over the next three to five years. If you have any doubts about your organization’s competitiveness, please contact your program officer or email grantsinfo@tbf.org.
Q My organization’s mission and activities address more than one of the Boston Foundation’s priority strategies. What should I do?
A The Foundation will accept Letters of Inquiry (LOI) for Project Support or Special Opportunity Grants from multiservice agencies as well as universities with multiple colleges or hospitals with many departments. Project Support or Special Opportunity Grants are focused narrowly on a specific aspect or activity of the larger agency. Multiservice organizations may also request a Project Support Grant for the core or general operations of a discrete part (department, college or institute) of the larger agency. These requests are reviewed under the same competitive process and criteria as those from single-purpose agencies. If you have questions about the competitiveness of your organization or its activity or project, please contact your program officer or email grantsinfo@tbf.org.
Q My organization’s mission and activities don’t address any of the Boston Foundation’s priority strategies. What should I do?
A The Boston Foundation has an active interest in innovative approaches to emerging community issues and will make targeted investments in such efforts whether or not they address a particular strategy. Special Opportunity Grants will provide seed funding or capacity building support to promising new organizations or projects that may or may not be directly aligned with the Foundation’s priority strategies. In some cases, Initiative Grants, distributed through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process, may be directed toward activities that don’t directly address Foundation strategies. Finally, Vision Fund Grants are open to applications from organizations that may not be competitive for other funding. Foundation staff welcomes the opportunity to review a broad range of community organizations; however, we are unable to fund all the high impact organizations or quality requests that are submitted for consideration.
Q My nonprofit has never received a grant from the Boston Foundation and does not have a program officer. Can we apply? Who can I talk to?
A The Boston Foundation welcomes applications and inquiries from any nonprofit (or organization operating under the fiscal sponsorship of a tax-exempt nonprofit) that serves the people of Greater Boston or conducts public policy efforts that may benefit a substantial portion of the Greater Boston community and that does not discriminate in the hiring of staff or provision of services. In fact, the Vision Fund is designed to keep the Foundation informed of the work of a broad range of the community’s nonprofits, especially those that have not previously received funding or may not be competitive for larger grants. Please send us an email at grantsinfo@tbf.org with a brief description of your organization and the specifics of your question; a member of the program staff will respond within two working days.
Q Online application forms make me nervous. Can I submit a paper copy instead?
A The Boston Foundation, like many other foundations, has moved to an online application process to reduce processing time and assure that our records are up to date and accessible to relevant members of our staff. We can serve you better with an online process and so will continue to require an online application for competitive and initiative grant requests. But here are some hints that may ease your worries.
Please carefully review all the questions before filling out the online application form. We strongly suggest that you use your word processor to prepare the long-text responses (e.g. Organization Description, Request Narrative), and then copy and paste your responses into the appropriate text boxes. This will save you the task of re-typing answers if there is a problem with your Internet browser and it will ease the task of editing the size of your narrative responses, should that be necessary.
Please do not format your type (do not use bold, italics, bullets, etc.). It takes up valuable space in the limited-size text fields. Once you press “Submit,” your text will be converted to “plain text” and any formatting will be stripped away.
If you exceed the number of allowed characters and attempt to submit your online application, an automated warning will prevent you from continuing. If it appears that your text is under the maximum word limit and you still receive the error message, remove your paragraph line breaks (the “returns” between paragraphs) and indent each paragraph using the space bar. Once you reduce your text to the allowed level, click the “update” button at the bottom of the page and the warning should disappear.
Of course, please call us if you have specific questions.
Q What can I expect if my organization is invited to submit a full proposal?
A If a full application is invited, the assigned program officer– often joined by other Foundation staff – will conduct a site visit and will also contact board members, clients, the leadership of collaborating or similar organizations, and other funders to become better acquainted with the organization. We will also request additional information to build the application file. While requested information will vary, it will usually include:
- Current strategic and program plans;
- Detailed financial information;
- Organizational chart and/or brief biographies of key staff;
- List of the Board of Directors and/or advisory board;
- References;
- Arts/cultural organizations only – Massachusetts Cultural Data Project Funder Report for the Boston Foundation;
- Out of School Time organizations or activities only – a screen shot or printout of your organization’s listing on BostonNavigator.org.
Q I understand that the Boston Foundation also works with individual donors who make grants through the Foundation. How can I tell them about the work of my organization?
A Individuals give through the Boston Foundation for many reasons. Donors find that it is convenient and cost effective to conduct their giving through the Foundation, since our staff makes their philanthropy easy. Many want to give anonymously. Some donors want to be able to tap the expertise of our knowledgeable staff and participate in our Understanding Boston forums, which may lead them to co-invest in projects and organizations that the Foundation funds. However, to protect the privacy and respect the wishes of our donors, Donor Advised Funds are not open to application or inquiry.