The Boston Foundation announces fall grants

Boston – The Boston Foundation has announced the distribution of almost $14 million in grants at its quarterly meeting of its Board of Directors on Thursday, September 27. That includes $600,500 in Discretionary Grants, including support for research projects underway at the Foundation, as well as grants for organizations, listed below.

The grants include a $75,000 Out of the Blue grant for the Colonel Daniel Marr Boys & Girls Club. Out of the Blue grants are unrestricted, unsolicited grants for $75,000 provided once a quarter to an exceptional organization serving Greater Boston. This quarter the award was made to an organization that serves boys and girls ages 6-18 through education, sports and recreation activities. Less well known than some of the other Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, the Daniel Marr Club has transformed itself from a small, organization operating from a single site to a two-building campus engaging more than 4,000 young people with high-quality programming.

“The need for safe and constructive activities for our young people is high on our list of concerns,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation.  “The Daniel Marr Club has set a high standard, growing to meet a growing need, and I am delighted that the Foundation can recognize this organization’s achievements—and help it continue to serve its mission and the youth of Boston.”

Other grants reflected the Foundation’s broad support for nonprofit organizations across a wide spectrum of issues, as well as a strategic focus on education, housing and workforce development.

In addition to $600,500 in grants from Discretionary Funds, the Foundation also distributed $3,301,095 in grants from Designated Funds and $10,046,779 in Donor Advised Funds.

Discretionary grants are made from the Boston Foundation’s Permanent Fund for Botson, a collection of unrestricted gifts made to the Foundation to be distributed to nonprofit groups working to meet the needs of Greater Boston residents across a broad range of issues. Donor Advised grants are made from Funds established by donors who want to play an active role in selecting the organizations and programs they wish to support. Designated grants are made from Funds established by donors to support one or more of their favorite nonprofit organizations in perpetuity.

The following is a complete listing of the Boston Foundation’s $582,500 in Discretionary grants made in this quarter:

ART AND CULTURE
Massachusetts College of Art - $25,000

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Boston Foundation/New England Cable News - $165,000
21st Century Black Massachusetts - $5,000

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Associated Industries of Massachusetts Foundation - $50,000
Massachusetts Transportation Investment Coalition - $25,000

EDUCATION
Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy - $60,000

OUT OF SCHOOL TIME
Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club - $75,000

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Crime and Justice Institute - $10,000
Ella J. Baker House - $25,000
Northeastern University Center for Urban and regional Policy - $30,000

NONPROFIT SECTOR
Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy - $10,000
The Boston Foundation/Nonprofit Sector report - $7,500
FSG Social Impact Advisors - $25,000
New England Blacks in Philanthropy - $35,000

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
The Boston Foundation/Allied Health Workforce Initiative - $50,000
The Boston Foundation/Literacy for All campaign - $3,000

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The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation, with assets of almost $900 million.  In 2007, the Foundation and its donors made more than $90 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of about $90 million.  The Foundation is made up of some 900 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes.  The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, provider of information, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to address the community’s and region’s most pressing challenges.  For more information about the Boston Foundation, visit www.tbf. org   or call 617-338-1700.